Philadelphia Eagles: Can Richard Rodgers keep his semi-streak alive?

The Philadelphia Eagles‘ offense is looking pretty good heading into the 2022 NFL season.

They have a much improved wide receiving corps headlined by A.J. Brown, a running backs corps – sans Jordan Howard – who ranked first overall in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns in 2021, and an offensive line that looks like it could be one of the better units in the entire NFL despite losing an All-Pro right guard to retirement thanks to the return of Isaac Seumalo and the addition of Cam Jurgens.

Really, the only unit on the offensive side of the ball that didn’t take a step forward or stay comparable to where it was at the start of the 2021 NFL season is tight end, as the Birds lost two of their presumed Top-3 performers, Zach Ertz and Tyree Jackson, to trade and injury during the previous season and only replaced them with wide receiver-to-tight end transplant JJ Arcega-Whiteside and Grant Calcaterra, a sixth-round pick who is surely intriguing, but hardly a ready-made performer.

Could the Philadelphia Eagles add another veteran tight end just in case? Eh, I guess so, but don’t forget, the Eagles already have their own well-traveled veteran tight end under contract who’s looking to keep his five season (semi)streak alive in midnight green.

Don’t count out Richard Rodgers just yet, Philadelphia Eagles fans.

Richard Rodgers is one of the longest-tenured players on the Philadelphia Eagles’ roster… kind of.

On one hand, Rodgers signed with the Eagles on April 4th, 2018, and has played at least a game for the team in each of the last four seasons. Rodgers has been called on to serve as a veteran, calming presence on the offensive side of the ball, and has amassed 27 catches for 363 yards and a pair of touchdowns over his improbable run.

Then again, Rodgers has been allowed to test the open market twice and both times signed elsewhere, first with the then-Washington Football team to reunite with his father, Richard Rodgers Sr., in April of 2020, and again in 2021, when he signed onto the Arizona Cardinals practice squad from October 13th through 16th. Though he didn’t record a single stat as a member of either team, Rodgers did leave South Philadelphia in the search for greener pastures, even if he always came back.

Currently signed to a one-year, $1.12 million futures contract that he signed back in January, Rodgers is sort of the forgotten man in the Eagles’ tight ends room, often falling behind the draftees like Dallas Goedert and Grant Calcaterra – understandably so – but also players like Jack Stoll and JJ Arcega-Whiteside, who is attempting to switch positions.

But why? I mean, Rodgers has more yards, catches, and touchdowns than any other Eagles tight end sans Goedert, and his ability to hold things down as a solid though unspectacular option in both the rushing and passing game could still prove valuable, either on the active roster or as one of the three veterans allowed on the practice squad.

Richard Rodgers is a good player to have around. He’s appeared in 99 games combined, 88 in the regular season and 11 in the playoffs, has caught passes from a wide variety of different quarterbacks, and at just 30 years old, could conceivably continue to make a very good living through the game of football for the foreseeable future. Whether on the active roster or the practice squad, there should still be a place on the Philadelphia Eagles’ roster for Rodgers this fall, and even if he doesn’t make the initial team, history dictates that there’s a very good chance he’ll end up on the field in a midnight green uniform one way or another before the season comes to an end.