The Evolution of Nate Gerry is Complete

PHILADELPHIA – It would have been only natural for doubt to creep in.

Here was Nate Gerry, a fifth-round draft pick out of Nebraska three years ago coming into the professional game, not at his natural position but being asked immediately to start learning how to play linebacker. That meant adding weight and learning a new skillset.

Then he got cut anyway after his first training camp.

Except Gerry, who was signed to the practice squad two days after being released following 2017’s training camp, remained supremely confident in his ability to do exactly what the Eagles wanted him to do.

“I’m a football player, that’s how I was raised,” said Gerry following Wednesday’s practice. “Coming from South Dakota playing high school football, I played just about every position you can possibly think of from long snapper to punter and on the offensive and defensive side. It’s just another challenge for me I wanted to overcome. I knew I could play the game of football.

“I just knew it would be a challenge for me. It took me some time, obviously, but I feel like every year I developed a little bit more and learned a lot more when it came to the defensive scheme and the linebacker position in general.”

Read John McMullen's story on Duke Riley and how he is making most of second chance with Eagles at Eagles Extra Plus:

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The incubation period is over now for Gerry. After learning from former Eagles linebackers Jordan Hicks then Nigel Bradham, Gerry will now be the one lining up as the starting middle linebacker when the Eagles open their season on Sept. 13 against Washington.

He will be the one calling the signals, making sure everyone is lined up properly when he stares across the line of scrimmage at Washington’s Dwyane Haskins, who was named the Football Team’s starting QB on Wednesday.

He believes he has learned his lessons well and starting 12 games last year didn’t hurt, either.

Gerry, who is in the final season of his rookie deal that will pay him a base salary of $825,000, talked about his evolution over the previous three seasons.

“Just the understanding of the game, coming from college playing safety,” he said. “It’s obviously a lot faster the closer you move to the football and things happen a lot quicker, especially playing the (middle) linebacker, you have to make more of the checks and communication with getting the D-line lined up, the secondary lined up, but I’ve always taken a day at a time.

“Every year, I try to improve in some way. My first year, I played all special teams, my second year I did special teams with a little more defense, my third year just kind of got a little bit more, and that’s kind of what I was doing, just chipping away, showing the coaches, the teammates that I could be trusted in situations of the ballgame and show them that I do things right.”

What Gerry may not be doing much of is playing special teams, a unit where he initially proved to the coaches that he belongs to stick around.

With the full-time demands of defense, the Eagles may be prudent with his workload.

Last year, he played 630 snaps on defense (61 percent) and 335 snaps on special teams (74 percent).

Special teams coach Dave Fipp said earlier this summer that he doesn’t see Gerry much anymore in the special team meetings, though Gerry is the backup long snapper behind Rick Lovato.

“He hasn’t taken that many reps on special teams because he hasn't,” said Fipp, laughing during an interview a couple of weeks ago, “because right now he has taken a lot more reps on defense.

“That being said, he's got a lot of experience for us, so he's a guy for us that we could put into a bunch of different spots at any time. … We'll just see how it plays out on defense.”

Gerry isn’t quite ready to surrender his special team role, but he understands the reality of the situation.

“I always expect to be a special teams guy, that’s where I was coming in the league, so that’s nothing I’m going to turn my head on, that’s what helped put me in this position I’m in now, playing linebacker with special teams,” said Gerry.

“I feel like me and Fipp are both on a common page where if something does happen with somebody, he knows he can trust me and step in and get the job done.”

Without any doubt.

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