Jason Huntley Added to Roster, Richard Rodgers will Likely be Next
The Eagles’ COVID list is now vacant.
The 12 players put there last Monday are now in the clear.
Center Jason Kelce came off the list on Friday and extended his consecutive games started streak to 122 games the next day when the Eagles hosted the Dallas Cowboys. He played one snap before taking a seat next to the rest of the starters.
On Monday, the other 11 were activated:
LB Genard Avery
DT Fletcher Cox
S Marcus Epps
TE Dallas Goedert
G Nate Herbig
RB Jordan Howard
CB Avonte Maddox
S Rodney McLeod
RB Boston Scott
LB Alex Singleton
There were also some subtractions from the roster, however, as the team placed WR J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, TE Tyree Jackson, and OL Brett Toth on Injured Reserve, with the practice squad clearing two spots after the release of kicker Matt McCrane and RB Kerryon Johnson.
JJAW, who had another bad dropped pass on Saturday night, is having finger surgery and Jackson tore an ACL.
The Eagles added RB Jason Huntley to the active roster, leaving two more openings.
One will likely be filled by tight end Richard Rodgers.
“Richard Rodgers has done a good job every time he's got an opportunity to play,” said head coach Nick Sirianni. “He brings good veteran leadership. He brings great ability to block, not only in the first level, but at the second level as well, and so he'll be the one that's elevated up and ready to go.
“He's had to step up in that role a couple times this year for a couple different reasons. We got a lot of confidence in him to be able to do that. We also have confidence in Noah (Togiai) as well. Right now, it's looking like Rich, but we have confidence in Noah as well.”
Rodgers has been up and down four different times with the Eagles.
He has played in 24 games with them since 2018. His most productive time with them came last year when he made 24 catches for 345 yards and two touchdowns while playing in 14 games.
As for Huntley, he shined in a big way against the Cowboys.
Mostly a practice squad player the last two years after being claimed as a rookie once he was released by the Detroit Lions, Huntley ran 13 times for 51 yards in the first extended playing time of his career. He also had a nice game returning kickoffs, bringing three of those back for 84 yards (25.3 yards per kick).
“He did a really nice job in the game with a lot of different things, right?” said Sirianni. “Not only kick returns, but also running the football. You saw how explosive of a player he is. Unfortunately, for him, he's in a very crowded room with a lot of good players that have had a lot of good reps and we have great depth there.
“Kenny (Gainwell) had a great game the other day. I thought he ran the ball really well, also. So, we'll have to look at the numbers. It'll be hard. I'm admitting to you it'll be hard to get Jason up for this game. He did a phenomenal job as a kick returner, but it will be hard to get him up because that means other positions will suffer if you have too many backs up. You guys know that. I don't have to explain that to you.
“So, we acknowledge what he did in the game. We're looking to see what we can do at different positions, but that's going to be a tough deal to get him up for the game because that means someone else goes down.”
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
