Eagles waive three players, sign a receiver

The Philadelphia Eagles officially announced some roster moves on Wednesday. An overview:

• QB Jamie Newman and WR Khalil Tate were waived.
• WR Trevon Grimes was waived/injured.

In addition to these transactions, NFL insider Adam Schefter reported the Eagles agreed to terms with free agent wide receiver Michael Walker.

Let’s sort through this on a player-by-player basis.

JAMIE NEWMAN

The most noteworthy and surprising development. There was thought that Newman was a draftable prospect. He figured to be a quarterback the Eagles could groom behind the scenes, not unlike how the team handled Nate Sudfeld. The Eagles waiving Newman leaves them with just two quarterbacks on their roster: Jalen Hurts and Joe Flacco. Teams usually carry at least three passers (and sometimes four or five) for training camp, so it seems like they’ll be bound to add another arm at some point.

Perhaps Newman’s dismissal shouldn’t be surprising from the standpoint that the Eagles gave him no guaranteed money in his contract, unlike all their other UDFA signings. Then again, there was word (via a now deleted Gil Brandt tweet) that Newman was looking good in Philly:

Apparently not everyone agreed with the assessment that was shared with Brandt. Curious.

KHALIL TATE

The Eagles originally signed Tate as an undrafted rookie free agent last offseason. They announced their intent to convert him from quarterback to wide receiver at the time. With the NFL limiting roster sizes to 80 players (as opposed to the normal 90) due to COVID concerns, however, the Eagles waived Tate last summer. They didn’t bring him back to Philly until after the 2020 season. It looked like he was going to get a chance to develop and perhaps follow the Greg Ward path but clearly that isn’t the case now. Maybe he wasn’t showing enough promise in string this year.

TREVON GRIMES

It’s a shame that Grimes got hurt because it seemed like he had a chance to push for a roster spot. At the very least, the 2021 undrafted rookie free agent signing was a solid bet to make the practice squad. Assuming Grimes clears waivers, the Eagles will be able to put him on their injured reserve list. But he might be waived with an injury settlement down the road.

MICHAEL WALKER

Walker, 24, attended Boston College and originally signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars after going unselected in the 2019 NFL Draft. The 5’11”, 194 pound pass-catcher missed the entire 2020 season. Walker is likely a camp body but he could theoretically win a roster spot if he shows promise as a returner. Walker logged 25.1 yards per kick return and 13.3 yards per punt return in college. At the very least, he’ll help the Eagles fill reps in training camp practices and preseason games.