Can Elijah Moore keep his career going with the Eagles? He’s trying to make the most of his extra reps.
Moore is getting plenty of first-team reps right now and has shown what he can do. But will it be enough to latch onto the 53-man roster?
The Eagles are Elijah Moore’s fourth team in three seasons, and when you’re 26 years old and your career trajectory is like Moore’s, the end tends to seem a bit closer.
Moore was a second-round pick by the New York Jets in 2021 out of Ole Miss, where he was a college teammate of A.J. Brown. The Jets traded him after two seasons to Cleveland, attaching a third-round pick with him to acquire a second-round pick. Two seasons with the Browns yielded a combined 120 catches, 1,178 yards, and three touchdowns. Moore then signed a one-year deal with Buffalo last spring.
With the Bills, he appeared in nine games and was targeted 17 times before being waived in late November. He landed on Denver’s practice squad and made an appearance in the AFC championship game, with one catch for 4 yards in seven snaps.
» READ MORE: How Eagles’ 53-man roster projection looks entering training camp Week 2
The Eagles, preparing for life without Brown, brought in Moore to stockpile as much talent and depth at the position as they could. Moore entered training camp with an uncertain future. His roster spot is not guaranteed. He’s entering a season playing for a lower annual salary — $1.2 million — than he ever has.
Asked Friday after the seventh practice of camp about his NFL journey, Moore was a little philosophical.
“Life is not a linear path, I think, for any person,” Moore said. “There’s rarely — even some of the top players that get picked — that it goes exactly the way that they wanted. I think that’s there to teach you lessons. I’ve got kids. I got things I got to teach them outside of just having everything go my way. What example would I set if everything went my way? I wouldn’t have nothing to tell. I think it’s just brushing myself off, always having high hopes.”
Right now, his hopes may be high for a reason. With DeVonta Smith and rookie Makai Lemon missing multiple practices with hamstring injuries, Moore has taken plenty of first-team reps and has flashed his abilities. It would be too strong to call him a camp standout, but his stock certainly is up from where it was before these seven camp practices.
“I’m super critical of myself so I always think there is so much improvement that I could do with my alignment, my assignment, my execution,” said Moore, who has 209 catches, 2,274 yards, and nine touchdowns through five NFL seasons. “Am I making the most of my opportunities? Yeah. Is there still opportunities I’m leaving out there? Yeah. I always want to be perfect, as perfect as I can.”
» READ MORE: Lane Johnson returned to Eagles practice on Friday
Wide receiver for the Eagles in a post-A.J. Brown world is interesting. Smith is the obvious No. 1, and Dontayvion Wicks has emerged as the likely No. 2 option, but beyond them there are question marks. How much time will Lemon miss in camp and how could that affect his preparedness come Week 1? What role will Hollywood Brown have? Will Darius Cooper carve out a role that is more than just the dirty work? Is having Brown and Moore redundant?
That last question is important for Moore, who has stood out more in camp so far than Brown, a player the Eagles signed to a deal with $5 million guaranteed. The Eagles could keep six receivers, but they may keep five, and Moore could find himself on the outside looking in if that’s the case (and even if the number is six).
There still is a lot of time for that to shake out. For now, Moore will continue to try to prove himself to his new coaching staff. Besides his work with the offense, Moore also has taken punt return reps. He has one career kick return and two career punt returns, but he said he wants to make himself available to the Eagles for whatever they ask or need of him.
“It’s one day at a time,” Moore said. “You got to make the most of every opportunity that you have. Whenever my number is called, it’s going to sound cliché, but you got to make the play.”
Earlier in the week, Jalen Hurts shouted out Moore for his role in a sequence from Monday’s practice. Moore made a mistake that resulted in Quinyon Mitchell picking Hurts off for a would-be touchdown. But several plays later, Moore ran a perfect route and caught a deep post near the goal line.
“We’re living in live bullets now, and everyone’s learning,” Moore said. “I made a mistake.”
It was a two-part route, Moore said, and he only ran the first part.
“That play is not going to make me,” he said. “You just keep playing.”
The Eagles are grinding their way through the second week of training camp. Some parts of the team have looked good, others remain very much a work in progress. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane and Jeff Neiburg assess quarterback Jalen Hurts’ play, how some of his targets are faring, and why, regardless of how the offense is coming together, the defense could be elite enough to help the Eagles contend for another title. Listen here.
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