Who Will Be the Eagles Returner Following Britain Covey and Devon Allen Cuts?

After the Philadelphia Eagles’ preseason finale, it looked like Devon Allen stole the team’s kick/punt returner job from Britain Covey.

Fast forward a few days, and neither man is in the Eagles’ special teams plans going forward.

The Philadelphia Inquirer‘s Jeff McLane reported on Tuesday that Philadelphia released Covey ahead of Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET cut-down deadline. The report came minutes after Mark Garafolo of the NFL Network confirmed that the team also cut Allen as well as longtime wideout Greg Ward.

On one hand, it isn’t surprising to see Covey get the axe after he largely underperformed during the preseason. On the other, it was shocking to see Allen’s release given that he impressed the Philly fanbase by averaging 31.8 kick return yards on four attempts during the preseason.

While McLane and Garafolo see Covey and Allen potentially being added to the practice squad, there’s still one question left to answer: Who the heck is returning balls for the Eagles this fall?

Eagles Roster News

It’s going to be interesting to see who Philly picks as its returner in the coming days.

Following Covey, Allen and Ward’s releases, Olamide Zaccheaus and Justin Evans are the only rostered players who returned punts this preseason. The duo didn’t get much of an opportunity to shine as Zaccheaus only returned 1 punt for 11 yards while Evans turned 2 attempts into 21 yards.

I have a tough time imagining Evans being the return man during the 2023 NFL season. Even though he was a reliable kick returner in his final year at Texas A&M, that was seven years ago. He hasn’t even returned a single kick or punt during the NFL regular season.

Given the current state of the team, I’d be surprised if Zaccheaus isn’t Philadelphia’s go-to returner this year.

He hasn’t been an everyday returner as a pro, but the 26-year-old has returned 3 punts (12.0 yards per return) and 2 kicks (20.5 yards per return) over the last two seasons. On top of that, he doubles as a wide receiver after recording 533 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns on 40 catches with the Atlanta Falcons in 2022.

After Ward was also shown the door, the Eagles sure could benefit from Zaccheaus being the team’s WR4 if he can put up around 40 catches and 500 yards again. His potential as a returner only adds to the dual-threat’s upside.

There’s also the chance that Covey and Allen clear waivers and are added to the practice squad before being called up later in the year. Still, that’s far from guaranteed.

Nevertheless, other players who could potentially be used in a return role are Boston Scott (15 kick returns for 406 yards in 2022) or even Quez Watkins (13 returns for 189 yards since 2021). In other words, the situation is far from clear.

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