Philadelphia Eagles: If you don’t know T.Y. McGill, you will soon
Do you know who led the Philadelphia Eagles in sacks through the preseason?
No, it wasn’t Javon Hargrave or current talk of the town third-round pick Milton Williams. It wasn’t even Alex Singleton, who may have just single-handedly recorded 100 tackles in Game 2 alone.
No, it was (drum roll)……. T.Y. McGill, the journeyman defensive tackle out of North Carolina State who is on his eighth team in seven years and might just make the roster over more established names like Hassan Ridgeway and 2021 USC fifth-round pick Marlon Tuipulotu.
But who, you may ask, is the Philadelphia Eagles’ mystery challenger, and does he really have a chance to sneak onto the 53 man roster? Well, let’s attempt to find out.
Is the third time the charm for T.Y. McGill and the Philadelphia Eagles?
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As crazy as it may sound if you just heard his name for the first time this week, this month, or in this article, 2021 actually marks T.Y. McGill’s third tenure with the Philadelphia Eagles, as he initially played two games for the team back in 2018, and appeared in seven more in 2020.
Still doesn’t ring a bell? You don’t recall his .5 sack in the first-ever game against the Washington Football Team in September of 2020? Bigger dude? Wore the number 76?
Still nothing? Well, okay then.
While McGill’s production tailed off when facing off against teams with actual names – how is it that WFT still doesn’t have a name? – he still worked his way into six games from Week 7 on and averaged 18.5 snaps in games where he appeared.
Are those numbers impressive? Hardly. McGill only has a 63 rating on Madden 22 for a reason and wasn’t particularly high on anyone’s pre-preseason 53 man roster predictor heading into training camp, but slowly but surely, McGill found ways to turn eyes and started to work his way up the depth chart ever so slightly as a result, settling into the second tier of performers alongside Raequan Williams and Hassan Ridgeway but notably before Marlon Tuipulotu.
And on the field? Well, you’re looking at a man with as many sacks as he has preseason appearances in 2021, and they all haven’t been easy ones either.
Routinely lining up next to players like JaQuan Bailey and Tarron Jackson – a pair of impressive young edge rushers who should remain with the team in some capacity this fall – McGill has been effective both against the run and the pass, and most notably picked up an Evel Knievel-esque stunt sack on James Morgan on the not-so-hallowed field of MetLife Stadium in not-so-sunny East Rutherford New Jersey.
Who knows, maybe McGill is like a 300 pound Boston Scott and he only produces in said New Jersey Stadium or versus teams who call it home, but his performance against the New Jersey New York Jets certainly turned a few heads and left many a fan wondering why his spot on the roster wasn’t a bit more likely than, say, Ridgeway, who hadn’t done much of anything this summer.
Even if McGill is cut in the initial trim down to 53, something tells me he’ll be back on the practice squad and could see a good bit of action just like he did in 2020, where he was activated three times and protected six more before eventually being signed outright on the day after Christmas.
Considering McGill’s lack of name recognition and the league’s held over rules allowing veterans to sign on the practice squad, something tells me a similar fate could fall on the pride of Jesup, Georgia, if he isn’t lucky enough to be a Week 1 Eagle on the active roster.
dark. Next. Patrick Johnson has earned a roster spot
At 28-years-old, T.Y. McGill sort of is what he is. He’s a bottom-of-the-roster pass rusher who can hold up fairly well against the pass and provide neutral snaps for a team looking to give their starters some rest. While that may not be where he wanted his career to end up when he initially committed to play for the Wolfpack back at the start of the last decade, it’s still a totally viable way to making a living and one heck of a career if you can land it. And hey, who knows, if McGill can translate some of his preseason shine onto his regular season snaps, the Philadelphia Eagles might just have themselves a solid fourth option behind Javon Hargrave, Fletcher Cox, and Milton Williams, who can go better than most; that is, if the team doesn’t somehow end up with ex-Jacksonville Jaguars first-round pick/one-time Florida Gator Taven Bryan one way or another.