Since they were missing a bunch of draft picks this year, the Eagles have more opportunities to offer undrafted free agents than most teams.
And they tried to use that as a selling point Saturday evening during the always competitive post-draft free-for-all to sign the top undrafted free agents.
"We were extremely aggressive," Eagles executive vice president of football operations Howie roseman said. "I would say more aggressive than ever before."
The first batch of undrafted rookies includes defensive end Aziz Shittu of Stanford, defensive end Connor Wujcizk, running back Byron Marshall of Oregon and wide receiver Hunter Sharp of Utah State, according to ESPN's Adam Caplan, Rutgers linebacker Quentin Gause, according to NJ.com, cornerback C.J. Smith of North Dakota State, according to Shane Hallam of About.com, and Washington State defensive tackle Destiny Vaeao, according to the Sea Times.
Also agreeing to contract terms are Valdosta State running back Cedric O'Neal, Incarnate Word linebacker Myke Tavarres, according to his own Twitter (@MykeT14), West Virginia long snapper John DePalma, according to his own Twitter (@JDePalmaWVU87) and Maine center Bruce Johnson and Texas wide receiver Marcus Johnson.
"It's much easier for us to go about it and say, ‘We didn't have a two, we didn't have a four, we didn't have a lot of picks in this draft,'" Roseman said. "We made our case to the agents and to the players. And we've been doing that for a couple weeks. Coach (Doug Pederson) has a list of assignments on that too. Everyone was in it together. I'm sure they're upstairs right now celebrating being done with it."
Shittu, who is 6-foot-2, 290 pounds, was a first-team all-Pac 12 pick this past year and was named Rose Bowl Defensive MVP after recording eight tackles, including 3 ½ for loss, and 1 ½ sacks, against Iowa. Shittu was a three-year starter at Stanford.
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Wujciak, who is also 6-2, 290, was a first-team all-ACC pick with 12 tackles behind the line of scrimmage and 4 ½ sacks this past season for Boston College, which ranked No. 1 in all of NCAA Division 1 in yards per game. Wujciak is a New Jersey native who played high school football at Seton Hall Prep in West Orange.
Sharp, who stands 6-foot, 200 pounds, was a second-team all-Mountain West Conference pick this year, caught 71 passes for 835 yards and nine touchdowns this past season and was 66-for-939 with seven TDs as a junior. He spent his first two years at Antelope Valley in Lancaster, Calif.
Gause, 6-foot, 230 pounds, finished second on the Scarlet Knights this past season with 96 tackles. He was a two-year starter, captain as a senior, and a four-year contributor on special teams. He was a semifinalist for the Campbell Trophy, which is awarded annually to the top scholar athlete in the country.
Marshall, 5-foot-10, 210 pounds, missed most of his senior year at Oregon with an ankle injury. But he averaged 6.1 yards with 19 TDs on 307 career rushes and caught 97 passes for 1,293 yards and eight more TDs. He also averaged 23.7 yards on 19 career kickoff returns. Marshall, recruited to Oregon by Chip Kelly, rushed for over 1,000 yards as a sophomore and had over 1,000 receiving yards as a junior.
Smith, 5-foot-11, 185 pounds, was a four-year starter at North Dakota State and part of four FCS national championship teams (and a fifth as a red-shirt). He was teammates at North Dakota State with Eagles first-round pick Carson Wentz. Smith was an all-Missouri Valley Conference first-team pick this past season with 16 pass knockdowns and four interceptions.
Vaeao, 6-foot-4, 300 pounds, is a native of American Samoa. He was a three-year starter at Washington State and made the all-Pac 12 second team this past season after recording 41 tackles with 12 tackles for loss and 4 ½ sacks. Played in 44 games, starting 35 in four-year varsity career.
O'Neal, 6-foot, 215 pounds, put up huge numbers on the Division ll level for Valdosta State, finishing with 4,145 rushing yards and 49 touchdowns. Ran for 1,198 yards as a freshman, 975 yards as a sophomore, 873 as a junior and 1,099 as a senior.
Tavarres, a 6-foot-2, 220 pounder, played only one year at Incarnate Word, located in San Antonio. Before that, he spent a year at Arkansas and then two years at College of the Siskiyous in Weed, Calif. This past season, he was a FCS All-America, with 110 tackles, 60 solos, 22 ½ for loss and 8 ½ sacks.
Johnson, 6-foot-3, 285 pounds, was the Rimington Trophy winner this past season, giving annually to the best FCS center and named after Dave Rimington, who was the Eagles' starting center in 1988 and is considered the greatest center in college football history. He was a second-team All-America and did not miss a single snap the last three seasons.
DePalma, 6-6, 250 pounds, was a four-year long snapper for the Mountaineers and special teams MVP as a sophomore. He also made the Big 12 all-Academic team.
Johnson, 6-1, 195 pounds, caught 61 passes for 793 yards and four touchdowns in three seasons. He was limited to just six games this past year and 12 receptions for 130 yards and one touchdown. Best college game was 3-for-120 and a TD against Texas Christian in 2013. He was a teammate of Jordan Hicks for two years.
