The Philadelphia Eagles released linebacker DeMeco Ryans on Wednesday.
The release isn’t a surprise when u look at Ryans' salary, age, and injury history. Ryans base salary of $2.5 million would have become fully guaranteed on March 11, Pro Football Talk notes. The Eagles will save $3.5 million in salary-cap space and have $1 million in dead money, according to NFL.com. In the last two seasons Ryans has missed ten games due to injury. He tore his right Achilles tendon halfway through the 2014 season and missed two games in 2015 due to a hamstring injury.
Another reason for Ryans release was the Eagles are moving to a 4-3 defense and didn’t have any linebacker jobs for Ryans.
Ryans was drafted by the Houston Texans in 2006. He spent six seasons with the Texans. In 2012 he was traded to the Eagles. Last year he had 68 tackles and one interception, according to ESPN. He has 13.5 sacks and seven interceptions in his career and is a two-time Pro Bowler.
With Ryans gone Mychal Kendricks, Kiko Alonso, and Jordan Hicks are the Eagles linebackers. Hicks is expected to assume a bigger role now that Ryans is gone.