Philadelphia Eagles: Alex Singleton’s CFA decision has been vindicated
After rejecting a lucrative opportunity to return to the CFL, Alex Singleton will finally make his NFL debut as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 7.
When the Philadelphia Eagles released Alex Singleton in the final trim down to 53, it left the 25-year-old Montana State product at an impasse.
Despite exchanging blows with T.J. Edwards for the entirety of the summer in a knock-down, drag-out brawl for the Birds’ fifth and final linebacker spot, Singleton found himself unemployed with no clear path to an active roster. Well, technically that isn’t true, as the Thousand Oaks native was in pretty high demand across the border in the CFL – where Singleton was a first-round pick in their 2016 draft – but still, what would Singleton do?
Would he sign at the dotted line, take a lucrative, potentially fully guaranteed deal to not only play linebacker but star in the middle of pretty much any team of his choosing in Canada, or rough it out for a few thousand dollars of non-guaranteed money as a member of the Eagles practice squad – with no, well, guarantee that he’d make the active roster, let alone actually play his native position.
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Through much soul-searching, Singleton opted to keep his NFL dreams alive and took the risky route of signing with the Eagles; and seven weeks into the season, that decision has been vindicated.
After an ugly week of (unearned) trash talk by then-Will linebacker Zach Brown, an ill-conceived strategy that resulted in the North Carolina product being released a week before his 30th birthday, Howie Roseman finally made Singleton’s dreams come true, and elevated the 25-year-old linebacker onto the 53 man roster to officially begin his rookie NFL season.
For those keeping track at home, Singleton technically went undrafted in 2015, bounced around the league on training camps before signing with the Calgary Stampede, but still, this is his rookie season.
While it seems fairly unlikely that Singleton will earn snaps on defense on a must-win road trip to Dallas, even if Nigel Bradham is doubtful to start after suffering an ankle injury against the Minnesota Vikings, we will all but surely see number 49 going sideline to sideline on special teams, presumably in place of recently released cornerback Ryan Lewis, who logged 39 special teams snaps over the last two weeks.
For a small school prospect with seemingly no path to the NFL, I think Singleton will happily accept that role and run with it.
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Despite having a slew of opportunities to continue his professional football playing career as a defensive star in the CFL, Alex Singleton held fast to his dreams and bet on himself to succeed at the game’s highest level. While it didn’t come easy, or quickly for that matter, that gamble will ultimately be vindicated when the Philadelphia Eagles take the field on Sunday night with a midnight green number 49 jersey standing on the sideline. We can all learn a thing or two about resilience from Mr. Singleton.