I love Nolan Carroll’s optimism. He just KNOWS he can bounce back from a broken fibula and a couple of titanium screws holding his ankle and leg bone together. But like JB99 Sage-Lion says, he’s hurting too much to realistically make a six-month comeback. This is going to be a Waterloo summer for Carroll.
Carroll’s season ended last Thanksgiving Day in Detroit, when he broke his fibula. He also tore ligaments he said. Surgeons used screws to stabilize the area.
Carroll just signed a one-year contract for $2.36 million with the Eagles. Roughly a third of that money is guaranteed if things don’t work out.
Carroll shopped himself around the league but the injury concern scared off most takers. The Eagles to their credit welcomed him back on a try-out deal. Sometimes an organization will put out the welcome mat for a player they value for past contributions, but know his chances of making the club are slim. This is simply good business for encouraging good will and team loyalty among other veteran players.
Then the player who’s drowning in post-injury doubt has to say all the right things. He has to say stuff like “I felt like [Philly] was the best fit for me,” as Carroll actually said, “just having a familiarity with the team and the players. I’ve never been a part of anything like this. I’ve never been a part of a city where they care about the team so much. There’s no other place like this.”
I think that’s the same speech I heard from Doug Flutie about 8 times in his 21-year pro career in the USFL, CFL and the NFL… except Doug wasn’t dodging injury concerns, but instead a question of his height (5-9 and 3/4″).
“I feel like it’s going to be an attack-type defense with new coordinator Schwartz,” Carroll said. “I think it’s going to be simple for us. We don’t have to think as much. We’re going to let those guys up front do what they do.”
“The bottom line with our new defense is to play in man coverage,” Carroll explained. “A lot of the defensive schemes aren’t really different. It’s really just the terminology. I really feel like Coach Schwartz and this scheme is really just going to be aggressive, so the guys on the outside, we have to be able to hold up on our own.”
Yeah, but Nolan, even with a new coordinator and an aggressive scheme, you still need to be able to move around on your ~Borzed-up leg like a ballerina.
If indeed Carroll can regain full range of motion, it’s comforting for him to know that Cory Undlin will still be coaching his position group:
“I know it gave me a lot more confidence just knowing the technique he was teaching me worked,” Carroll said. “As long as I just continued to work on it and make it consistent, it helped me week in and week out. I don’t think it’s going to change. Coach Cory is all about technique, he’s all about competing, he’s all about giving effort. Those things aren’t going to change.”
Rookie Eric Rowe replaced Carroll and played well. “I think he did a good job,” Carroll said. “He has all the tools to be one of the good corners in this league.” The Eagles now need another starter opposite Rowe. They traded Byron Maxwell, the other starting cornerback, to Miami earlier this month. So there is a vacancy at one of the cornerback spots. Carroll said he expects to fill it.
The Eagles also signed free agent cornerbacks Leodis McKelvin and Ron Brooks, who played for Schwartz in Buffalo in 2014. McKelvin and Brooks have a head start on knowing Schwartz’s defense. Carroll said he expected an open competition. That’s why he returned to Philadelphia instead of signing with the Cowboys who were the only NFL team which showed any interest in him.
“It was just weird,” Carroll said of his visit to the Dallas Cowboys. “Just being here, playing here and knowing that I played against those guys a couple of times, it kind of felt weird to be in that facility and see some of those players, guys that I have played against. I just felt like it wasn’t the fit right now. I felt like my fit was here in Philadelphia.”
“I’m feeling good. I’m feeling healthy,” Carroll said. “Every single day for me is just about improving. Dr. (Robert) Anderson has cleared me to go about how I feel. Every single day, push your limit, and when you feel something hurting, kind of tailor it back, but as far as doing everything, I’m cleared to do that. There’s really no point right now in my rushing anything to kind of set myself back, but I’m able to do everything that I can do.”
The entire dynamic can change quickly if the Eagles draft a cornerback in the 1st round. But for now, Nolan Carroll and his squeaky wheel are still in the race.
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