The emergence of undrafted free agent wide receiver Paul Turner spelled trouble for both Givens and Randle. At one point in the season he had a streak of five consecutive games with a pass caught of 50 yards or more.
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Cutting Rueben Randle cost the Eagles $500,000 in dead cap money.
Randle caught eight touchdowns for the Giants in 2015 but was up and down during his time in NY, and did not generate a ton of demand in free agency. He finished the year with just 34 receptions and 569 yards. Unfortunately when Philadelphia made a trade with the Titans for receiver Dorial Green-Beckham, the need for Givens to be on the roster was suddenly gone.
Turner and Green-Beckham are favored to make the team along with Nelson Agholor, Josh Huff and Jordan Matthews.
Givens, a fourth-round pick of the Rams in 2012, was with his third team in two years this summer.
Most notable among the six other players released was offensive tackle Andrew Gardner, who started 11 games in an Eagles uniform. Brandon Brooks is Philadelphia’s new starting right guard.
Also released was a member of last year’s draft class, sixth-round pick Randall Evans out of Kansas State.
Gardner won the starting left guard job a year ago, but a Lisfranc fracture cut his season short after three games.
Defensive tackle Mike Martin never suited up for a single snap, and with the solid play of Beau Allen and Taylor Hart, it was easy to make the veteran expendable. The Eagles are actually at 73 players after also putting middle linebacker Joe Walker and defensive end Alex McCalister – both seventh-round picks this past season – on injured reserve.
Teams have until Tuesday to reduce rosters to 75. National Football League teams will then have to trim their rosters to 53 players sometime before Saturday at 4 p.m.
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The Eagles finish the preseason on Thursday night at the Linc against the Jets.
