Getty Darius Slay high-fives members of the Eagles in a 2021 game.
A familiar face is back on the Philadelphia Eagles’ roster. The team scooped Mac McCain off the waiver wire after he was released by the Denver Broncos on November 23. He had been on the Eagles’ practice squad prior to Week 10.
McCain hasn’t appeared in an NFL game since going undrafted out of North Carolina A&T in April. He started 29 games for the Aggies from 2017-19 and earned All-Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference honors in all three seasons.
The 6-foot, 175-pounder left school with 113 tackles, eight interceptions and 22 pass break-ups. North Carolina A&T opted out of the 2020 campaign over COVID-19 concerns which plummeted McCain’s draft stock.
NC A&T CB Mac McCain: 5110, 186, 4.45 forty, 10-3 BJ, 35.5 VJ, 6.94 3C, 13 BP, 4.12 SS
Former FCS All-American and considered to be one of the top small schools prospects in this years draft. Will also be in action at the HBCU Combine (April 9-10).
Head coach Nick Sirianni had been high on McCain during his first stint in Philly, but Denver stole him off the practice squad. The Eagles needed to free up a roster spot when they activated running back Jordan Howard. The rookie cornerback was the unfortunate casualty.
“We did have to cut Mac yesterday to make room on our roster for Jordan Howard,” Sirianni told reporters at the time. “Mac was really good here. We’re hoping we can get him back, to be honest with you. Mac has done a good job, especially on scout team. He had a little bit of run in the Cowboys game when he was up, and he did a good job.”
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Eagles List Three Players Out
The Eagles traded a normal practice for a walk-through on Wednesday for the second straight week. It seems to be the way Sirianni wants to handle things down the stretch, especially since the team has such a late bye week (Week 14, December 12). They still issued an estimation of a practice report which listed three players missing: DT Fletcher Cox (rest), CB Darius Slay (concussion), RB Jordan Howard (knee).
No need to worry about Cox’s status for Sunday. He has been sitting practices out early in the week all year. Meanwhile, optimism runs high for Slay suiting up against the New York Giants as he waits for doctors to clear him in the concussion protocol. He’ll likely be a game-time decision. The news wasn’t so good for Howard who sprained his knee last week. Sirianni said he would “most likely” be out.
UPDATE: The Eagles updated the practice report with a new estimation on Thursday. Howard was the only player listed DNP. Four guys were labeled limited, including Slay.
Thursday injury report.
Sirianni: ‘Ready for Everything’
The Giants made a switch at offensive coordinator earlier this week. Jason Garrett is out and Freddie Kitchens is in. While the optics of that change could help out the Eagles, they aren’t focusing on it. Sirianni preached how they must be “ready for everything” and admitted to going back and looking at Kitchens’ play-calling during his time coaching the Cleveland Browns.
“I’ve said this before in here, it’s a different play-caller. There’s going to be different looks,” Sirianni said. “There’s going to be different things that he does, that Coach Garrett didn’t do or vice versa. We just got to be ready for everything. So, when you don’t know exactly what you’re going to get, you got to play your rules and you got to play your rules on each individual defense that you get.”