Richard Rodgers (TE) - Pro Football Rumors

Eagles Bring Back TE Richard Rodgers

September 8th, 2020 at 6:00pm CST by Sam Robinson

Shortly after his Washington release, Richard Rodgers will return to Philadelphia. The Eagles re-signed the veteran tight end Tuesday.

Rodgers departs one of the NFL’s thinnest tight end groups and rejoins one of its strongest. Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert were previously the Eagles’ only two active-roster tight ends.

This will mark Rodgers’ seventh NFL season. Rodgers spent the past two with the Eagles, though he only played in eight games. While best known for catching a Hail Mary from Aaron Rodgers in Detroit nearly five years ago, Richard Rodgers caught eight TD passes in that 2015 season. He only has one catch for seven yards since his four-year Green Bay stay concluded.

Rodgers, 28, landed on the Eagles’ IR list with a foot injury last August. The team, however, re-signed him in December. Tuesday’s agreement doubles as Rodgers’ fourth one-year Philly deal.

TE Richard Rodgers Signs With Redskins

March 24th, 2020 at 8:06pm CST by Rory Parks

The Redskins have agreed to sign veteran tight end Richard Rodgers, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (via Twitter). It will almost certainly be a one-year, veteran minimum pact for the 28-year-old.

Rodgers was selected by the Packers in the third round of the 2014 draft, and he was a reasonably useful part of the club’s receiving corps during his four years catching passes from Aaron Rodgers. His best season came in 2015, when he hauled in 58 passes for 510 yards and eight scores, including a memorable buzzer-beating Hail Mary in Detroit.

His post-Green Bay career has not been as kind to him. He signed with the Eagles in April 2018, but a knee injury kept him off the field until November of that year, and he ultimately recorded just one regular season catch. And though he re-upped with Philadelphia last March, his season was derailed by a knee injury. He was released off IR with an injury settlement in September and re-signed in December, but he appeared in just one game.

He will try to resurrect his career in Washington, and he stands a decent chance of doing just that. The Redskins — who pursued Greg Olsen earlier this year — have very little talent at the tight end position at the moment, and outside of Delanie Walker, the free agent cupboard is pretty bare.

Eagles Make Handful Of Roster Moves

December 24th, 2019 at 1:26pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Eagles made a few roster moves Tuesday. Philly is signing tight end Richard Rodgers and promoting receiver Deontay Burnett from the practice squad, the team announced. To make room on the active roster, they officially waived running back Jay Ajayi and placed cornerback Ronald Darby on injured reserve.

Rodgers was with the Eagles in camp, but was placed on injured reserve in August and released with an injury settlement shortly after. He first signed with Philadelphia in 2018 and spent last year with the team, catching only one pass in seven games. The best year of his career came back in 2015 with the Packers, when he caught 58 passes for 510 yards and eight touchdowns. His signing could indicate that the Eagles aren’t too optimistic about having starter Zach Ertz for their Week 17 game against the Giants. Ertz is dealing with a fractured rib that he suffered during their big win over the Cowboys.

Thanks to the victory against Dallas the Eagles are in the drivers seat, but they still need a win in their finale to clinch the NFC East. Darby went down with a hip injury, and there was some initial hope he’d be able to return for the playoffs. Obviously, that turned out not to be the case, and Rasul Douglas will slide into the starting lineup in his place. Darby is dealing with a grade 2 hip flexor strain that fortunately won’t require surgery and will only knock him out for about a month, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

We heard yesterday they were planning on waiving Ajayi, so that move was only a formality. Burnett is a 2018 UDFA from USC, who signed to their practice squad a couple of weeks ago after being cut from San Francisco’s taxi squad. Given the state of the Eagles’ depleted receiving corp, it’s highly possible he finds himself playing significant snaps.

Eagles To Cut DE Eli Harold

August 30th, 2019 at 6:03pm CST by Sam Robinson

Three weeks after acquiring Eli Harold from the Bills, the Eagles will not carry him through to their 53-man roster. The Eagles will release the veteran edge defender, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets.

The team will also place tight end Richard Rodgers on IR and waive quarterback Cody Kessler. The Eagles only gave up undrafted rookie offensive tackle Ryan Bates for Harold, so it’s not like they had a particularly big investment in him. Harold was originally drafted by San Francisco in the third-round back in 2015, and spent last year with the Lions. He had four sacks with Detroit last year and the Eagles were looking for pass-rushing depth, but they apparently didn’t like what they saw from the 25-year-old. For his career, he has nine career sacks in 61 games and 25 starts

Kessler was drafted by the Browns in 2016, then traded to Jacksonville last offseason. He surprisingly ended up starting four games for the Jaguars last year, but he averaged a pitiful 5.4 yards per attempt. He was trying to make the team in Philly, but the Eagles luring Josh McCown out of retirement all but sealed his fate. Rodgers has made some noise in the past with Green Bay, but he’ll now miss the entire 2019 campaign with a foot injury.

Eagles’ Richard Rodgers To Miss Time

August 22nd, 2019 at 10:35am CST by Zachary Links

Eagles tight end Richard Rodgers will miss “multiple weeks” with a foot injury, according to Les Bowen of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Without him, the Eagles will have to find a No. 3 tight end elsewhere to start the season.

Currently, the Eagles have Josh Perkins, Alex Ellis, and Will Tye in camp. One of those three could slide in as the Eagles’ new No. 3 TE, but they could also explore free agents and late summer cuts from around the league.

Rodgers, a former third-round pick of the Packers, inked a one-year deal with the Eagles last year. Unfortunately, a knee injury cut his first season in Philly short. After recording just one catch for seven yards, Rodgers is eager to show what he can do in green and white. He inked a new two-year deal with the Eagles in March.

