Clemons signs 5-year deal

By John McMullen

Philadelphia, PA (The Phanatic Magazine) - The Philadelphia Eagles signed free agent defensive end Chris Clemons to a five-year contract Saturday.

The 26-year-old Clemons registered a career-high eight sacks for the Oakland Raiders in 2007, despite being on the field for just 37 percent of the team’s defensive plays. His sack total tied for the team lead with ex-Eagle Derrick Burgess. Clemons, who played in all 16 games (two starts) for Oakland, also added 20 tackles, 13 knockdowns, 8 hurries, and two forced fumbles.

"Chris will be playing defensive end for us," coach Andy Reid said. "Obviously, you know he’s coming off of a great season with eight sacks and a bunch of hurries thrown in there. He had a tremendous year for the Oakland Raiders."

"I’ve always had it in me," Clemons said of his breakout season. "I have had a couple of bad breaks early on in my career. I got jump-started early last year and really took off.

Clemons (6-3, 240) was one of just four players in the NFL to record at least eight sacks while starting in fewer than 10 of his team’s contests in 2007. The others were Giants DE Justin Tuck (2 starts, 10 sacks), Packers DE Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila (2 starts, 9.5 sacks) and Buccaneers DE Greg White (2 starts, 8 sacks).

For his career, the five-year veteran has appeared in 36 games (three starts), tallying 36 tackles, 13 sacks, four forced fumbles and three passes defended. Clemons was originally signed as a rookie free agent by Washington in 2003 and recorded 5 sacks in 20 games for the Redskins from 2004-05. He signed with the Raiders in 2007 after sitting out the entire 2006 campaign with a knee injury.

As for his role with the Eagles -- that remains to be seen. "Chris will work into the rotation with the defensive ends," Reid said. "As many guys as we can get in there, you know how we like to rotate guys in there. This allows us to, if we can get four good [guys] in there, cranking it up and going, then that’s what we want. Chris adds to that group.

"I just want to make sure that we have enough guys who can get out there and play. If it’s equal opportunity between all of them, then that’s what I would like; to maintain that speed throughout the game. With Chris in the mix here, and all of the sudden you’ve got a nice group of defensive ends."