Eagles release linebacker Mychal Kendricks

By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor  

On the first day of OTA's, the Philadelphia Eagles were missing a couple of players. Among them were Darren Sproles and Michael Bennett, both of whom were in contact with head coach Doug Pederson. Also missing was Mychal Kendricks. It turns out that the veteran linebacker has been released by the team.

The Eagles will save $4.4 million in cap space by releasing Kendricks. His cap hit in 2018-19 was set to be $7.6 million, so they'll have $3.2 million in dead money unless they designate his release as a post-June 1 cut. They'd then save $6 million.

It seems likely that Howie Roseman tested the trade market for him, but no substantial suitors came from it. Kendricks has been at the center of trade talks during the majority of his last two seasons in Philadelphia. Also, the Eagles agreed to a one-year deal with linebacker Corey Nelson earlier in the offseason worth $2.25 million, so the move to cut ties with Kendricks shows that the Eagles are confident in Nelson moving forward. 

Kendricks was selected in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft out of Cal. In six seasons with the Eagles, Kendricks appeared in 85 games (74 starts) and tallied 338 tackles, 14 sacks, six forced fumbled, five recoveries and three interceptions.

It's been a big day for the Eagles at linebacker. Five-year veteran Paul Worrilow, signed by the Eagles in April, banged knees with another linebacker in practice on Tuesday and he left the building in an air cast, per Jeff McLane. Adam Schefter reports that Worrilow has suffered a torn ACL. He was signed in April to a one-year deal.

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