The Eagles decided to send a message to their locker room Thursday.
That was not good news for Josh Huff. The wide receiver-kick returner learned a hard lesson: When you have all of 13 catches, you're expendable.
Less than 24 hours after head coach Doug Pederson announced that Huff would be in the lineup Sunday when the Birds travel up the Jersey Turnpike for their first tussle with NFC East rival New York Giants, Huff was sent packing.
The wideout had been stopped on the Jersey side of the Walt Whitman Bridge. He had a small amount of pot in the car. But that only the start of his problems. He also had a loaded handgun and some hollow-point bullets. Huff, who had the gun for his personal protection, had it licensed in his home state of Texas, not New Jersey. That's a no-no in a state with very tough gun laws.
It comes just a few weeks after linebacker Nigel Bradham was caught with a gun in his baggage in the Miami Airport. It was Bradham's second flap, after he was charged in a physical encounter with a cabana boy in Florida.
But Bradham is an integral part of the Eagles defense, as the Birds unfortunately learned when Bradham rode the bend in the first half of the Redskins game.
Huff, who has yet to establish himself as a bona fide wide receiver, but was a very good return man, apparently was deemed expendable.
Eagles GM Howie Roseman addressed the media and explained the turnaround in the Birds' thinking from what his head coach offered just the day before. He said all members of the Eagles brain trust got together and all were in agreement about releasing Huff.
You have to think the impetus for this had to come from Eagles owner Jeff Lurie. He has seen his franchise, his billion-dollar business, tarnished with one incident after another.
It was time to draw a line in the sand and send a message to the Eagles locker room.
Straighten up and fly right.
Consider the message delivered.
Just ask Josh Huff.
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