Eagles elevate practice squad safety for Giants game

The Eagles elevated practice squad safety Jared Mayden to the game day roster for Philadelphia’s Week 12 matchup against the New York Giants, according to an official announcement from the team.

In case you have no idea what a Jared Mayden is, allow me to point out he first signed with Philly about a month ago. Here’s what we wrote about him at the time:

The 23-year-old played his college football for Alabama before going unpicked in the 2020 NFL Draft. He signed with the San Francisco 49ers and remained with their organization until being cut from SF’s practice squad.

For what it’s worth, Mayden was Pro Football Focus’s highest graded from the 2021 preseason. He allowed just a 30.6 passer rating when targeted and picked off former Eagles legend Chase Daniel.

Scouting report on Mayden from NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein:

“Former four-star prospect with good versatility and aggressiveness against the run and pass. Despite being a starter for only one season, Mayden played with solid awareness and confidence on the back end and was asked to play three positions just like his more heralded teammate, Xavier McKinney. His anticipation and burst work well over short spaces, but his short-stepping gait makes it tougher to close out larger patches of turf. He hasn’t been a core special-teamer while at Alabama, but will need to prove he can do it as a potential backup in the league.”

The Eagles seemingly don’t have a need for extra safety depth with Rodney McLeod, Anthony Harris, Marcus Epps, and K’Von Wallace all expected to play. It would seem, then, that Mayden’s elevation is about giving the Birds more depth on special teams.

The Eagles have used two protections on Mayden since he joined the team. They can now only use one more temporary elevation on him this season.

See below for a current look at the Eagles’ 2021 practice squad.

Format: Position, player, (times protected this season), [times elevated this season]*

*Not counting COVID-19 elevations.

WR John Hightower (9) [1]

OT Le’Raven Clark (6)

G/T Kayode Awosika (3)

CB Craig James (3)

S Jared Mayden (2) [1]

T/G Brett Toth (2)

TE Noah Togiai (2)

DT Marvin Wilson (2)

TE Richard Rodgers (1) [2]

RB Jason Huntley

WR KeeSean Johnson

WR Deon Cain

DE Cameron Malveaux

DT Raequan Williams

LB JaCoby Stevens

LB Christian Elliss

{DE Matt Leo — international exemption - doesn’t count towards limit}