Eagles roster moves: Ronald Darby placed on injured reserve, Jay Ajayi officially waived; Richard Rogers signed to active roster
Rodgers spent training camp with the Eagles before getting cut by the team on Sept. 11.
The Eagles waived Jay Ajayi and placed Ronald Darby on injured reserve, clearing two roster spots on Tuesday. In correspondence with the moves, the team signed tight end Richard Rodgers to the active roster and promoted wide receiver Deontay Burnett.
Against the Cowboys on Sunday, Darby tweaked a hip flexor injury that popped up last week during practice. The 25-year-old cornerback came into the season recovered from a torn right ACL suffered last season and now will have his season ended early for the second time in as many years.
Rodgers spent training camp with the Eagles before getting cut by the team on Sept. 11. He was placed on injured reserve at the end of training camp after injuring his foot during a joint practice against the Baltimore Ravens. The 27-year-old tight end started his career with the Green Bay Packers before signing with the Eagles in 2017. Last year, he hurt his knee and was able to play in the team’s final seven games of the season, catching one pass for 7 yards. He caught eight touchdown passes in his sophomore season with the Packers but has only had three since then.
Ajayi spent just six weeks with the Eagles after being signed mid-season in the wake of Darren Sproles being placed on IR. The 26-year-old was coming off a torn ACL suffered last season with the Eagles and saw his role quickly reduced as the team seemingly realized his knee injury had cost him some explosiveness.
In the last two games, Ajayi didn’t play a snap even though he was on the 46-man active roster. According to an ESPN report, the Eagles are expecting Jordan Howard to be ready to return after missing nearly seven weeks with a shoulder stinger.
Burnett has spent less than two weeks with the Eagles but was called up to add depth to the wide receiving corps, which has injuries to Nelson Agholor (knee) and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside (foot). Agholor has missed four of the last five games after hurting his knee against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 6. Arcega-Whiteside left the Cowboys game and wasn’t able to return after aggravating a foot injury he suffered last Thursday in practice.
Burnett, 22, played five games for the New York Jets last season, catching 10 passes for 143 yards. He was released from the San Francisco 49ers practice squad on Dec. 10, and was signed by the Eagles on Dec. 12.
With a spot available on the practice squad, the Eagles signed wide receiver River Cracraft to the 10-man group. Cracraft played for Washington State in college.