How young Eagle went from afterthought to roster spot in an offseason

How young Eagle went from afterthought to roster spot in an offseason originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Defensive tackle Thomas Booker IV spent all of last year on the Eagles’ practice squad.

He was never promoted, never elevated, never even got a real locker.

But he kept working.

And on Tuesday, as the Eagles’ trimmed their roster from 91 players to 53, Booker was left standing. He made the Eagles’ initial 53-man roster as their sixth defensive tackle.

“This guy, if you were here in the offseason, he lived in the facility,” Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said. “Tremendous work ethic. Obviously, an incredibly smart guy, a Stanford guy. He’s got all the tools in his body. Just an incredible tribute to him and how hard he worked.

“When you see his tape and his get-off and his ability to play with leverage, to play with power, to affect the quarterback, to be disruptive around the quarterback in the backfield. To us, it was clear the guy deserved to be on the team. I probably should have said this to him before I said it to you guys.”

Roseman and head coach Nick Sirianni spoke to reporters around 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, not long after the 4 p.m. cut deadline. While they obviously got in touch with all the players they waived or released, they didn’t get to deliver the good news to every player who made the roster. Often, that’s the case.

So for Booker, no news was good news.

The Eagles signed Booker to their practice squad on Aug. 31 last year after he was waived by the Houston Texans. They drafted him in the fifth-round out of Stanford back in 2022. As a rookie, Booker played in 10 games and started one for the Texans — he finished the year with 15 tackles, 5 pressures, 1 TFL, 1 QB hit and half a sack in 206 defensive snaps.

But he was waived by the Texans after his second training camp and the Eagles brought him in. A year later, he’s on the roster.

Seven different defensive tackles played snaps for the Eagles in 2023 and Booker…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/young-eagle-went-afterthought-roster-110000485.html

Author : NBC Sports Philadelphia

Publish date : 2024-08-28 11:00:00

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