Eagles
Eagles Release Pair Of Defenders
Penn State Great Valley MBA, Penn State Berks Undergrad, Eagle Scout and Vigil Honor, IT Service Manager. I joined Sports Talk Philly in 2017 and root for all the Philly teams (as well as their minor league counter parts).
All posts by Paul BowmanPublished07 Aug 2020
By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor 
While Vinny Curry got some good news and a spot on an NFL roster today, two other defenders were not so lucky.
The Eagles announced Friday afternoon that they waived defensive tackle Bruce Hector and Prince Smith.
Roster Moves: #Eagles have waived DT Bruce Hector and DB Prince Smith. pic.twitter.com/SRhWoefLAC
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) August 7, 2020
Smith was an undrafted free agent that had little chance of making any roster spot. He was a long shot before but with no preseason, the writing was on the wall.
The Philadelphia native was coming out of FCS and would have to compete with Rodney McLeod, Jalen Mills, Will Parks and K’Von Wallace as well as 2019 sixth-round pick Marcus Epps and Rudy Ford, who was acquired via trade, for a spot at safety or Darius Slay, Nickell Robey-Coleman, Avonte Maddox, Sidney Jones, Cre’von LeBlanc, Rasul Douglas, Craig James and highly-touted UDFA Grayland Arnold, who the front office raved about after the draft, for a spot at corner.
More of a surprise is the release of Bruce Hector.
Hector had spent the last two seasons with the team, so was familiar with the playbook.
The Eagles do have six defensive ends and four defensive tackles that would appear to be locked into roster spots at this point, so a release is not a total shock, but it is notable that they released someone with so much experience with the team in favor of newer players.
The move would seem to indicate that the Eagles have faith in Anthony Rush, who developed well last year, and/or undrafted free agent Raequan Williams sticking with the team and being able to step up in the event of an injury.
