Former Notre Dame star and current Eagles backup defensive tackle, Trevor Laws knows that it’s time for him to step up and prove that the Eagles were right for drafting him in the second round or start hoping that somebody else signs him after he gets released.
Laws is going to have play so well that he forces the Birds to put him on the field. Thus far he has been unable to get any playing time and even worse, he didn’t even suit up for many of the games a year ago.
He was a healthy scratch, which means the coaching staff has very little if any confidence in him.¬† To make it plain, the only reason he’s still on the roster is because he was drafted so high.
Last year a free agent rookie defensive tackle, Antonio Dixon was signed after being released by the Redskins at the end of the preseason.  He promptly came in here and within a couple of weeks was lining up ahead of Laws.
When asked about why his performance was so disappointing a year ago, Laws replied, “I missed camp.¬† I was injured in camp, got a slow start with that.¬† Nagging injuries, ….I got behind and it was hard to catch up.¬† Hopefully I’ll be healthy this year’.
He’d better be healthy or he won’t be around long.¬† He’s been trying to get stronger by living in the weight room and that’s help him put on some weight.¬† He says he’s weighing about 315 now and is just as quick off the ball.
The youngster said he’s eager to put the pads on and I don’t blame him.¬† I’ve told you guys many times before that the interior offensive and defensive linemen don’t get very much out of these OTA’s, which should be called passing camps.
“For us passing camp isn’t really football, we’re out there doing these little moves and stuff”, Laws told me last week. ” We’re power players, let’s get the pads on, that’s when you show what it’s all about.¬† I’m ready to go out there and hit some people”.
He’s saying all the right things but he’s got to go out and earn his way onto the football team in July and August.¬† He must play like “his hair is on fire”.
Laws must start kicking butt at the moment he gets to training camp.  Mike Patterson and Brodrick Bunkley are cemented in as the starters at defensive tackle.  Still he has to push them for playing time and beat out Dixon.
If he can prove that he’s a better inside pass rusher than Patterson, Bunkley, former Seahawk Darryl Tapp or rookie Daniel Te’o Nesheim, he might be able to get some playing time on third downs.
On the other hand, if he goes through the camp and doesn’t standout, his days as an Eagle are over.
In player speak, “Laws stole money last year”, the Eagles aren’t going him do it again this time around.
Laws is a goner I believe, as will his one-time Notre Dame teammate Victor Abriami..
Both these players have the physical tools, and have both had some bad luck with injuries,
but I sensed early on,that both of the players just didn’t have that the sense of urgency,that passion and dedication that it takes to not only make the NFL but to play and be productive versus other players..Talk about USC being overated, how many players in the last 10 years have been drafted from Notre Dame who just haven’t done much in the NFL…
Another former DC Jimmy Johnson reach as far as drafting goes (McDougle,McCoy,Laws,Abriami,
B Smith,M Ware, Q Demps,C Gocong) were all chosen in the top 3 rounds I believe without ever doing much for the Eagles or the NFL level)
Paulman— Demps was a 4th round pick
Ok ATF,
thanks for the correction… Since you like the 4th Round, we can go ahead an add Jack Ike,
to the list…
If Laws and Abiamari are both busts and the Giants got Tuck, what’s wrong with that picture as all three are from Notre Dame and played together.
Jason Tuck is highly self-motivated and has received better coaching from the Giants as well as having better teammates along the D/Line than Laws/Abriami have had.
Check the scouting reports from back when Laws and Abriami where in the Draft..
Laws lacked the size and strength at the point of attack, and had some questions about his work wthic.. Abriami was listed as having a lack of explosion or 1st step quuickness to be an effective pass-rusher and a ovreall lack of agression and killer instinct to be able to raise havoc against the running game (In essence, Abriami was described as almost being too nice of a guy to be playing in the trenches in the NFL)
2-3-4 years later.. I think these descriptions still hold true for both of these players…
PM Are you saying that the Eagles evaluation of these players were flawed. I don’t know what round each was drafted. Thanks for the scouting report. It also seems that Abimari is injury prone and Laws has had nagging injuries also. I am dissapointed that many of the Eagle players in the past didn’t work on their strength and conditioning a lot more and also that the front office didn’t monitor and demand this.
