Eagles shuffle roster again, add veteran linebacker Hayes Pullard

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The Eagles’ summer-long search for linebacker and special teams help landed veteran inside backer Hayes Pullard at the NovaCare Complex on Tuesday.

Pullard has played more than 700 snaps on defense in his career and more than 500 on special teams.

Pullard, 27, was released by the Cards on Sunday and cleared waivers on Monday. The Eagles signed him on Tuesday and released another linebacker, Asantay Brown, who was in his fifth stint with the Eagles over the last two seasons.

Pullard has quite a bit of experience in the league. He’s played 46 games in his career, starting 12. 

Head coach Doug Pederson said Pullard will play on Thursday night when the Eagles finish the preseason against the Jets at MetLife Stadium.

“I haven’t watched a ton of tape on him but just talking to some of our players and I know he played with Nelly (at USC), the guy’s a thumper, he’s a good player, he’s athletic,” Pederson said. “It’s hard obviously trying to learn the defense in 24, 48 hours, but he’ll do the best he can to come in and learn and be in a position to help us on Thursday.”

The Browns drafted him in the seventh round in 2015 and put him on their practice squad, and halfway through the season the Jaguars signed him to their 53. He wound up playing in 24 games for Jacksonville.

After the Jaguars released him following the 2016 season, the Chargers claimed him on waivers, and he wound up starting 10 games in 2017, recording his only career interception off Derek Carr in a win over the Raiders. The Chargers released him just before last season started, then re-signed him two months later. He spent this past training camp with the Cards.

Pullard, 6-foot, 235 pounds, has played 744 snaps on defense in his career (150 in 2015, 28 in 2016, 475 in 2017, 91 in 2018) and 552 on special teams (128, 330, 22, 72).

The Eagles have nine linebackers on the roster, and only three of them were here last year — Nigel Bradham, Kamu Grugier-Hill and Nate Gerry. 

The others are Alex Singleton, L.J. Fort, Zach Brown, Chris Worley, T.J. Edwards and Pullard.

Pullard is the 15th player the Eagles have added since training camp began on July 26. All but two remain on the roster. No other NFL team has added that many new players since camps began.

Pederson said it really gives the coaches and scouts an advantage to have such a large base of players they’re familiar with.

“I think it’s two-fold,” he said. “One, the guys that were here previous, we’ve worked with those guys, and even though you have to let some of those guys go to bring these 15 in, we have history on the guys we had to let go, so if there is an injury or something down the road during the season, we know about these guys, they’re familiar with us. And then kind of the same note, these new guys that come in, we get another evaluation on them and probably for the same reasons. If there is something that happens during the regular season these guys can be called upon to come in, they know your team, they know your structure, and it makes an easier fit.”

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