For the second straight year, as one would expect, Eagles defensive end Chris Long is contemplating whether he wants to continue playing football.
After 11 years in the NFL, he has earned that right.
"At 33 years old, I think any player my age should take time to take inventory and see what their situation is and see how the body feels," Long said to NJ Advance Media at the Super Bowl this week in Atlanta. "I'd be really excited to play football next year, but not in a situation that made me resent continuing."
One of the Eagles top priorities should be making sure that if Long does decide to continue playing, he continues to play in an Eagles' uniform — something the team badly needs for next season.
Long might not have started a single game in 2018, but he played in all 16, and was without question one of the Eagles best and most important defensive linemen. Long finished with 6.5 sacks last season, his highest total in five seasons. Despite playing just 59% of the snaps in 2018, Long finished fourth on the team in combined quarterback pressures.
"I'd like to play," Long said. "I played, I thought, real well this year. People have concerns about am I durable? I haven't missed a practice in the last two years. I haven't missed a game in the last two years. I can still play. The question is: Does whatever team want me as a player or a locker-room guy?'"
The answer to that question for the Eagles is both. With Brandon Graham potentially leaving in free agency, Timmy Jernigan a potential cap casualty and Derek Barnett coming off of shoulder surgery, the Eagles' defensive line is in danger of not being the dominating force it has been in year's past. There is little doubt that the team will add a young defensive linemen early on in the draft — potentially as early as the first round — but even that player will come in as a question mark considering he will be a rookie.
That is why the Eagles need Long back. Not only do they need him on the field, but they need him off of it as well, to help bring along the young defensive ends — Barnett, Josh Sweat and the rookie the Eagles will almost certainly bring in — next season. In some ways, Long is one of the most important players on the Eagles' roster next season.
Even with the tight financial situation the Eagles are in, the $5.6 million cap hit Long is set to have in 2019 would be money well spent. Long coming back at that price would be a bargain for the Eagles.
Now it is up to the Eagles to make sure Long feels he is wanted, and to make sure he is back in 2019.
You can follow Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!
