Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline Tuesday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters. In addition to waiver claims, teams can begin constructing their 16-man practice squads today. These Cowboys, Eagles, Giants and Washington moves are noted below.
Here are Wednesday’s NFC East transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day.
The release of wide receiver Travis Fulgham was one of today’s more notable moves. Fulgham played a big role for the Eagles last year as the team was decimated by WR injuries. However, they didn’t see enough this summer to keep him on the 53-man roster. With Fulgham gone, the Eagles are left with J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, Jalen Reagor, DeVonta Smith, Greg Ward, and Quez Watkins as their Week 1 receivers.
When the Eagles take the field tomorrow against the Packers, they’ll be joined by a familiar face. Philadelphia has promoted veteran running back Jordan Howard from the practice squad, the team announced on Twitter. The Eagles have also promoted defensive tackle Raequan Williams.
Howard appeared in 10 games for the Eagles during the 2019 campaign, starting four of those contests. He ultimately finished the season having compiled 525 rushing yards and six touchdowns on 119 carries (good for 4.4 yards per carry), and that included an 87-yard, two-touchdown performance in a victory over Green Bay.
Howard signed a two-year, $9.75MM deal with the Dolphins this past offseason, but his brief stint in Miami proved to be underwhelming. The 26-year-old appeared in five games (three starts) for the Dolphins, running for 33 yards and four touchdowns on 28 carries. He was released by the Dolphins in mid-November, and he quickly caught on with the Eagles practice squad.
Now, Howard will have an opportunity to reinsert himself into an inconsistent running back corps. The Eagles have turned to three running backs this season, including Miles Sanders, Boston Scott, and Corey Clement.
Williams joined the Eagles this offseason as an undrafted free agent out of Michigan State. The 23-year-old made his NFL debut after being promoted to the active roster in Week 8.
September 6th, 2020 at 3:39pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg
Well this is an unusual arrangement we didn’t see coming. The Eagles are signing veteran quarterback Josh McCown to their practice squad, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.
Thanks to a new COVID-19 exception veterans will be able to serve on practice squads, making this possible. As Schefter notes, he’ll easily be the oldest practice squad player in NFL history. Making the situation even more unique, McCown won’t even be reporting to the team. Instead McCown will continue to live in Texas, earn a $12K weekly salary, and serve as Philly’s emergency quarterback remotely.
McCown’s lovable journeyman career has taken him all over the football world, so it feels right for him to blaze this unheard of trail. We had heard back in January the Eagles were talking about adding him to the coaching staff, and this is the next best thing.
After originally announcing his retirement in June of last year, he signed with Philly last August after they had a couple of injuries. After serving as Carson Wentz‘s backup and not starting a game he was suddenly thrown into the spotlight when Wentz went down in the Eagles’ first round playoff game against Seattle.
McCown came into the game cold off the bench and nearly led them to a miracle victory, tearing his hamstring in the process and playing through the injury.
The Eagles have Nate Sudfeld and Jalen Hurts behind Wentz now, but in these uncertain times it can’t hurt to have too much insurance. McCown has turned into a fan favorite over the course of his career that started in 2002 with the Cardinals, and this is a nice feather in his cap.
The Eagles made a sizable amount of cuts Thursday. They made the rest of their moves to get down to 53 players Saturday. Here are the players the Eagles jettisoned to reach the regular-season limit.
The Brooks decision certainly is interesting, especially after the team placed left tackle Andre Dillard on season-ending IR this week. Brooks suffered a torn Achilles’ tendon in June, but the elite blocker has a history of surmounting such an injury. Brooks tore an Achilles in January 2019 and made it back in time for Philadelphia’s opener last season. The team is not ready to shut down its Pro Bowl guard for the season.
Alshon Jeffery also did not land on Philadelphia’s reserve/PUP list, which would have shelved the veteran wideout for six games. Instead, Jeffery — whom the Eagles have attempted to trade for months — is one of seven receivers on the Eagles’ 53-man roster. That will help a team that saw Marquise Goodwin opt out and first-round rookie Jalen Reagor suffer an injury that will keep him out to start the season.