Getty Connor Barwin spent four seasons with the Eagles.
He’s always been one of the NFL’s good guys. Now, Connor Barwin will have a seat in the room where it happens.
Barwin, who retired last October after a 10-year career, wanted to stay involved with the Philadelphia Eagles in some capacity. After a brief comeback attempt, the 33-year-old former pass-rusher contacted GM Howie Roseman about helping the organization with scouting and personnel.
On Friday, the team announced they had named Barwin “special assistant to the general manager.” He played four seasons in Philadelphia and ranks 15th on the franchise’s all-time sack list with 31.5.
The news wasn’t exactly shocking as he had been spotted representing the Eagles earlier this week at the East-West Shrine Bowl practices. The team confirmed, via Chris McPherson, that Barwin will also be at the Senior Bowl next week in Mobile, Alabama.
His role will be two-fold: in the offseason, Barwin will aid in scouting talent; during the season, he will focus on player development. The latter has been a perceived weakness for the Eagles as recent draft picks (see: JJ Arcega-Whiteside and Sidney Jones) have failed to live up to expectations.
“Ultimately, there’s going to be adversity, whether it’s personally or for the team. You want to be around guys that can persevere through that,” Barwin told the team’s official website. “I’ve seen that after 10 years of playing. Hopefully, I can identify that when I’m going to look at college players and other guys around the league.”
Connor Barwin has returned to Eagles, now as special assistant to the general manager.
Eagles Fire Underwhelming Defensive Line Coach
The Eagles made a minor tweak to their defensive coaching staff as well. They fired defensive line coach Phillip Daniels on Friday.
Daniels announced the move on Twitter and thanked the organization for “four great years.” The former NFL defensive end was promoted from assistant defensive line coach before the start of the 2019 campaign. He was originally hired by the Eagles in 2016 as a defensive quality control coach.
Daniels oversaw a pass-rushing unit that the front office felt had underperformed this year. The Eagles ranked 13th in the league with 43 total sacks, down from 44 in 2018 and up from 38 in 2017. According to the Eagles’ official website, his 2018 unit produced more sacks (36.5) than any defensive line in the NFL.
Miles Sanders Comments on Possibly Winning Offensive Rookie of the Year
It was a record-breaking season for Miles Sanders. The Penn State product set new franchise records for rushing yards, scrimmage yards and all-purpose yards by a rookie.
While he didn’t get selected to the Pro Bowl, Sanders is a leading candidate to win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. He’ll be up against the Raiders’ Josh Jacobs and the Cardinals’ Kyler Murray for that honor. The way Sanders sees it, he has a “pretty good shot” at winning the award.
“I think I have a pretty good shot,” Sanders told FS1’s Undisputed, via PennLive. “But I got a lot of confidence in myself based on the type of production that I gave, basically, I think, in half of a season, with [Darren] Sproles going down, going on IR and Jordan Howard and going down for the rest of the half of the season.”
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