Curry Trade Talk Foreshadows Future

PHILADELPHIA (973espn.com) - Vinny Curry is indeed on the trading block but his status is not about his deficiencies as a football player or the Eagles being buyers or sellers in advance of Tuesday's deadline.

It's about the realization that the fourth-year defensive end is going to be moving on after the season.

As mentioned in the bye-week breakdown Curry is a very good player but he was drafted by the old regime as a natural 4-3 weak-side rusher and the current Eagles brass has no real interest in that kind of player, preferring two-gap linemen who can tie up blockers so the linebackers are free to make plays.

At 6-foot-3 and about 270 pounds Curry is undersized for the two-gap, five-technique role and also lacks the lateral movement skills to handle outside linebacker duties on a consistent basis.

In a sense, the projected Curry move to OLB after injuries to Travis Long and Marcus Smith in training camp was the last attempt to see if the Marshall product's skill set could translate to this defense and it hasn't, at least on a consistent basis.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that the Eagles will listen to offers for Curry because the team realizes his pass-rushing skills will generate significant interest in the offseason when Curry will be a free agent.

Adding a conditional draft pick right now might be a better option than milking what you can out of Curry for the rest of 2015 and hoping to garner a compensation pick sometime down the road.

A year ago Curry put up really impressive production in limited playing time with nine sacks and four forced fumbles in about 32 percent of Philadelphia's defensive snaps. He only has one sack this year but he's been shuffled back and forth between positions and still flashes an impressive first step.

-John McMullen covers the Eagles and the NFL for 973ESPN.com. You can reach him at jmcmullen@phanaticmag.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen