With the Philadelphia Eagles' roster officially trimmed down to 53 players in order to comply with the NFL's timeline, there's one question that has picked up steam online: why did Kellen Moore and company only keep two tight ends?
Now sure, technically, the Eagles do have three tight ends still under standard NFL contracts, as Albert Okwuegbunam landed on IR with a core muscle injury and theoretically could return to the field for the team at some point this fall, but for at least the first few weeks of the season, there will only be two tight ends on Philly's 53 man roster… unless, of course, they decide to sign another player to really shore up the position grouping.
But who could that be? Is there a tight end out there with experience in Moore's offense? Why yes, there is, and while he doesn't already have an Eagles uniform in his closet like, say, Jack Stoll, this 6-foot-8, 239-pound former Charger will have fans thinking back fondly on Ifeanyi Momah in the best possible way: Donald Parham Jr.
Originally signing with the Detroit Lions as a UDFA out of NCAA powerhouse Stetson in 2019, Parham ultimately landed with the Chargers in 2020 after a successful run with the Dallas Renegades in the XFL, spending four seasons in LA as a supplemental target for Justin Herbert. Though his stats were never “elite,” largely playing a TE2/TE3 role, his size, athleticism, and upsides kept him gainfully employed across multiple different offenses. Granted, his 764 yards over four professional seasons total is nothing to write home about, but considering he only caught 67 passes on 100 targets over that time frame, averaging 11.4 yards per reception to go with 11 receiving touchdowns, the groundwork is very much there for a bottom-of-the-roster performer to find some unlikely success in a new location.
Sure, technically, the Eagles have their top-2 spots on the depth chart locked up, but when you consider that 2022 sixth-round pick Grant Calcaterra has even less production than Parham, who knows, if Howie Roseman were to bring him to town, he could end up playing even more snaps than the SMU product, giving Philly a tantalizing interior tandem of massive monsters if he shares the field with rookie receiver Johnny Wilson.
