The Eagles on Wednesday afternoon were awarded former Army offensive tackle Brett Toth off of waivers.
Really, they never wanted to let him go.
Last summer, the Eagles brought in Toth after he received a military waiver to play pro football. They waived him at final cuts and planned to add Toth to their practice squad but the Arizona Cardinals swooped in and claimed him.
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Toth, 24, had been in Arizona until this week when the Cardinals waived him off of IR. The Eagles didn’t waste their chance to get him back into their building.
The Eagles actually had an open spot on their 53-man roster so no corresponding move was needed. Their roster is full at 53, including 10 offensive linemen.
While in Arizona, Toth was fulfilling his Army commitment at the Arizona State ROTC. When he was in Philadelphia, Toth worked at the ROTC at Temple University, so it would make sense if he continued that as he returns.
Last year, the Eagles understood that Toth was going to be more of a project after he was away from football for a year. He arrived in Philadelphia weighing just 290 pounds. The Eagles’ plan was to develop him on the practice squad but they never got that chance.
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Toth admitted last summer that it was difficult to stay in football shape when he was away for a year.
“It was hard,” Toth said last August.. “Again, when you’re thinking about training for the army, a bunch of that is hard to train as an offensive lineman. I did get within the height and weight regulations within the Army. You don’t want an offensive lineman that’s down to 260. Whenever I could, I was getting in the strength room on post there. I’ve just got to get all the movements and techniques back.”
Toth actually played for the Eagles last preseason so he knows their scheme and is already familiar with offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland. During his time with the Eagles, Stout has had several project players, including Jordan Mailata, who just started his first NFL game at left tackle last week.