Eagles’ Johnathan Cyprien facing former team second week in a row

For the second consecutive week, Philadelphia Eagles safety Johnathan Cyprien is taking on one of his two former teams — and he’s excited about it.

When it comes to the NFL, not every player gets to remain with the same team that brought them in from the beginning. As a matter of fact, it’s kind of rare when a team sticks with a player throughout their entire career in today’s NFL. Nowadays, cuts and trades are so frequent.

Although players get rarely moved early on in their career, it’s quite common when a seasoned veteran begins to bounce around from team to team when they start to exit their prime but are still serviceable enough to contribute to a team.

Philadelphia Eagles safety Johnathan Cyprien is on that chapter of his career. The 29-year-old veteran safety joined the Eagles at the beginning of training camp, making Philly his third football home since he’s been drafted in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft.

Cyprien hasn’t entirely hit a roadblock in his career. Instead, a down season followed by an ACL tear after signing a significant contract landed him in this situation. By no means is Cyprien a lock to make the Eagles roster — but the chances are likely right now.

The Eagles have a solid starting safety duo in Rodney McLeod and Malcolm Jenkins, along with a reliable veteran behind them in Andrew Sendejo. Behind him though, there’s a free-for-all, with one of the previous competitors, Blake Countess out of the picture.

Right now, Cyprien is in a very favorable situation, as his chances of making the Eagles’ roster are good. However, he needs to have a strong preseason to do so. As if trying to make the team after an injury-riddled season isn’t enough motivation, Cyprien ended up playing on a team that has not one, but two of his former teams on the schedule in the preseason.

Cyprien’s feeling good

On Wednesday evening, the Eagles landed in Jacksonville with a little over 24 hours until week two of the preseason kicks off. On Thursday, Cyprien tweeted out a picture of himself arriving on the runway with the caption “stunting on my ex.” While the caption clearly pokes fun at the situation, Cyprien did mention there were no hard feelings as he typed “#AllLuvDuval.”

Last week, he went against the Tennessee Titans, who happened to waive him earlier this year because of his injury. And on Thursday night, Cyprien gets to play against the same team that called him during his draft process back in 2013 — the Jacksonville Jaguars. After tying with three other players leading the Eagles in tackles last week, Cyprien is on the right track to making the squad. We’ll see what he’s able to do at his former home in Jacksonville this Thursday.