Eagles elevate punt returner Britain Covey to active roster

The Eagles gave Britain Covey some good news a week early.

The punt returner spent his Wednesday morning at the NovaCare Complex watching film of his returns with special teams coordinator Michael Clay and the rest of the specialists just before the team announced he’d been added to the active roster.

The second-year slot receiver and returner spent the first two games on the practice squad, getting elevated for game days. League rules would have allowed the Eagles to elevate Covey one more time before needing to make a corresponding move to keep him available, but the team made the arrangement a week early. The Eagles cleared a spot for Covey by placing cornerback Avonte Maddox, slated for surgery with a torn pectoral muscle, on injured reserve.

After missing time during training camp with a hamstring injury, Covey was left off the team’s initial 53-man roster going into Week 1 despite being atop the depth chart at punt returner. He was in a similar situation as an undrafted rookie out of Utah last year and was signed to the active roster going into Week 4.

» READ MORE: The Eagles didn’t sign Jalen Hurts to be a bystander. Nick Sirianni and Brian Johnson must get him going.

The 26-year-old is averaging 10.7 yards per return so far this season and had a 25-yard return against the New England Patriots in the season opener. He averaged 9.3 yards on 33 returns last year.

Covey’s main selling point, though, is his security fielding punts. He has been mostly sure-handed in that area but did have a muffed punt against the Vikings on Thursday, his third fumble in two years. All three of his fumbles have been recovered by the Eagles.

“We never want to have the ball on the ground, but we still have full confidence in Covey,” Clay said. “Just having that confidence in Covey to do it — and he’s still good to gash you for a few yards. You saw it in the New England game, he had that 25-yard return. So people do have to worry about him back there.”

Covey was an All-American returner in college and holds the Utah school record with 1,092 career punt-return yards. At 5-foot-8, 173 pounds, Covey has been almost exclusively a return specialist rather than a slot receiver, but Clay said Covey has made noticeable strides in his role in the last year and change.

“[He’s] just understanding the speed of the NFL,” Clay said. “In college ... you can outrun a lineman, that’s easy. In the NFL, you can make one horizontal move for 3 yards and you thought you had 15 yards but now it’s 6 yards, now it’s 4 yards. Him just understanding the speed of the game and understanding how he can dent the coverage, how to get that first down for the offense, understanding where we are on the ball and what type of punter we had.”