Anthony Mazziotti
With Jason Peters hitting the IR with both an ACL and MCL tear, the Eagles were left with very little offensive line depth.
Halapoulivaati Vaitai will step in to play left tackle in his absence. This will leave Isaac Seumalo as the backup swing tackle, God forbid Lane Johnson or Big V get injured. Outside of that, there is no one else on the active roster as a back up.
There were a litany of theories early this week on what the Birds would do to add depth to the line. Would they sign a veteran tackle like Branden Albert? Would they try a trade for the Texans’ Duane Brown or 49ers’ Joe Staley? Would they promote practice squad tackle Dillon Gordon (who spent the 2016 season on the 53 man roster)?
With all the options that Howie Roseman had, he decided to bring in a familiar face that hadn’t found a home yet this season: converted defensive tackle, Taylor Hart.
Hart was a fifth round pick back in 2014, he played for Chip Kelly’s famed Oregon Ducks. He made the switch to offensive tackle this offseason as an attempt to find a spot on the 53 man roster. He inevitably fell short.
Offensive coordinator Frank Reich had this to say about Hart: “All my grades on Taylor when he was here were very high. But I was very impressed with Taylor throughout OTAs and training camp and thought he showed a lot of good signs.”
I like the signing, it gives the Birds a chance to work with someone they have previous experience with in a low pressure scenario. Now Hart can get some valuable practice time and to try to improve as an offensive tackle. If Alejandro Villanueva can make the switch, I have the utmost confidence that Hart can do it at least two thirds as well.
At the end of the day, I think this was a good move for the Eagles. However, let’s not kid ourselves: if it gets to the point where Taylor Hart is getting meaningful playing time, the Eagles are pretty screwed anyway.
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