Maybe Daeshon Hall can live up to NFL draft status with Eagles

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It’s safe to say Daeshon Hall’s professional football career hasn’t gone to plan so far. 

Hall, 23, was a third-round pick last year, but played just one game for the Panthers before a knee injury ended his rookie season. Then Carolina cut him before his second season. From there, he bounced from San Francisco to Houston and bounced to the Eagles earlier this week. 

Now he’ll have these final three games to prove to the Eagles that he deserves to stick around in Philadelphia as he tries to turn around an inauspicious start to his once-promising career. 

“I’m not surprised,” Hall said this week about the way his career has gone. “Everybody’s journey is different. My journey is clearly different from other guys’. My journey is not over.” 

Hall is a 6-5, 265-pound defensive end, who is happy to be back in a 4-3 scheme. He said that’s where he feels most comfortable and where he’s played for most of his football career. And he might just have a chance to stick in Philly. 

“Of course,” he said. “I love Philly, I love the opportunity. I’m just going to keep working from here.” 

The Eagles certainly have some question marks at the defensive end position moving forward. Michael Bennett and Derek Barnett will probably be back next season, but Barnett will be coming off a shoulder injury. Chris Long might retire. Brandon Graham might leave in free agency. And Josh Sweat will probably be back, but have we seen enough to rely on him? 

The reality is the Eagles might need to draft one or two defensive ends in the upcoming draft, but the team’s status at the position means maybe Hall will be able to carve out a spot going forward. Obviously, a lot of that will be up to him. 

During his time in college, he was a pretty healthy player too. He played in 52 games over his four years at Texas A&M and finished his career with 14 sacks.

Here was the scouting report from NFL.com’s Lane Zierlein before the 2017 draft: 

Possesses the physical traits, versatility and effort to become an intriguing Day 2 selection, but teams might have to wait on Hall as he is still learning to play with a hand on the ground and needs to continue adding mass to his frame. Hall is nothing special as an edge rusher but has the talent to become an interesting interior rusher as a 3-4 defensive end. If he has enough ruggedness to handle full-time work in the trenches, he could become an eventual starter. The arrow is pointed up, but overdrafting the traits could prove to be a mistake.

Hall obviously had a tough rookie season. He played just nine snaps in the Panthers’ opener last year before he landed on IR. He said the toughest part of his rookie season was going through all of OTAs and training camp, working to be a contributor, and then never getting that chance. 

Since getting cut by the Panthers, Hall said he’s just been trying to learn from his teammates, first from DeForest Buckner in San Francisco and then from J.J. Watt and Jadeveon Clowney during his stint in Houston. 

Despite the tough start to his career, Hall has been able to stay encouraged. 

“Man, just keep pushing. I’m not a quitter,” Hall said. “I’m never going to be a quitter … when I can’t play anymore, that’s when I’ll stop playing. But if it’s up to me, I’ll just keep playing, playing hard.”

It won’t be easy, but who knows, maybe Hall can make Philly a home. He has some talent and the Eagles will be able to see what they can get out of that talent over these last three games.

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