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The NFL will announce the full 2022 schedule of games on Thursday, May 12 at 8 p.m. Prior to the prime-time special on NFL Network, matchups are slowly being leaked in an effort to drum up excitement from a football-starved country — and one of the first leaks involved the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Eagles will host the Minnesota Vikings at Lincoln Financial Field on September 19 at 8:30 p.m. The Week 2 matchup will serve as the team’s home opener which means Philadelphia will start the season on the road in Week 1.
The Eagles-Vikings game will air on ESPN as part of a “Monday Night Football” doubleheader that evening, with the Buffalo Bills hosting the Tennessee Titans at 7:15 p.m. on ABC. Troy Aikman and Joe Buck — the popular broadcast team who jetted from FOX Sports to ESPN in the offseason – will be calling one of those games. It’s still unclear which one.
Of course, the bigger storyline is the Philly debut of Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson. The Eagles passed on the two-time Pro Bowler in the 2020 draft in favor of Jalen Reagor in the first round. No need to rehash how that decision turned out, right? Jefferson has developed into one of the best pass-catchers in football, a guy whose name gets brought up in any debate about Howie Roseman.
The Vikings have mocked the gaffe multiple times on Twitter with video evidence of how surprised they were that the Eagles didn’t take Jefferson.
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James Bradberry Released by New York Giants
The New York Giants officially released cornerback James Bradberry in a salary-cap-saving move on Monday. His departure was expected and the one-time Pro Bowler should have plenty of suitors on the open market, including the Eagles who desperately need a starting cornerback.
Bradberry made 16 starts for the Giants in 2021 while recording 4 interceptions and 17 pass breakups. The 28-year-old was originally a second-round pick of the Carolina Panthers in 2016. Bradberry ranked 58th among qualifying corners last season with a 62.8 overall grade, per Pro Football Focus.
Eagles Searching for CB Depth, Talent
The Eagles keep saying they like the youngsters on their cornerback depth chart. And maybe they do. Still, it was interesting to see them bring 10 new players into the defensive backs room after the draft.
Josh Jobe (Alabama), Mario Goodrich (Clemson), Josh Blackwell (Duke) were signed as undrafted rookie free agents, then the team invited seven more guys — Jordan Happle (Oregon), Jaylan Foster (South Carolina), Omar Hicks Onu (Montana), Tobias Oliver (Georgia Tech), Jacob Springer (Mississippi), Delan Stallworth (Princeton), Carlins Platel (South Carolina) — in for tryouts.
Don’t read too much into it, according to Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni. Some of those moves were made simply to get extra bodies into minicamp for 7-on-7 drills.
“We feel good about the guys in the room that we have right now,” Sirianni said, “and some of the guys that are coming in that we’ve invited into this camp, drafted, free agents, everybody that we brought into the rookie minicamp. I feel good about that room and the position battles that are going to take place and are taking place right now in our meetings and weight room. I am excited to see how that plays out.”
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