(PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER) The Eagles signed U.S. Army Ranger Alejandro Villanueva to their defensive line on Monday. Villanueva, who is 6-foot-9 and 277 pounds, spent the last four years in the Army and served three tours in Afghanistan. He last played football in 2009, when he was a wide receiver at Army.
The Eagles scouted Villanueva, 25, at the Super Regional Combine in Detroit from April 12-13. He will be with the team for the rookie mini-camp from May 16-18. Villanueva tried out for the Bengals as a tight end in 2010 before his service.
"As soon as I graduated, especially with all my classmates at West Point who were all going to serve, my mind and my heart were going to Afghanistan," Villanueva told NFL.com in April. "That's where I wanted to be. I wanted to serve, I wanted to see combat. I was actually trying to get as many deployments as I could, and see it with different units. That's where my mind and my heart was."
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