NFL Free Agency Rumors: Eagles Pursuing Danny Amendola
By Josh Hill
A few days ago it was rumored that the Philadelphia Eagles may have an interest in ex-Rams wide receiver Danny Amendola. According to CSN Philly, the Eagles are indeed interested in Amendola but it’s unclear how much they’ll be willing to offer the wide out.
The St. Louis Dispatch reported on Sunday that the Rams will not be re-signing Amendola and he will indeed hit the open market. The receiver is reportedly asking for around $6 million but due to his battle with injuries and inability to stay healthy for long periods of time, teams may be unwilling to pony up that kind of cash.
What’s inter sting in the Eagles case is that fact that they have five receivers under contract and Amendola would have to battle DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, Jason Avant, Riley Cooper and Damarius Johnson for playing time. However, CSN Philly speculates that if Amendola is signed, one or two of those mentioned names may be headed out the door.
Despite the injuries that have plagued his previous two seasons, Amendola has been able to look impressive when healthy, and he fits the up-tempo style off offense that Chip Kelly is going to run with the Eagles. In fact, Amendola spent about a week on the Eagles practice squad back in 2009 before the Rams signed him to a deal.
But it’s the injuries that are making the headlines when it comes to Amendola’s value. Despite posting respectable numbers in the Rams offense, Amendola has suffered two massive injuries in the past two seasons, breaking his collar bone in 2011 and dislocating his clavicle in 2012. The dislocated clavicle was an injury that almost killed him, but he only missed three games and caught over 100 yards in his first game back.
Amendola’s name hasn’t surfaced much this weekend, but as we approach free agency and bigger pieces begin to fall in place, guys like Amendola will start to get dialed up a lot more and they won’t be free agents much long after that.