Connor Barwin was once a Pro Bowl pass rusher for the Eagles. Now he's helping to develop the next generation for the team.
PHILADELPHIA - The bubble never burst for Thomas Booker this summer with the fledgling defensive tackle breaking through it what is his third year as a professional. GM Howie Roseman lauded Booker’s work ethic and intelligence when discussing the Stanford product’s ascent from practice squad player to potential rotational piece on game days.
“This guy, if you were here in the off-season, he lived in the facility,” Roseman said when discussing Booker on Tuesday. “Tremendous work ethic. Obviously an incredibly smart guy, a Stanford guy. He's got all the tools in his body. Just an incredible tribute to him and how hard he worked. “When you see his tape and his get-off, and his ability to play with leverage, to play with power, to affect the quarterback, to be disruptive around the quarterback in the backfield. To us, it was clear the guy deserved to be on the team.” That was the headline to the Booker story and deservedly so but buried deeper into Roseman’s context on Booker’s path from failed fifth-round pick in Houston to incremental improvement in Philadelphia was Connor Barwin, the ex-Eagles Second-Team All-Pro pass rusher who has become indispensable to the organization. After playing with the Eagles from 2013 through 2016 and falling in love with the city while doing so, Barwin finished his playing career with short stints with the Los Angeles Rams and New York Giants. By 2020 he was back in the Eagles’ organization as a special assistant to Roseman. From there Barwin served as director of player development for two years before being promoted to head of football and strategy this year. The title is never as important as the job description and Roseman pointed toward Barwin as a key cog in the developmental process that helped aid in Booker’s development. “It's a great tribute to our development program,” Roseman said. “Those guys, the program that we have, led by Connor, does a tremendous job of developing guys and trying to work on their weaknesses while they're on the practice squad in the spring and in the summer and then obviously with our coaches, they did a tremendous job.” Booker wasn’t the only successful student in the program that was rewarded with a roster spot. Safety Tristin McCollum and linebacker Ben VanSumeren also graduated from one-time practice squaders to the big show.John McMullen is a veteran reporter who has covered the NFL for over two decades. The current NFL insider for JAKIB Media, John is the former NFL Editor for The Sports Network where his syndicated column was featured in over 200 outlets including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and Miami Herald. He was also the national NFL columnist for Today's Pigskin as well as FanRag Sports. McMullen has covered the Eagles on a daily basis since 2016, first for ESPN South Jersey and now for Eagles Today on SI.com's FanNation. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube.com. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey and part of 6ABC.com's live postgame show after every Eagles game. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
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