Derek Barnett left the University of Tennessee after his junior year, yet his education continues. The Eagles rookie is learning his lessons well on the field, where he continues to show progress day after day and game after game.

“He’s developing a full arsenal,” said the team’s defensive line coach, Chris Wilson, during media availability last week prior to the Eagles’ bye. “He understands that to play, to be a three-down player, you have to improve every day.”

Barnett, who was drafted No. 14 overall this past spring, is playing more and more each game. After his snap counts never got out of the 20s in his first five games, he has played 30 or more snaps in the last four games. In that four-week span, Barnett blocked a field goal and earned 2.5 sacks. All the while, he has held up well against the run.

Related Eagles wisely invest heavily on their defensive line

“The biggest difference (since the start of the season) is he has seen the speed of the game,” said Wilson. “Obviously, coming from the SEC is a great accomplishment; however, it’s still a big jump. He still had to get used to the speed and physicality.”

Adjusting to the NFL is a learning process that takes years. Take Dallas’ Demarcus Lawrence, for instance. Lawrence has battled injuries since entering the league as the No. 34 player taken overall in 2014, but the defensive end had zero sacks as a rookie, eight in his second year, one in 2016 and 10.5 this year, which is second-best in the league behind the 11 from Jacksonville’s Calais Campbell.

What Barnett is learning to do are to be better at hand fighting and to use more power rather than finesse.

Wilson is teaching his star pupil how to chop at the hands of offensive tackles and “pop” their elbows.

“The biggest thing to hand fighting isn’t to get hands on people, but how quickly you can get their hands off of you,” said Wilson. “A lot of times you’re not taught that in college. At this level, you have to understand where a (offensive) guy likes to punch and where they’re dominant. He’s done a great job studying and prepping for that. If you can get guys’ hands off of you, you can accelerate to the block point and you’ll win a lot of downs.”

Then there’s the power portion of the game.

“He is understanding how important it is to transition from speed to power,” said Wilson. “You very rarely run by a guy in this league, so you have to be able to go from speed to power. Derek has been great speed rusher throughout his career in college. What he is implementing now is being able to play with more power.

“He is understanding how critical it is to stay square and play with power throughout a rush, which, now, keeps him always in a rush. He’s not having the run-byes that he may have had early, which is a big thing for him.”

Wilson believes that as Barnett’s body continues to mature – he is only 21 – he will only get better at the power game.

So this is a continuing education plan for Barnett, who may someday soon get his master’s.

newsletter Get 10 hot stories each day Thanks for signing up.

Please check your email for a confirmation. Thanks for signing up.

Please check your email for a confirmation.