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Eagles practice squad news: Britain Covey returns to Philly to return for Philly

The Philadelphia Eagles filled out their initial 17-player practice squad on Thursday after officially signing 14 players on Wednesday. The three final spots went to this trio: Let’s sort through this news on a player-by-player basis. MARCUS EPPS The Eagles bringing Epps back to Philly was first reported late on Wednesday evening. At the time, […]

The Philadelphia Eagles filled out their initial 17-player practice squad on Thursday after officially signing 14 players on Wednesday.

The three final spots went to this trio:

S Marcus Epps
S Britain Covey
OT Luke Felix-Fualalo (international exemption)

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

MARCUS EPPS

The Eagles bringing Epps back to Philly was first reported late on Wednesday evening. At the time, there was no specific indication if Epps was signing to the roster or the practice squad. So, now we know he’s on the PS, though he’s a strong candidate to be temporarily elevated to the game day roster early in the season. The Eagles are only carrying three full-time safeties on their 53-man roster: Reed Blankenship, Sydney Brown, and Andrew Mukuba (who is dealing with a hamstring injury). If Mukuba can’t play Week 1, Epps could be the top backup behind Blankenship and Brown.

BRITAIN COVEY

Covey’s return to Philly is certainly no surprise; we already highlighted this possibility.

The Eagles opted not to tender Covey as a restricted free agent this offseason, which made him an unrestricted free agent. The Eagles then signed return specialist Avery Williams, which prompted Covey to look for a new NFL home. Covey inked a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Rams … who waived him this week. With the Eagles currently lacking a clear-cut answer at punt returner, signing Covey to the practice squad makes too much sense not to happen. They can temporarily elevate him to handle those duties early in the season and then figure out if they should add him to the roster or not later on.

The Eagles had no obvious punt returner option prior to re-signing Covey. It doesn’t seem like the team wants to use Cooper DeJean in that role, especially now that he’s projected to play 100% of the Eagles’ defensive snaps. Jahan Dotson has some experience doing it but he also has a role on offense as the third wide receiver.

And so the Eagles will likely temporarily elevate Covey to be their punt returner early in the season. They can figure out if they want to use a roster spot on him later down the road. Note that practice squad players can be elevated up to three times per season.

LUKE FELIX-FUALALO

The Eagles apparently decided to pull the plug on the Laekin Vakalahi experiment after not seeing enough developmental progress from him. Valakahi had two more season (including this one) of exemption eligibility left.

Instead, the Eagles are pivoting to LFF (not to be confused with Lincoln Financial Field) as their international exemption practice squad player. Felix-Fualalo participated in the Seattle Seahawks’ rookie minicamp as a tryout player earlier this offseason before they signed him to their roster. Here’s some insight via our associates over at Field Gulls:

He’s a big fella who stands 6’7 and weighs just under 320 pounds. Felix-Fualalo began his college playing days at Utah before transferring to Hawaii, where he was their starting right tackle. In his 2023 season he allowed only one sack out of 491 pass-blocking snaps, but injuries limited him to just four games started as a sixth-year senior.

Felix-Fualalo has a fascinating story. He’s born in Australia and didn’t play any football until he was a high-schooler in California. His dad was a former international rugby player for Tonga, while his mom played netball for New Zealand. Oh yes, and he’s named after Luke Skywalker from Star Wars.

LFF is probably a long shot to ever make the Eagles’ in-season roster (he’s ineligible to play while on exemption) but we’ll see if enrolling at Jeff Stoutland University helps him develop.

WHERE’S AUDRIC ESTIMÉ?

Estimé was reportedly set to sign with Philly’s practice squad but the 2024 Denver Broncos draft pick was not included in the Eagles’ official roster transactions. Perhaps that signing fell through.