Caleb Harris
DeVante Parker decided to retire O NFL instead of competing with the Philadelphia Eagles this summer, just two months after signing a free agent contract with the team. Parker signed a one-year, $4.69 million contract with the Eagles, but Philadelphia only had to pay $1.2 million of the contract (the New England Patriots would have to pay the rest).
Essentially, Parker was on borrowed time with the Eagles, not exactly competing for the WR3 spot because that role would go to a slot wide receiver (Parker plays on the edge and would have been depth for AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith). Parker decided to spend more time with his family after his nine-year NFL career.
Parker never playing against the Eagles is not unusual for this franchise, which has had a few players who signed there and never played – or had deals fall through – over the years. Here are the most notable ones from the last 30 years:
Jack signed with the Eagles in August of last season to compete for one of the open linebacker spots in training camp. While spending part of the first week with the Eagles on the first team on the depth chart, Jack was demoted to the second team in the second week and decided that was it.
At Jack’s first press conference. he revealed that he had ambitions to be an electrician or plumber before being lured back to football by Budda Baker. Jack was only retired for a few months before signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers practice squad, eventually starting one game and playing in three.
Jack wore the Eagles uniform in a preseason gamebut it never suited them in the regular season.
Marcos Brunel
Brunell never signed with the Eagles nor was traded there, but thought he would go to Philadelphia based on his history with Jon Gruden. When Brunell was a backup quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, Gruden was hired to be the Eagles’ offensive coordinator in 1995. Brunell thought he was being traded to the Eagles and reuniting with Gruden in Philadelphia.
The Eagles closed a deal for Brunell, but the quarterback was hesitant to accept a five-year contract since he would be backing up Randall Cunningham (Cunningham was benched four games into the 1995 season). The deal did not go through and Brunell was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Goodwin was traded to the Eagles in 2020 but decided to cancel the season due to COVID concerns. Goodwin’s rights reverted to the San Francisco 49ers in 2021 because he never played snaps with the Eagles.
The 49ers waived Goodwin a day later and sent a seventh-round pick to Philadelphia. Goodwin signed with the Chicago Bears in April of that year.
In fact, Gore never wore an Eagles jersey (similar to Brunell), but agreed to a free agent contract with the Eagles during the legal tampering period in 2015. He agreed to sign a deal with Philadelphia that included $7 .5 million guaranteed on the first two. years into his contract, but backed out of the deal because the Eagles traded Nick Foles a day later and allowed Jeremy Maclin to sign with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Feeling like I couldn’t win one Super Bowl in Philadelphia, Gore decided to sign with the Indianapolis Colts. This was one of the most bizarre moments in Eagles free agent history.