Rodgers’ best season to date came in 2015, when he hauled in 58 receptions for 510 yards and eight touchdowns. He also had a quietly productive 30/271/2 stat line in 2016. He never quite lived up to expectations in Green Bay, but he could make for a fine supporting TE behind Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert if healthy.

Now, he’ll just have to wait a little while longer before making an impact in Philly.

Eagles Re-Sign TE Richard Rodgers

March 28th, 2019 at 3:38pm CST by Zachary Links

The Eagles are bringing back tight end Richard Rodgers. On Thursday, the club announced a new two-year deal for the 27-year-old.

Rodgers, a former third-round pick of the Packers, inked a one-year deal with the Eagles last year. Unfortunately, a knee injury cut his first season in Philly short. After recording just one catch for seven yards, Rodgers is eager to show what he can do in green and white.

Rodgers’ best season to date came in 2015, when he hauled in 58 receptions for 510 yards and eight touchdowns. He also had a quietly productive 30/271/2 stat line in 2016. He never quite lived up to expectations in Green Bay, but he could make for a fine supporting TE behind Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert if healthy.

In other Eagles news, the club plans to keep Brandon Graham at defensive end, despite sometimes using him on the inside last year. The Eagles are also looking to extend Carson Wentz, despite his troubling injury history.

Eagles’ Richard Rodgers Cleared To Practice

November 13th, 2018 at 4:58pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Eagles already have Zach Ertz on a historic reception pace and second-round rookie Dallas Goedert behind him, but the defending Super Bowl champions plan to further strengthen their tight end group.

Richard Rodgers has missed all of this season because of a knee injury, but he will return to practice this week and be in line to come off IR, Zach Berman of Philly.com tweets.

This is an interesting move because it means one of either Mike Wallace or Mack Hollins now must remain on IR all season. Although Philadelphia’s depth chart at receiver now includes Golden Tate, it’s notable the team will bring Rodgers off IR nevertheless.

Wallace is out with a broken fibula sustained in early September but was a candidate to return this season. Hollins has missed the entire season but is also an IR-return option and may be likelier to see the field down the stretch than Wallace.

The former Packers target signed with the Eagles in April on a one-year, $880K deal. He has 21 days to be activated. He caught 58 passes for 510 yards and eight touchdowns in 2015 but hasn’t come particularly close to reaching those numbers since.

Eagles Re-Sign Markus Wheaton, Place Richard Rodgers on IR

September 4th, 2018 at 8:30am CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Markus Wheaton, who was released on Saturday, is back in Philadelphia according to Jeff McLane of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link).

Wheaton, who was among the casualties of Saturday’s roster cut-down, now rejoins a receiving corp that’s expected to be with out number one threat Alshon Jeffery for at least the first couple of games. It looks like the Eagles were planning on bringing Wheaton back the entire time, and were just waiting to clear up a spot.

To make room on the roster, the team placed tight end Richard Rodgers on injured reserve. Rodgers, who suffered a knee injury in the Eagles’ second preseason game, will be eligible to return after eight games. At the time of his injury, Rodgers was labeled week-to-week, but clearly the Eagles felt he wasn’t valuable enough to hold a roster spot for.

Wheaton has always been a player who’s production has never equaled his potential. After a breakout 2015 season where he caught 44 passes for 749 yards and five touchdowns with the Steelers, he’s played in just 14 games over the past two seasons, catching just seven passes total for 102 yards. Last offseason he signed a two-year $11MM contract with $5MM guaranteed with the Bears, and was an epic bust, catching just four balls during his time in Chicago. He signed a one-year prove-it deal with the Eagles this past May, and will be facing an uphill battle to revive his career in a crowded skill players group.

Contract Details: Patriots, Matthews, Eagles

April 10th, 2018 at 2:23pm CST by Zachary Links

Some details on recent free agent deals:

Jordan Matthews’ one-year deal with the Patriots is worth $1MM with $170K guaranteed, Ben Volin of The Boston Globe tweets. The deal includes an $90K guaranteed, a modest $790K salary, and a $130K offseason workout bonus. Matthews was hampered by injuries in 2017, but prior to that, he had three strong seasons with the Eagles, so he could prove to be a major value signing for New England.
New Eagles tight end Richard Rodgers signed a one-year deal worth $880K with $245K fully guaranteed, Adam Caplan of SiriusXM tweets.
Joe Webb‘s one-year deal with the Texans is for the minimum salary, Mike Rodak of ESPN.com tweets. With his salary at the league’s floor, it could negate him as an unrestricted free agent loss for the Bills and hurt their chance at scoring a compensatory pick.

Eagles Sign TE Richard Rodgers

April 4th, 2018 at 4:00pm CST by Sam Robinson

Richard Rodgers will be heading east, agreeing to a deal with the Eagles. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets this is a one-year agreement between the defending Super Bowl champions and the former Packers tight end. The team has since confirmed the deal via press release.

Rodgers will join Zach Ertz in Philadelphia and, for now, is in line to replace Brent Celek, whom the Eagles released last month. Celek could still be brought back at a cheaper rate after the loss of Trey Burton in free agency.

Rodgers, 26, put himself on the map in 2015 when he caught 58 passes from Aaron Rodgers. His role in the Packers’ offense waned over the next couple of years, however. In 2016, he had just 30 catches for 271 yards. Last year, he had just 12 grabs for 160 yards. Depending on how the rest of the offseason shakes out, he may get an opportunity to shine in two tight end sets along with Ertz.

Billy Brown, Joshua Perkins, and Adam Zaruba are also fighting to make the Eagles’ final cut at tight end, but they could be facing long odds between the addition of Rodgers and the likely selection of a rookie tight end in this month’s draft.