Eagles Release S Will Parks
PHILADELPHIA - The Eagles have informed safety Will Parks that he is being released.
A Philadelphia native, Parks, 26, turned down more money from Detroit and Minnesota in free agency to sign a one-year, $1.5 million deal with his hometown team.
The early plans seemed to be big for Parks, a versatile player who has lined up at both safety positions as well as slot cornerback and even dime linebacker in Denver. But, a significant hamstring injury in training camp derailed things.
Parks missed the first five games of the season and has played sparingly since, topping out at 39 reps in his first game with the Eagles on Oct. 18 in Baltimore. Before the trade deadline, the Eagles were peddling Parks around the league but nothing could be worked out and the veteran seemed relieved to be sticking around.
“It was like a sigh of relief, but at the same time I wasn't really too worried about it, so you know it was just like another day at the office,” Parks said last month. “But I'm a Philadelphia Eagle, I'm here in my hometown playing football and stuff like that, so that's all I can ask for."
Safeties coach Tim Hauck noted the Eagles liked what they saw from Parks in Denver but the COVID-19 restrictions in the offseason slowed things down.
"We all like Will here, being a Philly guy," Hauck said in November. "In the offseason, we saw some good things from him on tape, with the Broncos, and then the COVID thing gets really hard for these guys that haven’t been in the system, and then the hamstring thing set him back a little bit.
"But he’s really made huge strides since he’s come back. He’s filled a nice role for us the last few weeks and I think he’s going to continue to make progress there, and I think he’s going to be an (integral) part of a role player for us in the back end.”
That wasn't to be, unfortunately.
Parks played just 10 defensive snaps on Monday night in the 23-17 setback to the Seattle Seahawks and played just 114 all season. He finished his time in Philadelphia with 10 tackles.
While Parks was out with the injury, the Eagles decided it was more important to phase in their younger safety options behind starters Rodney McLeod and Jalen Mills.
That group includes 2020 fourth-round pick K’Von Wallace, second-year man Marcus Epps, and a couple of undrafted rookies on the practice squad, Grayland Arnold and Elijah Riley.
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Tuesday and Thursday on "The Middle" with Eytan Shander, Harry Mayes, and Barrett Brooks on SportsMap Radio and PhillyVoice.com. He’s also the host of Extending the Play on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
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