After shock of trade, Quinn gets warm reception from Eagles teammates originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
On Monday night, Robert Quinn played 32 snaps in the Bears’ 33-14 win over the Patriots. On Wednesday, he was traded to the Eagles. On Thursday, he arrived in Philadelphia for his physical and almost immediately took part in his first practice.
So after an absolute whirlwind few days, none of that had seemed to sink in as Quinn sat in front of a dozen or so reporters trying to find the words to explain it all.
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What was his reaction to getting traded?
“Shock,” Quinn said. “In all honestly, I’ve been telling everyone, I’m still trying to get a full grasp on what happened, the transition.
“Besides that, happy. I told everyone I want to come in, do my part. They’ve been rocking and rolling before I got here. I don’t want to mess anything up. Just try to add whatever I can to make this team better and ready to stay out the way.”
Quinn, 32, had been traded before but never in the middle of the season. And even though the Bears are struggling this year and plenty of folks thought Quinn might be on the move, he was still very surprised when it actually happened a little less than a week before the deadline.
Quinn on Thursday explained he has two main objectives on his to-do list as he joins the 6-0 Eagles:
1. Learn his new playbook
2. Get to know his new teammates
Neither will be particularly easy with just a few days before what could be his Eagles debut against the Steelers on Sunday. At least Quinn has played in a similar defensive scheme to the one Jonathan Gannon runs but the terminology might trip him up. And Quinn said it’s important to him to know his teammates beyond their numbers, but admitted he’s not the greatest at remembering names.
But there’s no question Quinn’s teammates already know all about him. His reputation preceded him.
A big part of that is Quinn’s 102 career sacks and his impressive total of 18 1/2 last season and his three Pro Bowl appearances. But a lot of his new teammates know about Quinn from a mutual friend in Chris Long, who was on the Rams with Quinn before eventually landing in Philly in 2017.
“Great addition, a helluva pickup,” said Haason Reddick, who leads the Eagles with 4 1/2 sacks this season. “I don’t know Robert personally, we’ll definitely get to know him now. But I do remember that he had a crazy year last year. … I’m happy to have him here. The more help we got, the more people that can help us continue to build toward our goal.”
The Eagles traded away a 2023 fourth-round pick to acquire Quinn and the topper is that the Bears are picking up most of the remaining salary on Quinn’s contract for this season. So this is a trade without much risk and a potentially huge reward.
While he was a starter and star in Chicago, Quinn will be a rotational player with the Eagles, joining a defensive line room that includes Reddick, Josh Sweat, Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave, Jordan Davis and Milton Williams.
“Man, we already was pretty loaded so they loaded us up even more,” Williams said. “Just come in, do our job and get the quarterback.”
Expect Sweat and Quinn to play on the defensive right, while Reddick and Graham play on the left. That’s a strong group of edge players.
One of the first players to greet Quinn upon his arrival in the locker room on Thursday was Graham, the elder statesman of the locker room and the longest tenured pro athlete in the City of Philadelphia. Quinn said it was a warm welcome from the “OG” in the locker room and it went a long to way to helping him feel more at home.
The Eagles seem to have a knack for welcoming newcomers. They’ve certainly had their practice after the additions of Reddick, James Bradbery, Kyzir White, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, A.J. Brown and more over the last few months.
“It’s cool. It gives you a spark if you look at it that way,” Graham said. “I feel like it’s somebody that could definitely help us. We did lose [Derek Barnett] this year and we’ve been trying to fill that void. When I’m out there, it’ll me and him probably together. That’s cool right there. Something that I’m going to make sure I make every rep count. That’s really what it’s about. Just make him feel comfortable and get ready to work.”
Barnett went down with an ACL tear in Week 1. Since then, the Eagles tried to give some extra snaps to Patrick Johnson and Tarron Jackson but decided they could use another player like Quinn. With his presence, it’s going to take some selflessness from everyone in that rotation.
Because there are a finite amount of snaps to go around and now the Eagles have plenty of good players to fill out that rotation. The idea is to let these guys on the line rotate, stay fresh and give every snap 100 percent.
“We’re all in here for one common goal,” Williams said. “We got people in this room who understand that. We’ll do whatever it takes to win.”
The idea behind the rotation is that once the Eagles get into the second half of games, their rotation of pass rushers will have fresher legs going against worn-out offensive tackles. That plan works even better if the Eagles build up leads and force their opponents into obvious passing situations. Then they can hunt.
In all six wins this season, the Eagles have had a 14-point lead at some point. Quinn on Thursday was asked what it’s like to play in this rotation with leads like that.
“I guess I’m about to find out,” Quinn said. “I haven’t had many of them so I guess I’m about to find out.”
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