Philadelphia Eagles: Jack Anderson is a solid practice squad claim

With Brandon Brooks headed for IR and a relatively light bench only featuring Nate Herbig and combination guard/tackle Brett Toth, it felt fairly apparent that the Philadelphia Eagles would add some offensive linemen to their active roster over the coming days, but who?

Would it be Sua Opeta or Kayode Awosika, the two guards on the Eagles’ practice squad? Or how about Ross Pierschbacher, the player Landon Dickerson replaced at Alabama who spent time with the team earlier in the offseason?

Is Jack Driscoll ready to return to the active roster following a pre-Week 1 pectoral muscle strain? How about Le’Raven Clark, who is on the practice squad equivalent of IR?

Well, as it turns out, none of the above. If you had Jack Anderson on your Philadelphia Eagles replacement bingo sheet, then you, my friend, are in the money.

Get to know the newest Philadelphia Eagles, Jack Anderson.

Before joining the Philadelphia Eagles, getting drafted by the Buffalo Bills, or committing to play his college ball at Texas Tech University, Jack Anderson was a four-star recruit out of Plano, Texas, just looking for a chance to continue on with his football career.

A member of a Frisco High School squad that won 31 of its 45 games during his high school career, Anderson was offered scholarships from 33 different schools from UCLA to Cincinnati and most major programs in-between, before ultimately keeping his talents in the Lone Star State to play for Kliff Kingsbury at Texas Tech.

On paper, the pairing was a match made in heaven.

Right out of the gate, Anderson started at right guard as a true freshman and led the way for one of the most potent offensive attacks in the Big 12, even if the team’s record didn’t show it. Anderson was named a freshman All-American, the first Texas Tech offensive lineman to earn the honor since future teammate Le’Raven Clark in 2012, and looked destined to become an NFL player a few years down the line.

From there, Anderson turned in another quality season as a sophomore before having his junior season cut short three games in with a season-ending shoulder injury versus UTEP.

Still, Anderson returned for his fourth collegiate season in Lubbock and turned in a pretty darn good redshirt junior season; surrendering only three sacks, one hit, and three hurries in 459 pass-blocking snaps.

First-round production? Not so much, but certainly good enough to garner Day 3 grades from many a talent evaluator.

Fortunately, that ultimately happened, but unfortunately for Mr. Anderson, his name was probably called a few rounds later than he might have liked.

Call it an unfortunate byproduct of recording average marks at nearly every pre-draft testing measurable, but Anderson fell to the top of the seventh round, where he was ultimately drafted by the Buffalo Bills 236th overall.

Selected by a team returning both of their guards from the 2020 NFL season, Anderson competed for a roster spot alongside Bills lifer Ike Boettger and former Philadelphia Eagles/Penn State UDFA Ryan Bates but ultimately failed in his pursuits. He was waived on August 31st and signed to the Bills practice squad shortly thereafter to continue his development… at least until Howie Roseman came calling and made Anderson’s NFL dreams come true.

While Anderson exclusively played right guard for the Red Raiders, he should be able to provide quality interior depth for the Eagles in the intermediate future, backing up his fellow 2021 draftee Landon Dickerson behind utility reserve Nate Herbig. Even if he’d probably be better suited not playing center, the presence of Dickerson, Herbig, and Isaac Seumalo should allow Anderson to solely focus his time on learning how Jeff Stoutland likes his guards to operate in space without the need to tackle too much at once.

Considering Anderson’s pedigree as a college Red Raider, he’ll at least have a kindred spirit in Clark to help him with terminology.

In the grand scheme of things, Jack Anderson’s addition may prove to be a non-factor for the Philadelphia Eagles. He will surely be inactive in Week 3 and may even be leapfrogged by a practice squad player like Sua Opeta for playing time early on. But with only so many ways to add talent once the regular season opens up, Howie Roseman’s decision to steal Anderson over elevating one of his own practice squad players gives the team a chance to see how another player fits in their scheme and potentially find an overlooked diamond in the rough.