Babin's size and strength may just earn him a spot.


When Jason Babin was signed by the Eagles, it wasn't a move that got much publicity. A small blurb was placed here or there beneath a more important story or mentioned a passing sidenote. He was considered a camp body without much of a shot at making this team. Well, that may all be changing.

Babin impressed a lot of people last night when the Eagles went into Indianapolis to play Peyton Manning and the Colts. Babin was getting very good pressure, and looked extremely quick off the ball. A couple times he caused Manning to rush, which caused a bad throw.

This is exactly what the Eagles are looking for out of their defensive ends, and it's something that they have not been getting -- outside of Trent Cole. Darren Howard was able to get pressure last year, but a lot of his sacks came from playing the tackle position in the nickel on obvious passing situations.

Babin was a first-round pick back in 2004, so the potential is there and the talent has been showcased on some level, it just needs to translate onto a professional football field.

I was there for Babin's introductory press conference, which few members of the media actually stuck around for, and he said that he felt like the Eagles defense was a perfect fit for him. He said that he loves getting around the edge and getting after the quarterback, which is what the Eagles do. He may have been right, and in only a couple weeks with the team is moving up quickly.

He played right end on Thursday night in place of an injured Cole, and he's got a huge task in front of him if he's intent on playing right end. Left end, however, is more of an open position with Juqua Parker's arrest, and Abiamiri's injury. Not to mention that Abiamiri was less than impressive last night.

If Babin can show something while playing at the other end position, he may have overcome his difficult odds to make this team's final roster.