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It’s been a wild ride for Cameron Malveaux during his five-year NFL career. Going from an undrafted rookie fighting for a practice-squad spot to a rotational player on a playoff team hasn’t been easy.
But the newest pass rusher for the Philadelphia Eagles did it. And did it his way. Malveaux (6-foot-5, 265 pounds) has seen 39 defensive snaps over the past two weeks while recording two tackles and two quarterback hits. He took time out of his busy day on Thursday to talk about his journey to this point, including the crazy way he wound up on the Eagles’ roster.
It started because of his relationship with senior defensive assistant Jeremiah Washburn. The two had gotten to know each other when Washburn was the assistant offensive line coach for the Miami Dolphins. He gave Malveaux a phone call a few weeks after Eagles’ training camp ended and eventually brought the 27-year-old defensive end in for a workout. It helped that Washburn also serves as director of player personnel for Philly.
“Shoot, we just connected and I had a good workout, or I thought I did but they sent me back home,” Malveaux said. “So I thought, man, well I guess I got to get back in that weight room and get stronger and faster and keep going. They ended up calling me back a week later to sign me.”
The Eagles added Malveaux to the practice squad on September 29. He stayed diligent and ready down there before finally getting called up on December 26 against the New York Giants. It was worth the wait.
“I think the main thing was just trying to stay resilient,” Malveaux said. “I had to stay through a lot of practices doing a lot of extra work when I’m not going to play. So I feel like I had to stay mentally tough from that standpoint but I’m thankful for that journey as far as it made me tough.”
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Eagles Never Made Him Feel ‘Left Out’
Philadelphia is Malveaux’s seventh destination after going undrafted out of Houston in 2017. He’s served stints on the Miami Dolphins, San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland Browns, Arizona Cardinals, Kansas City Chiefs, and Washington Football Team. He had his most success in Miami where he played under Washburn and Matt Burke, Philly’s former defensive line coach who held the title of Dolphins defensive coordinator.
He notched his first NFL sack in South Beach while impressing the coaching staff on the scout team. However, it was a short-lived run there and now he’s in the City of Brotherly Love. Malveaux senses a different type of vibe within the Eagles’ organization, something he hasn’t felt in any of his previous seven stops.
“I feel like they’ve been taking their time with me, teaching me the plays, and the thing is they don’t make me feel left out,” Malveaux said. “Maybe some teams I didn’t really feel like I was involved but they do a great job [in Philly] of making me feel involved in the gameplans so that whenever the times comes, if ever it did come, that I would be 100% ready.”
Jonathan Gannon Praises Tecnhique, Motor
Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon didn’t take credit for plucking Malvaeux off the scrap heap. He credited head coach Nick Sirianni and general manager Howie Roseman for finding the Texas native. Obviously, Washburn had a big hand in finding him. Ditto for Greg Ward Jr. who was a college teammate of Malveaux at the University of Houston.
Assigning kudos isn’t really important. Malveaux is wearing midnight green now and he’s been wowing in practices.
“What he showed on practice squad and scout teams was he was doing a good job with effort and technique and motor, and we felt really good about him going in the game and playing solid for us, and that’s what he did,” Gannon said. “So excited about him because he’s such a good worker. It’s nice to see when a guy works and works and keeps working that he got some production and got in the game and did a good job for us.”
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