A.J. Brown's late-week hamstring injury in advance of Monday night's 22-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons forced the Eagles to shuffle the roster a bit to better handle the All-Pro receiver's absence.
The fallout to that was placing fourth-year edge rusher and special teams stalwart Patrick Johnson on waivers to make room for veteran offensive lineman Nick Gates to the 53-man roster. The Eagles also elevated receiver Parris Campbell and tight end E.J. Jenkins from the practice squad for the game.
The hope was that Johnson would clear waivers and return to the Eagles' practice squad but an NFL source told Eagles on SI that was unlikely and sure enough the division rival New York Giants were awarded the 2021 seventh-round pick out of Tulane on Tuesday.
Johnson made the Eagles as a rookie and played in 49 games with the team, making two starts.
Most of Johnson's playing time came on special teams over the years but he did 363 defensive reps during his three-plus seasons in Philadelphia with playing time as both an undersized edge and off-ball linebacker. Johnson recorded 20 tackles -- one for loss -- with three quarterback hits and 11 pressures with the Eagles.
Gates, meanwhile, is the backup center to Cam Jurgens and the Eagles had planned to promote him to the 53-man roster once his three PS elevations were used, something that was accelerated a week due to the Brown injury.
Had the Eagles not promoted Gates to the active roster, they would have been unable to elevate Campbell from the practice squad because the spots were earmarked for Gates and Jenkins, the TE3.
Johnson played 24 special teams snaps in the Eagles' Week 1 win over Green Bay in Sao Paulo, Brazil, second on the team to cornerback Kelee Ringo (25), making his release a bit of a surprise with several players currently having lesser roles on the team being kept.
