Eagles Add Another CB After Successful Minicamp Tryout

Philadelphia rewarded veteran Parry Nickerson with an offseason roster spot after a successful minicamp tryout.

New Eagles CB Parry Nickerson (34). / Jim Rassol / USA TODAY NETWORK

PHILADELPHIA - On the surface the last thing the Eagles needed is another cornerback but sometimes you want to reward effort.

It was noticeable during Philadelphia’s final minicamp practice and the last hurrah of the spring when head coach Nick Sirianni made a beeline to dap up cornerback Parry Nickerson, who was attending the camp as a tryout player, after the veteran made a nice play.

On Friday, the Eagles signed Nickerson, 29, despite a logjam at the CB position.

Nickerson (5-foot-10, 179) also has a history with the Eagles' defensive coordinator from Miami last season where he played sparingly in five games. Overall, Nickerson played in 84 defensive snaps for Fangio, ironically a season-high 45 came Philadelphia’s Week 7 win over the Dolphins.

Originally a sixth-round pick out of Tulane by the New York Jets in 2018, Nickerson has played in 30 career games with three starts in stops with the NYJ, Jacksonville, Green Bay, and Minnesota before landing with Fangio in Miami last season.

Veteran Avonte Maddox got most of the first-team reps in the slot for the Eagles at minicamp but free-agent signing Tyler Hall and rookie second-round pick Cooper DeJean also worked it at times.

It was notable that Nickerson got third-team reps this week ahead of Mario Goodrich even though he was a tryout player.

Another option in the slot is fourth-year player Zech McPhearson, who has yet to return to team drills after tearing his Achilles during a preseason game in Baltimore last August.

The Eagles had three other three tryout players in this week for minicamp along with Nickerson: receivers Griffin Hebert and Brandon Smith and kicker B.T. Potter.

Adding Nickerson means the Eagles have 20 defensive backs on their 90-man offseason roster, 14 of which are cornerbacks.

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