Eagles Tweak Sports Medicine/Performance Staff
The Eagles have made more changes to their sports medicine and performance staff, bringing on Eddie Grayer as an assistant strength coach and waving goodbye to assistant trainers Micah Gerhart and Mark Lewis.
The moves are tied to the new blood at the top of the department: director of sports medicine Tom Hunkele and director of sports performance Tom Rath, who were both brought on by the organization back in early February.
Hunkele was once a part of the NovaCare Rehabilitation staff from 2000-05 and returned to Philadelphia after spending 14 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings where he served as the coordinator of rehabilitation/assistant athletic trainer.
It’s believed Hunkele is just managing and putting his signature on the training staff, which was one of the largest in the NFL when he arrived.
After the 2019 season, Hunkele was recognized as the Tim Davey Assistant Athletic Trainer of the Year for the NFC. He was also part of a Vikings staff that was honored as the 2017 Athletic Training Staff of the Year.
Grayer, meanwhile, previously worked with Rath, best known to most fans as Sean McVay’s “get-back coach” with the Los Angeles Rams.
The 2017 Strength Coach of the Year per the Professional Football Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association, what caught the Eagles' eye when it came to Rath was the health of the Rams that season.
According to Football Outsiders, the Rams finished as the healthiest team in the NFL based on adjusted games lost due to injury, and Philadelphia has struggled mightily with manpower lost to injury over the past few seasons.
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM’s Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes, and every Tuesday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SBNation Radio. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
