The Eagles have a decision to make with the veteran linebacker

The strange case of Devin White took another turn from the most anticipated direction when the linebacker signed a one-year deal with the Eagles on March 18, just days after the free agent market opened.

White was ruled out of Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for personal reasons. Returning to Tampa, where he was taken fifth overall in 2019, is certainly not the homecoming he envisioned when he agreed to come to Philadelphia.

Maybe nothing should surprise the 26-year-old white guy anymore. Therefore, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Eagles decided to release him during the team’s bye week from Tampa to give him a chance to make an impact elsewhere and clear a spot on the 53-man roster.

After White missed the season opener against the Green Bay Packers with an ankle injury and didn’t even travel to Brazil, head coach Nick Sirianni said that Nakobe Dean had won the starting job over White in training camp, but that the Eagles wouldn’t need him at some point because it’s a long season.

In four games, including Sunday, White hasn’t taken a single snap. He wasn’t even active in the two games he had available.

Through it all, White was an exemplary teammate, always smiling and optimistic in the locker room and not afraid to show his face after losing his job, even though his pride must have been painful. He said he believed the Eagles wanted Dean to win the job, and to Dean’s credit, he did.

It wasn’t dealt to Dean like last year when he was entering his second season after former starters TJ Edwards and Kyzir White left in free agency.

Now what to do with white? When he left the Bucs as a free agent, teams weren’t exactly on guard. However, things have changed. After just three weeks of the season, the injuries started piling up.

Linebackers are the most commonly injured position in football, accounting for 13.5% of all injuries.

In Denver, former Eagles linebacker Alex Singleton suffered a torn ACL and was replaced by former Eagles linebacker Zach Cunningham. The Falcons have already lost three linebackers, including Nate Landman to a knee injury.

There would likely be a chance for White should Eagles general manager Howie Roseman decide to let him go.

However, White is good insurance for the Eagles should something happen to Dean and starter Zack Baun. Aside from that, they have some depth at the position in Ben Van Sumeren and rookie Jeremiah Trotter Jr., both of whom had solid training camps. The Eagles also have a veteran in Oren Burks.

Should the Eagles cut White, there would be a spot available on the 53-man roster that they could potentially use to add Parris Campbell. The receiver was added to the active roster for Sunday against the Bucs, but is now out of honors, so he must be added to the roster or the Eagles will have to move on from him.

It might make sense to move on from White now rather than leaving him in limbo.

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