You kept waiting and waiting and waiting for Carson Strong to get a chance.
It never happened.
The Eagles released the strong-arm rookie quarterback on Monday after he threw just four passes all preseason and barely had any practice reps in training camp. The news was first reported by Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports.
What makes Strong’s case so strange is that the Eagles in April guaranteed him a franchise-record $320,000 when they signed him as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Nevada.
Then they never let him play.
Strong came to the Eagles with top college credentials. During his last two years in Reno, he led the entire BCS with 63 touchdown passes, 7,033 passing yards and interception ratio (one in 73 attempts) and had the second-highest completion percentage at 70.1 percent.
The big question about Strong was his surgically repaired knees, and questions about his health and mobility completely knocked him out of the draft after he was once considered the No. 1 pick.str– round talent.
But they were never a problem for the Eagles. He never missed a practice, though he rarely did, and the expected competition between Strong and Reid Sinnett for a potential third quarterback spot never materialized.
Strong’s practice reps were few and far between, and he certainly never got enough work to get into any kind of rhythm as a passer.
Strong didn’t play in the preseason opener against the Jets and then threw just one pass against the Browns and three Saturday night at Miami. He completed a six-yard pass to John Hightower on his four preseason attempts, all in the 4th.th-quarterly cleaning task.
He played just seven of the Eagles’ 198 preseason snaps. Sinnett played 100, Gardner Minshew 86 and Jalen Hurts eight.
What makes this even weirder is that Sinnett was terrible in the preseason, but he threw 48 passes and Strong only threw four.
As long as preseason statistics are available, which is 1999, no rookie Eagles quarterback has thrown as many as those few passes in the preseason. The previous low during that span was Andy Hall’s 18 tries in 2004.
Dave Zangaro of NBC Sports Philadelphia spoke about Strong on Saturday night after the Eagles finished the preseason with a game against the Dolphins in Miami, and Strong said he didn’t regret signing here, regardless of how things turned out.
“This is a great organization to be a part of, this is a great football team with great coaches and a great owner,” he said. “It’s an organization run from the owner to the GM to the coaches. These people know what they are doing. This is a great roster and I’m very happy to have the opportunity to be on this team and be a part of it.”
But now he is not.
Eagles GM Howie Roseman will be available to the media on Tuesday and will no doubt address Strong’s strange Eagles career.
Nick Sirianni didn’t say much when asked about Strong, only that the team wanted to see more of Sinnett.
“Everyone is in a different situation and in different scenarios,” he said after the game on Saturday night. “We wanted Reid to work. We wanted Gardner to get some work. This was a little more about that than anything else. We wanted to make sure those guys got the reps they needed.”
Assuming the 22-year-old Strong clears waivers, the Eagles could try to sign him to their practice squad, but if they like him enough to keep him as a developmental prospect, why not see what he can do in training camp and preseason games?
And if you’re strong, do you really want to stay with an organization that refused to give you any opportunities during training camp and preseason games?
“Eventually, I’ll get a chance in the preseason or a real game, whatever it is,” Strong said Saturday night. “Eventually, I’ll get a chance to go out there and perform. I just have to make sure I’m ready when my opportunity comes.”