Kyle Quinn was a staple of the Arizona Wildcats’ offensive line, and its fearless leader for the last couple of years. He played in 33 games for the UA, and many of them as a starter.
Now, he will try to find his place with the Philadelphia Eagles, who he signed with on Saturday night after he went undrafted in the seven-round NFL Draft.
The Arizona Daily Wildcat spoke with Quinn after the draft about his new NFL home, playing with Nick Foles and Matt Scott going undrafted.
DW: How did it feel to sign with the Eagles?
Quinn:It felt really good the draft process it got a bit hectic for a few minutes, teams started calling me in the middle of the 6th round Philadelphia was one of them and teams just started considering me and I thought for a moment that my name could be called. But, the time passed and Philadelphia has been in contact with me for many weeks now, and it just feels like a perfect fit for an NFL system. My agent and I have been talking about joining Philly for a while now because it’s just such a great city and scenario for me. Im happy to sign with such a great organization like Philadelphia.
Why do you think you’re a good fit in Philadelphia?
I get to go to another spread offense system for a Pac-12 coach who has known me and seen me play against him for four years. There’s a lot of familiarity between myself and Coach Kelly. Getting to go play with Nick Foles again, I’m never going to object to doing that. Nick and I are still really close friends so we’re going be great teammates gain and it just feels right. You don’t want to go into a situation, especially in the pros, where you go into a system or team you don’t know much about, but I know Coach Kelly very well. I know his system, from an outsiders perspective I cant wait to be a part of his system and get this high-powered offense moving in the NFL.
Who have you talked to in the Eagles organization?
I haven’t talked to coach Kelly yet. The general manager, Mr. [Howie] Roseman, I talked to him right after the draft was over because my contract was pretty much finished up immediately after the draft was over. He said ‘welcome aboard Kyle, we’re glad to have you.’ Then over the past few weeks I’ve been talking to their offensive line coach, coach [Jeff] Stoutland, and he’s the former o-line coach at Alabama so I get a great position coach. He’s one of the best and everyone knows what Alabama did last year with their running game and with their o-line so I get great instruction from him. He’s been talking to me and he’s been really positive about how he sees me as a player and how he sees me as a fit to go into their system and not only compete but also push for playing time this fall in the NFL season.
Have you talked with Nick Foles yet?
He texted me about ten minutes after it was official and he said ‘you’re gonna love it here’ and he threw me a bit of advice to show up in shape because they’re going fast. I went down to my high school [on Sunday] and got one last running workout where it all started nine years ago, and I took a trip down memory lane [Sunday] morning. It was nice, I celebrated with my family.
How much does playing in Rich Rodriguez’s fast-paced offense help you with transitioning to Chip Kelly’s?
It’s going to help me a ton. It was always kind of a simultaneous conversation, but a competition I mean because it was always ‘who’s going faster, Arizona or Oregon?’ and I think we got them this year because we were going so fast. ‘15 seconds or less’ was our motto this year for Coach Rod and it definitely helped me getting in this running program and getting my body transformed because I know Coach Kelly — he’s not going to want to go slow. He wants to go quick, go fast and be a locomotive train going down the line at one thousand miles per hours, so it’s going to be exciting.
Have you ever been to Philly?
I have never been east of Ohio. I’ve never been to the east coast before, Nick’s told me many times that Philly is a great city. I’m a big fan of Philly cheesesteaks. I am a history nut and that’s where our country was born so once I settle in and settle down I’ll go take in some of the sights. Its going to be a culture shock.
Nick’s told me the fans are the most passionate in the league, you can see sometimes in the movies representing the games that its loud but also I’m really looking forward to playing some of the best compeition in the NFL.
What do you need to do to make the team?
Well I’ve been told by Coach Stoutland I’m immediately coming in and looking to push right now as possibly the number two guy, as the training camp goes about so the opportunity for me to earn a roster spot is high. They’re very high on me, they know who I am, they know what I can do. I know I have experience in the system so I feel like I have an upper hand than maybe some of the guys there. It’s going to be a great competition and I feel like my chances of making the team are very high.
Were you surprised that Matt Scott went undrafted?
I was a little surprised because I’ve known Matt since we got there in the summer of 2008 and I know he’s a warrior, he’s a competitor, and I was a little surprised to see him slip like he did. But, I’m very happy he ended up in Jacksonville. I knew if that situation happened he was going go back to Coach [Frank] Scelfo, he and coach Scelfo have a great bond. It’s the best situation for Matt. I was thinking Jacksonville was going to draft him but it was the year of the offensive lineman, not the year of the QB this year in the draft. They call it the meat and potatoes draft so unfortunately Matt took the fall but he’s going to make up for it. He’s going to compete, he’s going to push the guy down there and he’s going to make a name for himself.
