Eagles sign former 49ers safety Jaquiski Tartt
The veteran has played 80 games, including 64 starts, in his seven-year NFL career. He could compete for a starting role.
After the Eagles left the safety position untouched throughout the offseason, the team bolstered its depth chart Friday when it signed veteran Jaquiski Tartt.
Tartt played in 80 games, including 64 starts, over seven years for the San Francisco 49ers. Last season, he started 14 regular-season games and three playoff contests.
The 6-foot-1, 215-pound defensive back was selected in the second round of the 2015 NFL draft. Tartt has 367 career tackles, 18 passes defensed, four interceptions, two forced fumbles, and four sacks.
Tartt joins a safety room that features Anthony Harris, Marcus Epps, K’Von Wallace, Andre Chachere, Jared Mayden, and Reed Blankenship.
The back end of the defense will look much different compared with last year after the departure of veteran safety Rodney McLeod. After starring for the Eagles for six seasons, McLeod joined the Colts during free agency, while Harris re-signed with the Eagles on a one-year deal. Tartt will likely compete with Epps to be the starter alongside Harris.
Tartt played college football at Samford, where he was teammates with Eagles cornerback James Bradberry. On Friday evening, Tartt posted an old photo on his Instagram account of him and Bradberry playing together at Samford with the caption, “We not done yet” and a pair of Eagles emojis.
“We’re always looking to add really good football players that are versatile,” defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon said at the end of May. “And there are a lot of reasons behind that, one being scheme. One being it’s a matchup-driven league, so we’re looking to accentuate some of our matchups. ...
“Then it’s our job to kind of piece it together over the next four, five, six weeks, and then we get into training camp, hit the ground running, and put them in the right position to be successful. ... Everything that I look for in a safety, all those guys in that room have those qualities. Really have to put the work in and then see where it goes.”