Philadelphia Eagles: Waiving DeAndre Carter was a huge mistake

While he was never going to become a starter, waiving return man DeAndre Carter was one of the biggest mistakes of the Philadelphia Eagles’ 2018 season.

Who was the last Philadelphia Eagles kick returner to really capture the hearts of the City of Brotherly Love?

Sure, Darren Sproles has made his share of plays returning punts and earned a trio of consecutive Pro Bowl appearances from 2014-16, but who was the last Eagles’ kick returner to do the same?

Drum roll…….. DeSean Jackson all the way back in 2010.

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That’s right; the Eagles haven’t even had a kick returner pass the century mark since Brandon Boykin accomplished the feat in the 2012 season. Since then, the Eagles have had to rely on the motley crew of Josh Huff, Kenjon Barner, and most recently the combination of Corey Clement, Shelton Gibson, and Boston Scott to set the team up for better field position, to less than ideal results.

Last season, the Eagles returned 24 kicks (25th most) for 540 yards (27th best) and zero touchdowns. Now, part of this ineffectiveness could be because of Jim Schwartz‘s bend-but-don’t-break philosophy that limited the number of returns the team attempted, or the new touchback that places the ball at the 25-yard line, as opposed to the 20, but the team’s lack of a lethal returner certainly hasn’t helped.

And to make matters worse, the Eagles, unfortunately, decided to waive the best homegrown(ish) return man they’ve had in years, DeAndre Carter, on November 6th to sign T.Y. McGill, a player they would go on to waive 14 days later.

While this wasn’t the first time the Eagles waived Carter in 2018, as he was also waived on September 18th to make way for Josh Adams, this time they couldn’t re-sign him to practice squad a day or two later, as he was claimed by the Houston Texans the very next day.

Now don’t get me wrong, Carter was, and probably will never become a starter in the NFL, even if he was a deceptively good option in the slot, but he ultimately finished out the season with 897 all-purpose yards and finished 15th in the league in kick return yards at 425; 115 yards less than the entire Eagles’ return stable.

While he only returned 19 kicks on the season, 10 with the Eagles for 204 yards, and nine with the Texans for 221, Carter still found a way to lock up returner roles on two separate playoff teams and looks like a shoo-in to remain in Houston next season.

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The Eagles, on the other hand, still having a gaping hole on their special teams chart that they will assuredly target in the draft over the forthcoming weekend. Could they invest in a young, hungry speedster who could become the second-coming of DeSean Jackson, while having a unique opportunity to learn under ‘the man’ himself? Totally, but had the Philadelphia Eagles simply opted to retain DeAndre Carter, that wouldn’t even be an issue.

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