The times of these posts don’t coincide with the time on my computer EST
oh they have the tools im guessing u r still evaluating their college days because i havent been able to evaluate much on them game days other than they stink i mean maybe ur at training camp or something like u were wih kolb the past few yrs with all ur evals like at least didinger is actually at like practice and camp be4 he makes these asinine evaluations lmao
That’s exactly what I am saying, Big E as well as receiving coaching from DL R Segrest who I am not a fan of… but here is what is sad and pisses me off…
2007 2nd Round Pick (#57th Overall) was when V Abriami was selected
2008 2nd Round Pick (#47th Overall) was when T Laws was selected..(before D-Jax was even selected if you can believe that). Are you kidding me… players selected this high should not only be able to get on the field and contribute, but I would think they should be starter types and maybe be All-Pro type of players or at the least, be very good players….
Another questionable Eagles pick to add to the pile. I don’t know that Laws is average or better than average, but I do know that the guy has gotten virtually no playing time and that’s pretty absurd for a FIRST round pick. I think you were wrong on where he was drafted G. As I recall the Eagles traded into the bottom of the 1st round and got I high 2nd round pick which ended up being DeSean Jackson.
In any event it’s pretty idiotic to release anybody above 2nd round value based on practice reps. alone . On the other hand the Eagles seem to be in this kind of position with a couple of players every year. Would love to read a few more articles on how few first and second round draft picks the Eagles have made have lasted more than 3 seasons on the team in the Reid era.
Oh my god. Why can’t the Eagles be like the other teams and almost never have a bad draft pick. This organization is terrible because they miss on 30-40% of their draft picks, where as most teams barely make any draft mistakes at all. But yeah, I do think the two ND DL were bad picks. I hope the Eagles NEVER draft a notre dame player again. If it weren’t for the history of the school, nobody would even talk about or look to draft their players at all.
They will soon add Kolb to the list of 1st & 2nd Round busts. Teams may miss on mid to late rounds but can ill afford to have these mishaps in the early rounds for the bonuses are high and takes longer for a team to recover…..Kolb wlll be on the list…..remember this.
Song, you are damn right that teams can ill afford to have ‘these mishaps in the early rounds for the bonuses are high’..etc. But it happens ALL THE FREAKIN time, to most if not all teams in the NFL. That’s the reality of reality, we’re dealing with human beings and a complicated as hell sport with infinite ever-changing factors. And we all know you’re opinion on Kolb. We also all know that predicting busts after a full season of games played is incredibly foolish. But suit yourself.
We all know that Drafting the right players is a crap-shoot in many cases…
But looking at the Eagles record over the last 5-7 years or so and especially with the first 3 Rounds Selections and on the Defensive side of the ball, they have missed the mark way too often which is why the Current Defense had to be rebuilt…. look at players chosen high since then, (McDougle,M McCoy,B Smith,Laws,Abriami,Demps,M Ware,Gocong)
Who else besides Patterson,Bunkley & Bradley have
become contributors let alone good solid players in the NFL with Pro-Bowl potential
Was JJ too much an influence on who to select, is Reid and FO (Heckert) that bad on indentifying
talent on the Defensive side of the ball…
Look at todays starters & contributors on this Defense ….
T Cole selected in 5th Rd, Parker,Jordan,Dixon,Mickell all undrafeted free-agaents…
Gaither,Mays,Fokou, M Harris all selected in the later rounds of 5,6,7 …
So does this mean they do a good job with late round selections and scouting or a poor job with
the earlier rounds when you should get more impact players and since they haven’t recently that
maybe these later rounds look to be good selections since the early ones mostly didn’t pan out
Another defensive lineman bust under Andy Reid. Oh so surprising.
