June 17, 2015
I'm a little late on this, but Connor Barwin was ranked as the 58th-best player in the NFL by his peers. About a month ago (NFL.com is really milking their list for everything it's worth), Darren Sproles came in at number 81. Here's the video NFL.com put together of Barwin:
Barwin was appreciative for his appearance on the list. "It was definitely cool," he said. "I’m happy I was voted into it. Hopefully some more of my teammates are on there next year, as well as myself. I understand very clearly that I wouldn’t be on there if it wasn’t for guys on this team, whether it be how many points the offense puts up, which puts us in situations on defense to rush the quarterback, to (Cedric Thornton) doing his job over on the left side. It’s cool to be on that list, but all of us are only as good as the rest of guys on our team."
Barwin was awesome for the Eagles a year ago. He is as versatile of a 3-4 OLB as you'll find in the NFL, as he can cover, he can set the edge in the run game, he does a great job of battling down passes, and as the video below show, his "All-22 highlight video" below shows, a significant number of his 14.5 sacks weren't just "hustle plays." (Video via the great Larry Mitros of insidetheeagles.net)
I would imagine the remaining Eagles on this list will be Jason Peters, DeMarco Murray, and if the players have any clue what they're talking about, Fletcher Cox. And Donnie Jones, obviously.
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