Source: Eagles waive safety Earl Wolff

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Updated: 6:15 p.m.

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the Eagles on Friday finally gave up on Earl Wolff.

The Eagles waived Wolff with an injury designation on Friday afternoon, a source told CSNPhilly.com, nine days after he last practiced.

Tim McManus of Philly Mag's Birds 24/7 first reported the news.

Wolff, who started seven games at safety as a rookie in 2013, has been dealing with knee soreness since late in his rookie season.

He underwent knee surgery last fall and pronounced himself healthy before training camp began but hasn’t practiced since last Wednesday. Per Wolff's Twitter account Friday night, he underwent another surgery Thursday. He tweeted it was successful and thanked the Eagles' organization for the opportunity.

Head coach Chip Kelly said on Thursday that Wolff had spent Wednesday and Thursday seeing a doctor. Wolff said as recently as late last week that he was getting better every day, but the Eagles finally ran out of patience.

Kelly has bristled recently when discussing Wolff.

When asked earlier this week why he's been missing practice, he answered: "He says he can’t run with his knee."

The way he worded it spoke volumes.

Kelly on Thursday said the Eagles couldn't worry about Wolff's status, they had to move on and evaluate the safeties who've been out there practicing every day.

“I don’t look at it as frustrating,” Kelly said. “I think for Earl it’s frustrating, but for us, we just have to make evaluations based upon how they’re presented. …

“I feel bad for the player, but the only thing we can do is evaluate who’s available to you. I think that’s the hard part of it. How much you care about the individual player. And it’s tough, but you still have to move on. You still have to be able to find eight or nine DBs who are ready to play when we go play the Atlanta Falcons.

“It’s unfortunate and frustrating for Earl, but we just evalate the guys who are out here.”

Wolff played in 11 games as a rookie, starting six. He had 50 tackles, six knockdowns and an interception of Tony Romo that year but missed six of the Eagles’ last seven games, playing only briefly against the Bears. He played in just seven games last year with one start.

His 2014 season ended on Nov. 2 in Houston, the same game that the seasons of Nick Foles and DeMeco Ryans, and he went on IR on Nov. 18.

Wolff’s release adds some clarity to the safety position. Behind projected starters Malcolm Jenkins and Walter Thurmond and special teamer Chris Maragos, there is Ed Reynolds, a fifth-round pick out of Stanford last year who had two interceptions in the preseason game against the Colts; Jerome Couplin, who returned Tuesday after undergoing an appendectomy; and Chris Prosinski, who the Eagles signed in the middle of last year.

Wolff was playing on the third year of his four-year rookie contract, which was worth $2.372 million. He earned $1.112 million of that and was due base salaries of $585,000 this year and $675,000 in 2016.

The Eagles will absorb a modest $106,000 cap hit — the pro-rated portion of his original $212,000 signing bonus.

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