Eagles select S Nate Gerry with 2nd 5th-round pick

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The Eagles closed out the fifth round of the draft (pick 184) by taking safety Nate Gerry from Nebraska.

Only he's not a safety anymore. The Eagles are making him a linebacker.  

"I think the transition is going to be pretty easy for me," Gerry said on a conference call with Philly reporters on Saturday evening. "Should be pretty cool. Excited for it." 

The 6-foot-2, 218-pound Gerry (pronounced Gary) played linebacker out of necessity during his freshman season but made his mark as a safety. When he visited the Eagles, he met with both defensive backs coach Cory Undlin and linebackers coach Ken Flajole. The Eagles weren't the only team to talk to him about a possible switch to linebacker. 

"I think the toughest transition is just being able to see things faster," Gerry said. "The closer you are to the football, things just happen to develop a little bit faster."

Gerry is a little undersized right now to be a linebacker at 218 pounds. For reference, the Eagles' lightest linebackers are Joe Walker and Jordan Hicks, both listed at 236. The Eagles haven't yet talked to Gerry about gaining weight, but he said it shouldn't be a problem. 

At the combine, Gerry ran a 4.58 and he had four interceptions for the Cornhuskers in 2016. Gerry was suspended for the Music City Bowl after he was ruled academically ineligible. Gerry told the story Saturday, claiming a teacher originally gave him permission to turn in a group project late, but then took it back, which left him three credits short. 

That was a sour ending to an otherwise productive college career. Gerry started for three years, was a two-time team captain and finished his career with 273 tackles and 13 interceptions.

The Eagles still have Hicks, Nigel Bradham and Mychal Kendricks as incumbent starters, but it still seems very possible Kendricks won't be with the team once the season starts. Gerry will be able to fight for a depth spot but will need to contribute on special teams.

At Nebraska, Gerry was on all of the team's special teams units. And he offers an added bonus. He was the team's emergency long-snapper. The Eagles could have used him last season when Jon Dorenbos went down with an injury. 

"I think I help out there just in case anybody goes down," Gerry said. 

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