Executive order has Toth feeling grateful

PHILADELPHIA >> The best guess around here is that when newly signed Eagles offensive tackle Brett Toth flubs an assignment, line coach Jeff Stoutland will slam him with something endearing.

Here’s a suggestion: “Toth, it’s not nuclear engineering.”

Toth majored in that discipline at West Point, and when he’s done with football, he’ll return to fulfill his two-year military commitment with the Army. Until then 2nd Lt. Toth can chase his dream of playing pro football when he’s still young enough to make it happen.

Toth had no problem thanking President Donald Trump for the opportunity, the much-maligned leader of the Free World having ordered the Pentagon to allow athletes from the Army, Navy and Air Force to defer their commitments, a reversal from previous policy. That almost certainly will help the academies recruit athletes.

“It couldn’t have been done without President Trump taking the initiative to send athletes to professional sports,” Toth said after his first practice with the Eagles Sunday. “And it’s going to be a huge advertising tool for the Army and that’s why I’m here. Just to represent West Point and the Army as a whole.”

Toth signed a three-year contract with the Eagles, who currently are loaded with offensive linemen. It would surprise no one if he spent time on the practice squad while bulking up and learning some of the nuances of the pro game.

Toth (6-6, 290) isn’t afraid of the work ahead. His inspiration is Alejandro Villanueva, the Army Ranger who spent the 2013 training camp with the Eagles and later wound up with the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he blossomed into a Pro Bowl offensive tackle.

“I’m just excited to get a chance to learn under coach Stoutland,” Toth said. “The offensive line here, everyone knows how deep the offensive line is and how good each position is. These are a group of guys you want to learn under.”

In addition to Toth, Vikings long-snapper Austin Cutting, from the Air Force, also is deferring his military service. ••• The Eagles released injury plagued linebacker Paul Worrilow, who earned almost every honor possible at the University of Delaware.

Worrilow never came all the way back from a torn ACL sustained in his first minicamp practice with the Eagles in 2018. Worrilow didn’t play in either preseason game this summer and barely has practiced at training camp.

The Blue Hens legend spent his four NFL seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, where he played 25 snaps on special teams in the overtime loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI.

Worrilow, a product of Concord High in Delaware, led the Falcons with 143 tackles in 2014. He played a dozen games for the Detroit Lions in 2017, then signed with the Eagles.

••• The Eagles host joint practices Monday and Tuesday with the Ravens. The teams play Thursday night at Lincoln Financial Field.

Though various starters from both teams will rest and rehab with an eye toward starting the regular season, the practices give players and coaches a chance to evaluate themselves against another playoff team.

With the regular season just three weeks away, the controlled setting with no tackling to the ground is a safe way to evaluate progress.

“I think it does help if you want to work red zone, you want to work third down, short yardage,” Malcolm Jenkins said. “It’s a little different in a game. You can have a deliberate focus. But it’s still vanilla at the end of the day. We’re not going in with all our best stuff, as they won’t. You don’t want to give away all your secrets,.

But I think it is a good chance to work your fundamentals against another team. It’s good work.”

••• NOTES >> Eagles Pro Bowl guard Brandon Brooks (Achilles’ tendon) hoped to be cleared for contact this week but wasn’t. Instead he’s gotten the go-ahead to participate in one-oneone drills. “I feel great,” Brooks said. “Everything is going according to schedule. If this week goes well, we’ll go from there.” … Add defensive end Josh Sweat (knee) to the injury list. He was banged up in the second preseason game. Quarterback Cody Kessler, who sustained a concussion on the first series of that game, watched practice in the blistering heat Sunday.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE An Executive order allowed Army tackle Brett Toth, shown playing for the North in the Senior Bowl, to delay the start of his military career to sign with the Eagles.