The Philadelphia Eagles thought they had found a veteran presence to solidify the safety position this summer in Jaquiski Tartt. Instead, they ended up walking away from him.
By Adam Caplan of Inside The Birds, the Eagles released Tartt before Tuesday’s 53-man roster deadline. Tartt was on the roster bubble throughout training camp and preseason, struggling to get out of second and third teams throughout the summer. He would have won $500,000 guaranteed if he made the list.
As Tartt struggled, Marcus Epps – who was supposed to be challenged by Tartt for a starting position at safety – grabbed one of the starting positions at safety. Anthony Harris assumed the other starting spot, leaving Tartt struggling with undrafted rookie Reed Blankenship, Andre Chachere and K’Von Wallace battling for the other safeties. The Eagles even got cornerback Josiah Scott to safety due to positional uncertainty.
Tartt struggled to acclimate to defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon’s plan and was spotty in coverage throughout the preseason. He missed several days of training camp for personal reasons, which landed him on the depth chart – and never recovered. He started 64 of 80 games during his seven seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, finishing with 367 tackles, four sacks and four interceptions.
With Tartt off the roster, the Eagles will have to make a decision regarding the fate of Wallace, Chachere and Blankenship. Outside of Blankenship, none of the roster bubble candidates have done enough to convince the Eagles they’re worth a roster spot. Chachere has been strong on special teams in the past so he could get the nod for one of the available spots.
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Gannon didn’t appear confident in any of his safeties outside of Epps, which could play a role in Eagles activity on the waiver wire or trade market over the next few days. Positional versatility in high school may be enough to land a job, as Scott and Chachere suggest.
“There are different ways to do it depending on the player, so it’s on a case-by-case basis,” Gannon said last week. “Usually you’ve seen that you have corners that slide in or you have safeties that can slide in. It’s really their skill set for these two guys that match, in our diagram, what we’re asking these guys to do. They’ve both done a good job with it.
“We’re going to keep the best players in football and they’re all going to have multiple roles.”