Eagles Have No Plans of Signing Runyan

Big Jon will find himself on a team very shortly, but not in Philly.


Initially I had figured that the Eagles would sign Runyan as a backup because of Shawn Andrews' recent placement on I.R., but apparently the Eagles are comfortable with their backups. Unlike some others, I didn't think Runyan would be the starter because it was easy to be impressed with Winston Justice at right tackle.

Evidently, the Eagles were as impressed as I was with Justice.

While the Eagles may have to do some shuffling along the line if Justice were to go down, they aren't real worried about it. They feel that they can take any lineman, regardless of natural position, and make him a starter anywhere along the line.

Reid doesn't keep linemen unless they're versatile, so it's safe to assume that any of the backups could fill in at tackle if need be. Obviously the Eagles don't plan on Justice getting injured, but if the worst were to happen, they aren't worried about finding his replacement.

As far as Runyan goes, he will probably want to go to a winning team with some line issues. The first team everyone thinks when that's said is, of course, the defending world champions and the Eagles cross-state rival, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Runyan could be a huge help to them, or a team like the Green Bay Packers who appear to be on the rise but could certainly use some help along their offensive line.

Expect Runyan to sign sometime this week, and probably be playing on Sunday.