The Philadelphia Eagles got their roster down to 53 on Tuesday, and there were some surprises. Philadelphia waived wide receivers Travis Fulgham and John Hightower as 2019 second-round pick J.J. Arcega-Whiteside was able to stay on as the fifth wideout for the team.
Eagles GM Howie Roseman explained why the team decided to release Fulgham and Hightower.
“I think the first thing is with [WR] Travis [Fulgham], here’s a guy who obviously had a heck of a stretch for us last year. And we looked at it that this was a new year and this was a new beginning, and we wanted to go based on what we saw and take the whole process into play.
“When you talk about [WR] J.J. [Arcega-Whiteside] and what he did during camp and his contributions on offense, his willingness and his desire to be an excellent special teams player, which you saw during the preseason, and the whole picture of that and how it fits into the group at receiver.
“And then, when you talk about numbers – again, we don’t look at it just as who we’re keeping on the 53. We look at it as who we’re keeping on the 70. So, we try to figure out to the best that we can — obviously, a lot is going to happen in the next 24 hours — about how that puzzle comes about.
“We’ve always been like this here, and one of the things we talked about a lot when we were interviewing Coach [Sirianni] and really throughout this whole process being together is how we want this to look. That’s why you see we’re so heavy on the offensive line and defensive line. It’s a priority for us. When you do that, you’re going to have to make sacrifices at some other spots.”
Last season, Fulgham, 25, had 38 catches for 539 yards and four touchdowns. The third-year receiver had a stretch of three straight games with a touchdown reception, while the 25-year-old Hightower, a 2020 fifth-round pick, had ten catches for 167 yards.
Here is a list of players released by the Eagles on Tuesday:
Released the following players:
- S Andrew Adams
- T Le’Raven Clark
- RB Jordan Howard
- DT Hassan Ridgeway
- TE Richard Rodgers
- CB Kevon Seymour
Waived the following players:
- S Grayland Arnold
- G/T Kayode Awosika
- WR Travis Fulgham
- WR John Hightower
- RB Jason Huntley
- CB Michael Jacquet
- CB Craig James
- DE Matt Leo
- G Sua Opeta
- WR Andre Patton
- C/G Ross Pierschbacher
- S Elijah Riley
- LB JaCoby Stevens
- DT Raequan Williams
Placed the following players on Reserve/Injured:
- S Blake Countess
Placed the following players on Reserve/COVID-19:
- DT T.Y. McGill
