Eagles bring in MLB Stephen Tulloch to be Chase Daniel of defense

Doug Pederson has a walking playbook on the field for him every morning at the NovaCareCenter in backup quarterback Chase Daniel.

Pederson and Daniel worked together under Andy Reid in Kansas City prior to moving to the Eagles, and Daniel is the right-hand man teaching future starter Carson Wentz the NFLropes.

“Chase has done a great job with him and learning as well with Sam [Bradford],” Pederson recently said when asked about the dynamics of the quarterback room.

On the defensive side, coordinator Jim Schwartz is getting a similar lieutenant, as the Birds finally decided to pull the trigger and bring in middle linebacker Stephen Tulloch, a veteran with a multitude of experience playing for Schwartz in Detroit.

“Jim’s had great success with defenses in the National Football League and his players always play at a high level,” Pederson said. “Anytime, offensively, defensively, or even in special teams, if you can grab a player that you’ve worked with in the past that knows your terminology and knows your system, I think it’s no different than Chase Daniel on offense for me. And having guys like that, that are very comfortable with your defense or offense, just helps the overall learning and helps the overall process of the defense.”

Pederson cites Joe Walker’s season-ending injury in the last preseason game as the biggest reason why the Eagles made the move now and not sooner — but no promises have been made. Which means Jordan Hicks will be feeling some hot breath on his neck as he tries to protect his starting job.

“He’s competing for the spot. Right now Jordan’s a starter,” Pederson said, also telling the media he didn’t expect to move Hicks to the outside.”Just with the loss of Joe right now, we needed a linebacker. He was the best available for us and [we] look forward to working with him.”

Tulloch, 31, had 107 tackles last season for the Lions and has nearly 1,000 combined takedownsover a 10-year-career with the Titans and Lions.

The linebacker was drafted in 2006 by the Titans in the fourth round, ironically using a pick the Eagles sent to Tennessee in exchange for Winston Justice. He’ll be in camp Tuesday.