The Eagles are making a move to bolster their secondary, signing veteran cornerback Bradley Roby to their practice squad, a league source confirmed to NBC Sports Philadelphia.
Roby, 31, has played in 126 NFL games with 60 starts and has significant experience playing in the slot as well as outside. He has some versatility to his game.
NFL reporter Jordan Schultz first reported the move.
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The Eagles plan is to bring Roby in and let him learn the defense, get in shape and get acclimated, a source said, but he could then get his chance to play. They released OLB Kyron Johnson from the practice squad to create the spot.
Since losing Avonte Maddox in the second week of the season, the Eagles have been scrambling a bit to replace him with multiple players. Part of their plan has been to play starting outside cornerback James Bradberry inside at times. But the Eagles didn’t give Bradberry a three-year, $38 million contract to play nickel corner.
Roby could eventually be a good solution. He has played over 1,500 career snaps in the NFL as a slot cornerback.
Roby was released by the Saints in late August but worked out for the Eagles on Tuesday before the team reportedly decided to sign him.
NFL
Here are Roby’s snap counts in the slot in his career, according to PFF:
2022 (Saints): 306 snaps (48.7%)
2021 (Saints): 118 snaps (29.9%)
2020 (Texans): 61 snaps (10.0%)
2019 (Texans): 249 snaps (31.2%)
2018 (Broncos): 130 snaps (14.0%)
2017 (Broncos): 77 snaps (11.4%)
2016 (Broncos): 106 snaps (15.5%)
2015 (Broncos): 163 snaps (20.8%)
2014 (Broncos): 357 snaps (42.0%)
Last season, Roby played in 13 games with 10 starts for the Saints. He had 36 tackles, 5 pass breakups and 2 fumble recoveries.
The Eagles have dealt with some injuries in their secondary through the first quarter of the season. The only defensive back to start every game so far has been cornerback Darius Slay.
After losing Maddox, the Eagles used a few different options at nickel corner. They played Mario Goodrich to finish off that Week 2 games and went with a combination of Bradberry and rookie Sydney Brown in Week 3. With Brown out against the Commanders, it was all Bradberry inside.
Eagles defensive coordinator Sean Desai was asked on Tuesday if they were getting enough value out of Bradberry in the slot.
“That's a great question,” Desai said. “This is really the first game he kind of had a chunk amount of reps at the slot. I think it's a little bit early to decide that.
“He did what we asked him to do as a defense, what we needed kind of from them as a defense. Every week we look at our matchups and try to put our guys in the best position, whether that means in the coming weeks he becomes more of a corner, then that's what we'll do. But as we're getting into this process trying to go against the Rams, we'll figure out what's best for him and really us.”
Adding a player like Roby could help bolster the entire group as long as he can still play. If Roby can play nickel eventually, it would keep Slay and Bradberry outside and give the Eagles a 1-for-1 replacement for Maddox they might be able to trust more.
Roby was a first-round pick out of Ohio State in the 2014 draft. He has played for the Broncos, Texans and Saints in his career. Roby has 11 career interceptions and has returned 3 for touchdowns. He also has 85 career pass breakups, 16 TFLs and 5 sacks.
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