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UPDATE: The Eagles officially confirmed they’ve signed Arryn Siposs and Khalil Tate to futures contracts.
ORIGINAL STORY BELOW.
The Philadelphia Eagles hosted two free agents on Tuesday, according to the wire: punter Arryn Siposs and wide receiver Khalil Tate. Let’s take a closer look at each player.
ARRYN SIPOSS
Siposs, who turned 28 in November, is an Australian native who played in the Australian Football League before going to play college football for Auburn. He performed well there, logging 44 yards per punt.
Siposs signed with the Detroit Lions as an undrafted rookie free agent following the 2020 NFL Draft. Siposs was said to be “neck and neck” in a training camp battle with Jack Fox, who went on to earn Pro Bowl honors, second-team All-Pro honors, and finished as Pro Football Focus’s top graded punter. Not a bad guy to lose out to.
The Eagles could look to sign Siposs to an inexpensive futures deal since Cameron Johnston is set to be a restricted free agent this offseason. Tendering Johnston at the lowest level (original round tender) will cost $2.24 million, which doesn’t seem like a viable option for a team with Philly’s dire cap situation. The Eagles could always sign Johnston to a long-term extension but he doesn’t really warrant one. Johnston finished the season as PFF’s 23rd graded punter, with a 41.2 net average that ranked 15th among punters.
Ideally, the Eagles can sign Johnston to a deal that doesn’t contain much guaranteed money and have him compete with Siposs in training camp. But maybe they’ll just sign Siposs and let Johnston walk.
KHALIL TATE
If Tate’s name sounds familiar, it’s because the Eagles signed him as an undrafted rookie free agent following the 2020 NFL Draft. They planned to convert the former Arizona quarterback to wide receiver but waived him in July before the experiment ever really began. Looks like they’ll be giving him a chance to show the team something this offseason. With enough development and patience, maybe Tate can be the Eagles’ next version of Greg Ward.
In other news, Eagles 2020 sixth-round pick Prince Tega Wanogho visited the Kansas City Chiefs on Tuesday. Looks like he won’t be signing with a futures deal in Philly. That’s a shame because many considered him to be a great value pick. Perhaps PTW didn’t want to re-sign with the Eagles because he saw so many guys ahead of him on the depth chart: Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata, Andre Dillard, Jack Driscoll, Brett Toth, and Matt Pryor.