Eagles bring an old friend back to Philly, release 2020 third-round pick [UPDATE]

UPDATE: At this post was being written, the Eagles officially announced they released linebacker Davion Taylor and waived/injured wide receiver Charleston Rambo in addition to signing Josh Andrews.

Taylor, a 2020 third-round pick, started last year’s training camp strong before majorly faltering in preseason game action. As a result, he spent the entirety of 2022 on the practice squad. He’ll now look to catch on with a new team.

Assuming he goes unclaimed (very likely), Rambo will revert to injured reserve. Then he’ll probably get released with an injury settlement.

With these two exits happening as Andrews returns to Philly, the Eagles now have one open roster spot.

ORIGINAL STORY BELOW.

The Philadelphia Eagles will be re-re-signing offensive lineman Josh Andrews, according to his agent Brett Tessler.

Andrews, now 32, originally signed with the Birds as an undrafted rookie free agent following the 2014 NFL Draft. He played just one regular season offensive snap and 70 special teams snaps before winning a Super Bowl LII ring as a member of the Eagles’ practice squad in 2017.

Andrews left Philly to sign with the Minnesota Vikings but ended up back on the Birds’ practice squad early in 2018. He then got signed away by the Indianapolis Colts and later spent stints with the New York Jets, Atlanta Falcons, and New Orleans Saints.

All told, Andrews logged nine starts in 32 games played. His snap counts by position since 2018 (via Pro Football Focus):

Left guard — 188 snaps
Center — 243 snaps
Right guard — 303 snaps
Right tackle — 2 snaps

One could surmise that the Eagles signing Andrews is related to the plight of current second-team center Brett Toth. Toth has really struggled snapping the ball ... to the point where it’s ruining practice reps. Andrews could conceivably replace him to give the Eagles an upgrade in that regard.

The Andrews signing could also be related to Cam Jurgens cementing himself as the starting right guard. If something were to happen to Jason Kelce on a short-term basis (as opposed to a season-ending injury), the Eagles could opt to keep Jurgens at right guard instead of changing two offensive line spots. It should also be noted that Tyler Steen has recently been repping at left tackle after opening camp at guard.

There’s basically no such thing as having too much offensive line depth. At the very least, bringing in Andrews to compete for a roster spot at center/guard adds more competition.

The Eagles will need to open a roster spot to officially sign Andrews. The roster was at 90 with Josh Sills recently being reinstated to the team.