Eagles OL Tyler Steen Eager to Scrimmage Philly's Georgia Defense
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PHILADELPHIA - Tyler Steen got his first taste of Georgia when he was at Vanderbilt and again when he transferred to Alabama.
It was hard to beat those Dawgs, so now, Steen has joined them, after general manager Howie Roseman followed up drafting Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith on Thursday night’s first round by taking Steen in the third round on Friday night.
A year ago, Roseman also took Georgia defensive tackle Jordan Davis in the first round.
“I know I went against Jordan Davis and Nolan Smith and those guys in college when I was at Vanderbilt,” said Steen. “I know we played them pretty consistently on a yearly basis. They've got a really good program over there, really good players over there, so I can't wait to be a part of that and join the team with them.”
Once training camp begins in July, and the Eagles go live, it’s going to be an interesting scrimmage.
The Eagles have several key players from Alabama on offense – quarterback Jalen Hurts, receiver DeVonta Smith, left guard Landon Dickerson, and now, Steen.
On defense, are the Georgia guys – Carter, Smith, Kelee Ringo, Davis, and Nakobe Dean. There are a couple of interlopers on defense from Alabama, including last year’s undrafted free agent cornerback Josh Jobe and this year’s UDFA cornerback Eli Ricks.
There's no doubt the Georgia guys are tight.
The five of them won national titles together in Athens, Ga., and Davis was there to greet Carter and Smith when they arrived at the Eagles' facility on Friday morning, just hours after being drafted.
“We're just trying to set up a good game in the preseason over these scrimmages,” said Roseman.
The GM was joking.
But he had a more serious answer about the potential for entertaining training camp scrimmages.
“Alabama has had a tremendous defensive tradition and obviously Georgia scores a ton of points," Roseman said. "Their offensive coordinator (Todd Monken) became the offensive coordinator at Baltimore (Ravens).
“I don't think we can put - those programs are just good programs, they're good teams. Just like we're trying to build a balanced team, we want to have a really good offense, and we want to have a really good defense. And I think both those schools have shown that.”
Going against the Eagles’ Georgia-based defense, not to mention Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, and others is something Steen looks forward to doing.
“I think it'll definitely make me better,” he said. “It’s iron sharpens iron at the end of the day. I think at Alabama obviously we had great players on the defensive line and the defense in general, and getting a chance to practice against them every day made me that much better of a player.
“So, I can't wait to get there and practice every day against those guys and get the opportunity to just become that much better of a player. I'm very excited about that.”
Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.
Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter at @kracze.
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