3 Things to know about Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Kamar Aiken
On the first day of training camp, the Philadelphia Eagles added a veteran receiver in the form of Kamar Aiken.
Training camp officially began on Wednesday, July 25th for the Philadelphia Eagles. One day prior, they made their first official roster moves of the 2018 season by releasing wide receiver Marquess Wilson and Randall Goforth. We thought that was to make room for safety Corey Graham. As it turns out the plan was to sign veteran wideout Kamar Aiken.
Those who are on the Graham bandwagon will have to wait and see what happens. In the meantime, let’s get to know Mr. Aiken.
Here are three things we picked up over the last few hours.
Philadelphia Eagles
1. Here’s another undrafted free agent.
Despite going undrafted in the 2011 NFL Draft, Aiken worked his way onto the Buffalo Bills‘ roster that same year. He was waived twice in consecutive season (2011, 2012) but added to the practice squad. In 2011, he was actually promoted to the active roster.
Since then, it’s, kind of, been a journeyman’s career. Since 2012, he’s been on five rosters, including the Chicago Bears, New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens, Indianapolis Colts and, now, the Eagles.
Unfortunately for him, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where he makes the Eagles’ active 53-man roster.
2. He’s forever in the NFL stat books, despite struggling to make several rosters.
There’s really no shame in being waived by an NFL team. It’s hard to make a roster. Teams carry what seems like 200 guys now. There are only 53 active slots.
Still, despite seeing most of his time on practice squads, Aiken has been promoted to several active rosters, including being added to the Patriots active roster twice.
That means even the great Bill Belichick had to see something.
For his career, Aiken’s got 143 receptions, 1,672 receiving yards and nine touchdowns on his resume.
3. He has some ties to Eagles brass
Sometimes, in order to understand something (or someone), you have to go back to the beginning. His potential was seen early. While in Baltimore, where he, first, showed flashes, Eagles vice president of player personnel Joe Douglas had a front-row seat thanks to being in Baltimore at the exact same time.
Philly’s taken a peek at ex-Ravens before, Timmy Jernigan, Haloti Ngata, Mike Wallace and Steven Means. Still, as mentioned before, it’s hard to imagine Aiken making the Eagles’ roster. We’ll have to wait and see how things shake out.