Eagles re-sign Rick Lovato, add safety to practice squad

Roster updates.

The Philadelphia Eagles announced some moves on Tuesday evening. An overview:

• LS Rick Lovato was re-signed to the 53-man roster.
• CB Michael Jacquet III was released from the practice squad.
• S Jayed Mayden was signed to the practice squad.

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

RICK LOVATO

The Eagles cut their long snapper on Monday evening in order to make room for the Reid Sinnett waiver claim.

But, wait. Why did they need to open a roster spot since they opened another by trading Joe Flacco?

The answer is because the Flacco trade wasn’t officially processed until today, Tuesday. They had to open a spot if they wanted to claim Sinnett.

With Lovato back, the Eagles still have one open spot. They might look to fill it by signing Jordan Howard to roster since Miles Sanders is hurt. We’ll see.

MICHAEL JACQUET III

Jacquet, a 2020 undrafted rookie free agent signing, struggled in training camp and had a rough preseason. Bit of an upset that he remained on the practice squad this long.

JARED MAYDEN

Mayden is a new addition to the Eagles. 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 last week.

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 were in a position to add more safety depth with Anthony Harris (hands/groin) banged up and K’Von Wallace currently still on injured reserve. Rodney McLeod and Marcus Epps are currently the only healthy safeties on the 53-man roster. The Eagles also have Elijah Riley on the practice squad but he’s only permitted to be temporarily elevated to the game day roster one more time 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.

S Elijah Riley (7) [1]

WR John Hightower (5)

OT Le’Raven Clark (3)

G/T Kayode Awosika (3)

CB Craig James (3)

TE Noah Togiai (2)

RB Jordan Howard (2)

DT Marvin Wilson (2)

TE Richard Rodgers [1]

RB Jason Huntley

WR KeeSean Johnson

WR Deon Cain

DE Cameron Malveaux

DT Raequan Williams

LB JaCoby Stevens

S Jared Mayden

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