Eagles' Chris Long tries to troll Fletcher Cox over angry tweets
After longtime Bird griped about flight delays on Twitter, newcomer tried to fake him out with a phony airline account.
HAVING CHRIS LONG around is going to be entertaining.
Fletcher Cox took to Twitter to complain about two flight delays that lengthened his journey from Mississippi back to Philadelphia Sunday for this week's OTAs.
Long, the veteran free-agent defensive end the Eagles signed this offseason to give Cox some pass-rushing help, saw an opportunity and seized it. He created a fake Delta tweet that advised the Eagles' $103 million defensive tackle to chill.
"Fletcher, we don't give a s-t. Grab some extra pretzels and sit tight," the ersatz Delta told Cox.
Cox said Monday that he was only momentarily fooled and that it was all part of the bonding process.
"Chris's got a real sense of humor. When he did it, I instantly looked. It kind of shocked me a little bit," before Cox realized that it wasn't really Delta responding.
"I was reading my Twitter and I was like, 'Oh, Fletch seems upset. I think I want to mess with him' . . . A guy with that much money, who's that good at football, he's got to be able to take a joke," Long said Monday.
Long didn't stop with the tweet.
"I texted him right after, I was like, 'Man Delta's really out of line for that.' He was like, 'It was a fake account, it wasn't Delta.' I was like, 'Oh, really?' "
Somewhere, Evan Mathis, who once created an elaborate Twitter ruse around a fake dinner receipt, is smiling.
Jernigan limps off
Defensive tackle Tim Jernigan left practice a bit early with what the Eagles said was an ankle sprain. Serendipitously, just before Monday's workout, the team signed Gabe Wright, a 6-3, 305-pound defensive tackle who has played in 12 games with the Lions and the Browns over the past two seasons.
Former Lions general manager Martin Mayhew traded up with the Eagles to draft Wright in the fourth round from Auburn in 2015, giving up a 2016 third-rounder that the Eagles tossed into the Carson Wentz trade package. Having two third-round picks in 2016 allowed them to use the other on Isaac Seumalo, projected as their starting left guard this year.
Mayhew was fired after the 2015 season and Wright was released. He was up and down from the Browns' practice squad last season.
The Eagles didn't know Jernigan was going to hurt his ankle, but they had a roster opening. DT was a likely place to use it. Beau Allen is sidelined following pec tendon surgery, and sixth-round rookie Elijah Qualls is absent because the University of Washington is on a quarter system.
Birdseed
As has been the case throughout these voluntary OTAs, left tackle Jason Peters, punter Donnie Jones and defensive end Marcus Smith were absent. Other absences Monday included wideout Jordan Matthews, presumably with that "precautionary" knee tendinitis from last week, running back LeGarrette Blount, who was again said to be ill, linebacker Mychal Kendricks (calf) and offensive tackle/fullback Dillon Gordon (hamstring).
@LesBowen
Blog: philly.com/Eaglesblog