4:46pm: This is a practice squad agreement, per to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane. While this will be a first for Roby, numerous veterans have taken the P-squad route to return to active rosters over the past four seasons. The plan indeed is for Roby to be bumped up to the 53-man roster at some point, ESPN.com’s Tim McManus adds.
3:58pm: Already rostering two 30-something cornerbacks, the Eagles spent Tuesday looking into another one. They brought in Bradley Roby for an audition, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.
It looks to have gone well, with The Score’s Jordan Schultz reporting Roby is signing with the team. It is unclear just yet if this is an active-roster or practice squad agreement. Interest emerged from multiple teams, per Schultz, which should have been expected based on the corner’s experience. But the Eagles are going to give the nine-year veteran a shot.
The Saints released Roby on roster-cutdown day in August. The former first-round pick had been a free agent since. Roby, 31, has made 60 career starts but was an off-the-bench regular for much of his career, working as a Broncos sub-package corner for years. The Eagles have their top nickel corner, Avonte Maddox, out with a torn pectoral muscle.
Philadelphia made a substantial commitment to its 2022 starting duo — Darius Slay–James Bradberry — by extending Slay and re-signing Bradberry. Both are over 30, with Slay 32 and Bradberry turning 30 this offseason. This is the NFL’s only team to have two 30-something corners installed as regular starters. The Eagles placed Maddox on IR last month; he suffered the torn pec in Week 2. Maddox, who has operated as Philly’s primary slot corner for years, missed time due to separate injuries last season but was back in the playoffs. That timeline may not recur this year, with surgery having transpired. And the Eagles are adding a veteran to the equation.
New Orleans rostered Roby for two seasons, acquiring him from the Texans before the 2021 campaign. The Saints pivoted to younger options, in Paulson Adebo and Alontae Taylor, alongside ace Marshon Lattimore. Roby worked as both a New Orleans starter and a backup during his tenure with the team.
Roby has mostly worked as an outside cover man. His CB3 role in Denver’s former No Fly Zone secondary involved Chris Harris shifting from an outside spot to the slot in sub-packages. Roby worked alongside All-Pros Harris and Aqib Talib for four seasons in Denver, taking two interceptions back for TDs in 2016 to help the Broncos close with DVOA’s top-ranked pass defense but was not deemed a priority after his 2018 fifth-year option season. He then made his way to Houston for a two-year run as a starter.
While Bradberry has lined up outside for nearly his entire career, the Eagles shifted the former Panthers and Giants mainstay into the slot recently. This setup has helped cover for Maddox’s absence. The less experienced Mario Goodrich had filled in for Maddox after he went down, and the Eagles have also used rookie safety Sydney Brown inside. But Brown missed the NFC champions’ Week 4 game due to a hamstring injury. Bradberry, who re-signed on a three-year deal worth $38MM in March, had also taken slot reps during the Eagles’ training camp. With Bradberry temporarily on the inside, Josh Jobe has seen extensive work alongside Slay on the boundary.
Roby would stand to provide the Eagles with veteran insurance. He signed two contracts with the Texans, the second a three-year, $31.5MM deal. The Ohio State product played on that contract for two Saints seasons, being traded from Houston to New Orleans before the 2021 campaign. But the team cut bait ahead of the third year.
A foot injury sent Roby to IR last season, but he returned to finish out the year with New Orleans. Pro Football Focus viewed Roby as a middling corner in 2021 but graded him as a bottom-10 corner during his injury-abbreviated 2022 slate. The Eagles will hope he can display better form nearly a year out from that injury.
