The Philadelphia Eagles did not go all out to bolster their depth at safety in the offseason, although they did bring in several safeties. For one, the Eagles came to terms with Jaquiski Tartt on a one-year deal in June.
Tartt featured for the San Francisco 49ers in his opening seven seasons in the NFL. He is just coming off a campaign where he emerged as the 49ers’ regular starter at strong safety, and he recorded 66 total tackles coupled with a career-high in tackles for loss with five.
Tartt has had his work cut out for him to make the Eagles’ 53-man roster considering that he did not take part in their offseason programs. Overall, he did not receive a bulk of snaps early in training camp and wound up missing the Eagles’ preseason opener against the New York Jets due to personal reasons. He did play in the team's preseason road win over the Cleveland Browns, where he featured in 80 percent of snaps.
From Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni’s standpoint, as he touched on during a press conference on Thursday, he sees that Tartt is “fighting for a position” on the team.
“Jaquiski [Tartt], I think he’s doing a good job out here,” Sirianni said. “He’s fighting for a position and he’s working every single day. It was a great hit he had on the sideline against Cleveland the other day. You see him in those drills. He had that one hit on the sideline, then he cleaned up a play on fourth down that got a good stop.
“You see some of the things of why you brought him here every time he steps on the field. I’m glad he’s here and competing with the guys.”
As it stands, the Eagles are projected to call upon both Marcus Epps and Anthony Harris to be their go-to starters at safety in the coming season. From there, it is still up in the air as to just which players will be the backups for the position. At the least, Tartt is expected to receive a crucial opportunity to impress the Eagles coaching staff in the team's upcoming preseason finale against the Miami Dolphins.
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