Why Jeremiah Trotter Jr. swings the axe like his father — and whether he could do it for the Philadelphia Eagles

INDIANAPOLIS — Jeremiah Trotter Jr. celebrates a big play the way Philadelphia would expect: by swinging an axe. He remembered first unleashing the swing during a game against Syracuse. His father, who made the celebration famous for the Eagles, observed with surprise — and emotion.

“He shed a tear,” Trotter Jr. said Wednesday. “He might not want me saying that, but he shed a tear.”

Eagles fans can relate. The elder Trotter is one of the best defensive players in franchise history, earning a spot in the club’s Hall of Fame. He swung the axe to honor his father, who chopped wood in their hometown in Hooks, Texas. Trotter’s namesake plays the same position, wears the same number (No. 54), and celebrates the same way.

That kind of lineage could create a shadow. Trotter Jr. is used to it by now. He grew up in South Jersey. He played high school football at St. Joseph’s Prep, where his teammates included Marvin Harrison Jr. He couldn’t run from the name. So he embraced it — and then he started to shift the narrative. At The Prep, he’s known as a five-star recruit who was a top-10 player in the country and won two state championships. At Clemson, he became the program’s first linebacker to become a multi-time all-American since Keith Adams — another former Eagle who was his father’s teammate. So there’s no escaping the name, but he’s found a way to create his own reputation.

“Throughout high school, I came in and was known as Jeremiah Trotter’s son,” Trotter Jr. said. “As I kept playing and kept showing I can do it, too, I have the ability, God blessed me with the ability to separate myself as well, but I also give props to my dad. I’ve never been the type to shy away from being the son of Jeremiah Trotter. I appreciate him. He’s always taught me a lot at the position and really helped me to get to this point today.”

In fact, Trotter Jr. pushed back on the idea that there’s a shadow. Outside the family, there might have been an expectation that a linebacker named Jeremiah Trotter Jr. should play in the NFL. Inside the family, this was the son’s choice — not the father’s urging.

“I never really thought there was pressure on me to make it,” Trotter Jr. said. “He was very supportive of me. He always told me and my brother as well, he plays football, but he told us both if we weren’t playing football he’d still love us the same. He’s a great dad, a great father, and I really appreciate him.”

By reaching the NFL, Trotter Jr. would also be honoring his late mother, Tammi. He called this “her dream” — and it’s significant that Trotter is here on Feb. 28, exactly one year after she died after a battle with breast cancer.

Trotter Jr. is 6-foot and 230 pounds — 31 pounds lighter than his father coming out of Stephen F. Austin. They’re different players in different eras. Eagles fans remember the “Axeman” as the force in the middle of Jim Johnson’s defense. For Trotter Jr. to thrive in the NFL, he’ll need to play in space. Which is why Trotter gave his son a description that would appeal to both the fans who wore No. 54 Eagles jerseys and the scouts assessing No. 54 in a Clemson jersey.

“The way he describes my game — and I like to describe as well —  is they say I’m an old-style mindset linebacker in a new-age body,” Trotter Jr said. “I feel I can play three downs. He says I’m more athletic than him but we had different playing styles, different body types, and play in different ages.”

Trotter Jr. started 26 games during the past two seasons. He thrived as a blitzer, tallying 12 sacks in two seasons as an off-ball linebacker. He also had four interceptions. He’s one of only 14 players in the past 20 seasons with 10-plus sacks, four-plus interceptions, three-plus forced fumbles, and more than one interception returned for a touchdown. And it came as a tone-setter for Clemson’s defense.

The athletic testing comes this week for Trotter Jr.. He’s considered on the smaller side — Eagles fans might see comparisons to Nakobe Dean — and Trotter Jr. acknowledged he’s been dealing with that knock since he was a star at The Prep. Clemson recruited him for “what I was doing on the field and my athletic ability,” and that will need to be his calling card for NFL teams.

“He is a good player. I don’t think he is a first-round pick,” said NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah, a former scout for the Eagles. “I’m curious to see how fast he is going to run. His game is more about instincts, which obviously are very crucial and very important at the linebacker spot. When I watched him, he is a little bit undersized. He has really good eyes. He sifts and sorts, and he will fill and be physical. He can thud off blocks, which you don’t see a lot of guys take on. I thought the speed and the range was just kind of so-so. If he runs well, yeah, then I think he can really help himself. I have him more in the third round personally. But, shoot, he goes out there and moves around really well and kind of aces the rest of the tests, I think he can find his way into potentially into the second round.”

Of course, that leads to the question that piques the curiosity of Eagles fans: like father, like son? The Eagles have a hole at linebacker. They have two second-round picks, although they haven’t taken an off-ball linebacker that high since 2012.

Trotter Jr. met with Eagles officials for a formal interview this week in Indianapolis, chatting with Howie Roseman and Nick Sirianni in the meeting. He said they had “good vibes” in the session. 

Although he was too young to fully synthesize his father as a Pro Bowler in Philadelphia — Trotter Jr. was born in 2002 and his father’s last Pro Bowl season was 2005 — it’s hard to grow up in this area when he did, in the family he did, without feeling the Eagles connection.

“He’s told me stories of when he played for the Eagles,” Trotter Jr. said. “I’ve been told different things and the great time he had with that organization. The Eagles are a great team, great club. It would be a blessing to play for them as well.”

The Eagles would need to consider whether bringing him home would create undue pressure, although Trotter Jr. is used to that by now. He hasn’t run from the name, the number — or even the celebration that honored Trotter’s father.

“Just giving him props for everything he did and everything he’s done for me as well,” Trotter Jr said. “He said, ‘Shoot, you’ve got to keep doing it now that you did it once.’ I just kept doing it. Everybody loved it, so why not?”