National Football League

Chris Long 'ready to work' after agreeing to sign with Eagles

Published Mar. 28, 2017 12:26 p.m. ET

Dan Graf

After winning a Super Bowl in his one season with the New England Patriots, veteran defensive end Chris Long has agreed to a reported one-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles.

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Long, 32, played his first eight years with the Rams after they made him the No. 2 overall pick in the 2008 draft. He reached his peak with 13 sacks in 2011 but regressed to the point the team released him in February 2016. A month later, he ended up signing with the Patriots, and he started seven of the 16 regular-season games he played in, racking up four sacks as a situational pass rusher.

He told Patriots fans a few weeks ago that he wouldn’t return to the team, instead preferring to look for a role that would allow him to “get back to being the player I was before.”

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That likely means a team that would give him more playing time, and the Eagles seem like a good fit given their need for a consistent edge rusher following the release of Connor Barwin.