Pair Of "Poster Children" Make Eagles Roster On Defensive Line

PHILADELPHIA – There was a sense early in camp that Gabe Hall had a chance to make the Eagles 53-man roster. It was when defensive coordinator Vic Fangio called him a poster child for what practice players should be.

By that, he meant spending a year developing away from the pressure and limelight had done wonders for him. It allowed the Eagles' undrafted free agent from last year to get stronger and more confident. Hall displayed those traits and more all summer, and made it happen, and was on the team’s initial 53-man roster revealed Tuesday afternoon.

So was fellow defensive lineman Byron Young. Perhaps Fangio would refer to him in a similar way, though Young would be a poster child for patience and learning while spending all of last season on the roster but never being active on game day. He also was on IR with a hamstring injury.

The Eagles claimed Young last Aug. 29 when the Raiders released their third-round pick from 2023. Young had been the 70th player taken overall. And he played at the University of Alabama.

“We knew him really well coming out of the draft; third-round pick of the Raiders, we claimed him last year,” said general manager Howie Roseman. “He's heavy-handed, really strong, (with the) ability to really block destruct. I think for that, that's always a skillset that we're looking for.”

Eagles GM Likes What He Has In Pair Of Defensive Linemen

Eagles DT Gabe Hall — Lengthy Eagles UDFA DT was a UFL first-round pick | John McMullen/Eagles on SI

As one of six defensive tackles the Eagles kept on the roster, it remains to be seen if he will play more of a role this season.

“BY (Byron Young) we got during the season, did a good job for us, and we're anxious to see,” said Fangio earlier this summer. “He never got to play for us, but we're anxious to see what he can and can't do.”

As for Hall, there were times this year when Fangio would move him away from the interior of the defensive line and swing him to the edge.

“I think he just kept getting more confident coming off the injury he had in college,” said Fangio about Hall’s year on the practice squad. “He needed some confidence in that regard. He needed to get stronger, needed to adjust playing against men, not college players. It was a great learning experience for him.”

Hall had a serious knee injury as a freshman at Baylor in 2019 that cost him six games and all of his 2020 season. By his junior season the 6-6, 295-pound Hall was rounding into form, collecting three sacks in one game to finish the year with 4.5.

“This is a guy that we followed who, if he would've come out after his junior year, probably would've been first, second-day pick,” said Roseman. “We got him as a free agent last year, and our guys went to work on him because he's got tools in his body. This is a big, long athletic defensive tackle and really spent last year on the practice squad developing those qualities.”

The GM equated Hall’s development to that of defensive tackle Thomas Booker, who was traded earlier this summer to the Raiders for Jakorian Bennet, and Darian Kinnard, who was dealt to the Packers on Sunday.

“(They) were guys that we developed here with our developmental program. And that's the success of those,” said Roseman. “Obviously, we will miss those guys, wish them on. But this is another example of that.”

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