Butch…ur off on the draft positions from 2008 draft. Laws was NOT a 1st rd pick. With our 1st pick in the 2nd round (47th overall) we selected Laws, and 2 picks later (49th overall) is where we took Desean Jackson. Laws was extremely disruptive in college, but just lacks the size needed in the NFL for his particular style of play. Abiamiri and Tuck had VERY similar stats playing the ends for that team, but as stated earlier, the knock on him was not having the attitude/nasty streak in him needed to succeed at the next level. Looks like both of those “knocks” ring true today…
Trevor who?
The Eagles miss on more than 30 to 40 % of draft choices. Look at the choices over 7 years and see how many are still here. There are probably 8-10 teams better if not more.
Right back to my earlier point Big E..
Everyone can look back and say the Eagles drafted well in the late rounds (5th/6th &7th)
My take is that they have so poorly in the early rounds (with the Defense) that makes it possible for the
later round players to stick around and make the squad…
Players chosen withing the the top #100 to #125 picks (3 rounds) of the NFL Draft should be contributors and potential starters by their 2nd/3rd year if Evaluated/Coached and chosen for a specifc need. That has not happened on the Defensive side of the ball muh the last 5 years which is one reason this Defense has to be re-built again and again and if you take away free-agency & trades the last few years and remove Samuel/Howard/Witherspoon/Jones/ and the undrafted Free-agents like Mickell/Jordan/Parker what do you have left outside of Patterson/Bunkley/Bradley as far as drated talent to fit your team and to contribute… not a very good track record if you ask me AR & Company…
So Paul you’re saying that Trent Cole starts, not because he’s good, but because there’s no #1-3 rnd draft pick to play his position? You’re saying they Eagles needed to get young, not because of departures of Lito, Sheldon, and Dawkins, but because they didn’t draft well? And you’re argument was, if you take away this, and that, and this, and that, what do you have…. haha. Dude, they only have so many draft picks in the first few rounds. They focused on the O for a while – Jackson, Maclin, McCoy, Avant, Kolb – all high draft picks. You’re just cherry picking some bad ones.
Also, don’t forget Winston Justice.
Trevor Laws listens to The Flaming Lips. When I heard that after he was drafted, I knew he probably wasn’t mean enough for the NFL and that he would be one of the mistakes that the team refuses to admit for at least 3 years. (nothing against The Flaming Lips)
It was nice to see Antonio Dixon get in there and get some quality reps last year, he beat some pretty shitty odds to make an NFL roster.
I see Laws getting cut, and possibly Abiamiri as well. Once our squad takes shape, I could see the D Line taking a major step forward this year. Nothing amazing, but solid. Hopefully solid enough to take some of the pressure off of our ugly CB situation.
joe_creepy – while I think it’s a consensus on Laws – I hate it whenever any ND player is drafted – Tuck was a complete anomaly good for him, but mostly that school has been riding an outdated reputation for too long now – WHAT do you mean when you say ‘refuse to admit’ – they’ve barely given him any playing time at all (for the good). Do you want them to hold a press conference and be like ‘wow, this guy really didn’t work out. We f-d up the pick there…’? Have you heard the FO or Andy deny that he hasn’t played well? This is a situation where I guess I’m ‘defending the FO’ like some say I do, but I just don’t think it’s fair to say that they refuse to admit he was a mistake. In every sport, you draft players hoping the turn out to be good, some don’t, that’s a fact of sports and life. There’s nothing unique about this situation. Look at Winston Justice, you should keep a guy around for a few years before cutting him, especially if drafted high. He has only been in the NFL for 2 years, and like we’re all saying, will probably be cut this year.
See I think this is how some hate for the FO is spread, like the myth that they ‘refuse to admit their mistakes’. They don’t, they do make mistakes, they’re human beings, but they don’t refuse to admit them. Be frustrated with the lack of SB, fine, we all should be, but spreading myths is harmful.