Eagles invite 19 tryout players to rookie minicamp

The Philadelphia Eagles are hosting their annual rookie minicamp this weekend. The 43-player roster includes:

• 7 picks from the 2023 NFL Draft
• 9 undrafted rookie free agent signings
• 19 tryout players
• 8 returning players

We’ve already covered the Eagles’ draft picks and UDFA additions plenty here at BGN. Since the tryout guys are new, let’s take a look at them. Starting with the 16 rookie tryouts:

Rookie tryouts

North Dakota WR Garett Maag

Western Kentucky WR Jaylen Hall

USC CB Chris Steele

Nevada RB Toa Taua

Ouachita Baptist RB T.J. Cole

Duke S Dominique Long

Nevada CB Bentlee Sanders

Portland State S Xavier Bell

Oklahoma LB DeShaun White

South Dakota LS Dalton Godfrey

West Virginia LB Jasir Cox

Delaware LB Johnny Buchanan

Virginia Tech DE Tyjuan Garbutt

Hawaii TE Jordan Murray

Baylor WR Gavin Holmes

• Ouachita Baptist is a new one to me. They’re Division II.
• The University of North Dakota is not to be confused with North Dakota State University. But they’re both Division I FCS.
• Three LBs and three WRs here. Might be a chance for one of these guys to earn a roster spot with the Birds lacking depth at those positions.
• It’s typically pretty rare — though not totally unprecedented (Nick Sirianni invoked Adam Thielen during his Friday press conference) — for tryout players to pan out in the NFL. Last year, the Eagles only had one tryout in camp: Keric Wheatfall. And he didn’t last too long. Good luck to these guys fighting an uphill battle.

Veteran tryouts

WR Charleston Rambo

WR Austin Proehl

TE Sammis Reyes

DE Quinton Bell

• I had the Eagles taking Rambo at No. 237 overall in my one and only Eagles 7-round mock draft last year. Here’s what I wrote about him at the time:

Rambo’s an underrated player. I remember him popping when I watched Jalen Hurts’ Oklahoma highlights following the 2020 NFL Draft. With a 15.2 college average and 79 receptions for 1172 yards and seven touchdowns last year, he’s worth a shot this late in the game. Why not pair Hurts with a familiar face?

He went undrafted and signed with the Carolina Panthers, who obviously had an awful quarterback situation last year. Rambo had three catches for 30 yards in the preseason before getting waived in late August.

He then got drafted by the XFL’s Orlando Guardians. Rambo was targeted 49 times for 35 receptions, 430 yards (12.3 average), and three touchdowns in that league. And he did it with “Quinten Dormady” and Paxton Lynch (!) mainly throwing his way.

I’d be interested in the Eagles taking a shot on Rambo (who turns 24 in August) with one of their 90 offseason roster spots.

• Proehl has really bounced around since originally entering the league as a late seventh-round pick in 2018. He profiles a slot guy/returner in the Britain Covey mold.

• Reyes is a big, athletic tight end. At best, the Chile native is a developmental project. He most recently spent time on the Chicago Bears’ practice squad in 2022.
• Bell was a seventh-round pick by the Oakland Raiders in 2019.

RETURNING EAGLES PLAYERS

WR Devon Allen

CB Mario Goodrich

RB Kennedy Brooks

S Tristin McCollum

DT Noah Elliss

OT Jarrid Williams

OG Tyrese Robinson

OG Julian Good-Jones

• These are roster bubble/long shot guys who are getting a few extra practices to try to impress the Eagles.