Family ties, ‘good football fit’ drew Long to Birds
PHILADELPHIA >> Why anyone would blow off a chance to win back-toback Super Bowls to join a team that hasn’t been to the playoffs the past three years goes against the spirit of winning.
What was Chris Long thinking when he walked away from the NFL champion New England Patriots, where he was part of the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history, to sign a two-year contract with the Eagles?
The truth is, deep down inside Long has always had some Eagle in him. He just didn’t know it until tying all of the evidence together.
Long knew it around the second or third time the pep band played Fly Eagles Fly during his first NFL game with the Rams. The Eagles clobbered them in their 2008 opener at Lincoln Financial Field.
It all started coming back to Long while he watched film of the Eagles killing the Falcons during the regular season to get ready to play Atlanta Super Bowl LI.
“The Philly defense, they were obviously very talented and played Atlanta great and really jumped off the screen at you,” Long said Friday. “In free agency, once it started, I was like, ‘Yeah I do remember watching those guys and man that would be cool to be a part of something like that.’ And that’s where I wanted to be.”
There’s a lot more evidence. There also was doubt.
Think of the conflicts flooding the head of the fiercely competitive Long when he decided to try free agency. In essence he chose Carson Wentz over Tom Brady, Doug Pederson over Bill Belichick and owner Jeffrey Lurie, who talks about winning multiple Super Bowls, over Robert Kraft, who is running out of fingers to wear his title rings. Noting that his wife and in-laws from South Jersey are long-time Eagles fans, defensive end Chris Long had no qualms about leaving the Super Bowl champion Patriots to sign with the Birds.
Brady, Belichick and Kraft one day will join Long’s father, Howie, who played at Villanova, in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Wentz, Pederson and Lurie have their fingers crossed they’ll make a playoff push this season.
Chris Long is a bright guy. He went to the University of Virginia. If you think you still have a few years of good football left and you spent much of your career apologizing for your big salary because you played for the lowly Rams, why would you risk it going to a team in rebuilding mode?
“The No. 1 thing when I started free agency was to find a good football fit,” Long said. “It wasn’t about the money for me. I’ve been very lucky to make a good amount of money playing football. It wasn’t about anything but just getting back to the player that I was, or as close as you can be to that. That’s something I’m very driven to do. And I’m very driven to compete and help this team win. And I’m just lucky to be here.”
The Eagles don’t have any big bucks right now. They gave it to Pro Bowl defensive tackle Fletcher Cox. They had to cut players, including popular defensive end Connor Barwin, to sign receivers Torrey Smith and Alshon Jeffery. The Eagles didn’t re-sign starting defensive tackle Bennie Logan and have to find another pass rusher, three cornerbacks and possibly a defensive tackle in the draft.
Long essentially is replacing Barwin, who signed with the Rams partly because of the report he got from Long. Long said Barwin had nothing but good things to say about the Eagles.
The crazy karma that inexorably links Long to the Philly area and the Eagles certainly doesn’t stop with the Barwin tie.
Long’s first college football game was against Temple at Lincoln Financial Field. That first NFL game against Donovan McNabb and the Eagles in 2008 seems like yesterday for Long, who remembers getting a lesson that day from offensive tackle Tra Thomas.
“I’m thinking what the hell did I get myself into?,” Long said. “I was chasing Donovan McNabb all day. I think they hung 44 on us. All I could remember was the fight song, and I just remember thinking throughout my entire career, I would really love to play in a city like that, that’s got that kind of atmosphere. And my dad was ready to drive home the point. Like, ‘You will love Philly, you will love the people, you will love the mentality.’”
In addition to Long’s Villanova connection through his dad, Long’s wife, Megan, whom he met at Virginia, grew up an Eagles fan in South Jersey.
Long said he scored an autographed McNabb jersey during his tour with Virginia to present his wife at Christmas.
“They kind of took one for the team,” Long said. “Wherever I was they were big fans of the teams. So this is like a win-win.
“So I think playing on the Eagles is probably like it’s come full circle. She grew up an Eagles fan. My in-laws, they were Eagles fans. So for me it’s like everybody’s happy in the family.”