Westbrook will always be beloved in Philadelphia.
The Eagles have announced, via their official website, that they are prepared to release running back Brian Westbrook.
The move has not yet been made official, but as we all thought, it will be made official within the next few hours. The Eagles are releasing Westbrook now so that he has an opportunity to find a new team as quickly as possible.
"Brian is one of the greatest Eagles of all time and he is even a better person and leader," said head coach Andy Reid. "In my mind, there has not been a more versatile running back that the NFL has seen. I had a conversation with Brian this morning to let him know."
"This is by far the most difficult part of this job. We wanted to make this move now in order to maximize Brian's chances of landing with another NFL team."
Westbrook was indeed one of the greatest Eagles of all-time as evidenced by his high place among the franchise records charts.
After being a third-round pick in 2002 out of Villanova, Westbrook is the Eagles' all-time leader in scrimmage yards (9,785), most scrimmage yards in a single season (2,104 in 2007), and most receptions in a single season (90).
He's also second and third in areas such as rushing yards (5,995, behind Wilbert Montgomery), receptions (426, behind Harold Carmichael and Pete Retzlaff), total touchdowns (68, behind Carmichael and Steve Van Buren), and most 100-yard rushing games (20, behind Montgomery).
Team owner Jeffrey Lurie and president Joe Banner also had kind words to say of Westbrook.
Brian Westbrook is one of the most electric players in the history of this franchise and is certainly also one of the most popular," said Lurie. "He was personally one of the my favorite players to watch each and every Sunday and his playmaking abilities, leadership and values will be missed."
"We all know how valuable Brian was as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles and he will certainly go down as one of the greatest Eagles of all time," Banner said. "But what really showed me how special a person Brian is, was watching the way he interacted with my children. That said more to me about Brian than anything else he could have done on the playing field."
"We will miss him both as a person and as a player."
