Paul Worrilow’s season was over, so he and his wife Gina were back home in Delaware in time to see the Eagles face his former team, the Falcons, in a playoff game at the Linc in January.
“It was my first time at the Linc," Worrilow said. "We couldn’t pass up a chance to go and sit in the crowd.
“We were driving up and I remember telling my wife, ‘I hope this is my drive to work this year.’”
It very well may be.
Worrilow signed a one-year deal with the Eagles on Tuesday and spoke Wednesday about continuing his NFL career 20 minutes from his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.
“This is where I wanted to be the whole time,” he said. “My agent knew where I wanted to end up. I’m fired up. Just growing up here, 20 minutes away right in Wilmington, this is it for me.
“Seeing (Brian) Dawkins come out of the tunnel is a lasting image for me.”
NFL
Worrilow, who started 44 games with the Falcons from 2013 through 2016 and eight more with the Lions last year, said he’s played mainly middle linebacker at 6-1, 230 pounds, but said he can swing outside to either spot. He also said he plans to contribute on every special team.
“The league can be unpredictable,” he said. “You can be at the bottom of the depth chart one week and then you’re starting.
“I don’t get too caught up in trying to know what my role is. You just work on, stay on it and keep grinding and whatever happens is going to turn out, but I’m going to put out my best ball out there and be the best teammate I can be and if I do that, whatever happens, I’m OK with it.
“I’m going to have to come in and try and just fit in. They had a great year last year, this is a talented team, who wouldn’t want to be a part of this? Growing up here, I know how important it is for the Eagles to win and that’s cool and that’s something I want to be a part of.”
Worrilow is among a number of Eagles with personal or family ties to the city.
Corey Clement grew up across the river in Glassboro. Chris Long’s wife Megan was a lacrosse star at Moorestown High. Recent acquisition Daryl Worley grew up in Philly and attended Penn Charter. Wendell Smallwood, like Worrilow, grew up in Delaware.
“It is a tremendous help having a supporting cast nearby,” Worrilow said. “We both come from the same neighborhood in Concord, our parents live close to each other, and that goes a long way, and that definitely played a role in why I would want to play here.”
Worrilow was on the Falcons team that lost the 2016 Super Bowl to the Patriots.
He’d love another shot at the Lombardi Trophy. And what better place to make a run at a Super Bowl than with the team that just won one?
“The opportunity to win a Super Bowl in Philly? That’s something I could live the rest of my life with,” he said. “That would be it. There’s nothing cooler than that to me.”