Eric Rowe (on Trading Block?) Happy With Preseason Performance

It wasn’t an interception, but on the last play of the Eagles’ 14-6 win over the Jets on Thursday night, Eric Rowe caught the last errant Christian Hackenberg pass — and there were many — out of the back of the end zone as the clock expired. 

After the game was over, the ball sat in Rowe’s locker. “I just kept it,” he said. 

Perhaps the bigger story was that Rowe, who became a starter as a rookie last season, was playing the final snap in the final quarter in the final preseason game — normally, a time reserved for deep reserves. 

Rowe, 23, said he wasn’t surprised he was in the game so late because the team played just four corners on Thursday night and if they played three and one got hurt, it would have caused a “s---storm.” 

And Rowe’s right about the numbers; the Eagles did play just four corners on Thursday night. But while Leodis McKelvin, Nolan Carroll and Ron Brooks were given the night off, Rowe played 48 snaps. 

“The way I looked at it, I was just going to go out there and compete,” Rowe said. “I was already kind of in my zone. I wanted to go back out there.”

Rowe was pleased with his performance. He wanted to shut down the opposition whenever the Eagles were in man-to-man coverage and he thought he did that, sans a “so-called” defensive pass interference call in the third quarter.  

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The young cornerback wanted to make the best of what has been a trying situation. He wanted to play as well as possible in the fourth preseason game. 

“I think I finished out strong,” he said. 

It’s been an unusual few months for Rowe, who the Eagles took in the second round of the 2015 draft. The guy who drafted him got fired before the conclusion of Rowe’s rookie season, so now Rowe has been trying to prove himself to a new head coach and a new defensive coordinator with a completely different scheme. The one constant — and Rowe is thankful for it — has been defensive backs coach Cory Undlin, who was retained. 

Head coach Doug Pederson said Rowe had some “hiccups” during the spring, but Rowe arrived at training camp hoping to prove himself. It hasn’t been an easy month. 

“Yeah, I had some ups and downs, but at the end of the day I just have to remind myself I have to make myself better out there,” Rowe said. “I can’t go dragging around practice holding your head down. Gotta keep fighting. Once all that was happening I just told myself, obviously there’s something they don’t see in me, so I just have to keep getting myself better on the practice field.”

Rowe’s slide on the depth chart had him around fifth in the cornerback pecking order during training camp, behind McKelvin, Carroll, Brooks and even rookie Jalen Mills. Recently, undrafted rookie C.J. Smith from North Dakota State has been making a roster push as well. 

And things haven't gotten any less turbulent for Rowe since Thursday's game ended as a report from NJ.com's Eliot Shorr-Parks on Friday said the Eagles are reportedly trying to trade the second-year corner.

Despite the depth chart free fall and all the rumors, Rowe’s goal hasn’t changed. He wants to reclaim his starter role with the Eagles. 

“That’s everybody’s goal," he said. “All you have to do is just keep working your way to that by good practice, showing the coaches that if they make a change, you just have to have their trust. I just have to keep working on that.”

Rowe admitted it “took [him] a while” to fit into the new defensive scheme but said Pederson’s tough practices helped him immensely. Games feel easier because practice is so hard. And Rowe enjoys being on an island with receivers, so he thinks he fits this defense. 

But will he fit on the team? Is his roster spot secure?

“I can’t say that,” Rowe said. “That’s out of my control. All I can do is just do my thing out in the game like I did today.”

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