Michael Egnew is right in Jeff Ireland's wheelhouse.
Jeff Ireland is a height-weight-speed guy. The numbers matter to him. Think Les Brown, a guy with virtually no football background that Jeff Ireland brought on simply because he had good numbers. Michael Egnew was an absolute Combine King. He'd put a ton of this year's tight ends to shame at the Combine.
Armando Salguero recently stated pretty directly when asked whether Egnew was a coaching call or front office call, that he was front office all the way. I believe him. I'm sure Joe Philbin told Jeff Ireland what type of tight end he really needs and I think that kind of tight end is not necessarily in Ireland's wheelhouse because he loves physical blocking guys. But he also loves height-weight-speed guys, and so his answer to Joe Philbin's need was Egnew.