Former Patriots safety quickly lands with much better team

Marcus Epps #22 of the Philadelphia Eagles reacts after defending a pass during a game.

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Marcus Epps could never gain traction on the Patriots, so he asked to be released. And an old friend quickly came calling.

According to Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network late Wednesday night, Epps is signing with the Philadelphia Eagles, where he played from 2019-22 and played in Super Bowl LVII. Now, he returns to where his career took off with his team as the defending champions, and a legitimate chance to get a ring of his own.

Epps, 29, suffered a torn ACL in Week 3 of the 2024 season while playing for the Las Vegas Raiders. He signed a one-year deal with the Patriots and wasn't ready for participation in team drills during OTAs, but did mix in during training camp.

Despite being healthy, Epps never found a way to rise up the safety depth chart. He entered camp as the most experienced and logical choice to play free safety, as he's logged 2,108 career regular season snaps in that spot (via Pro Football Focus), but Jaylinn Hawkins (1,235 career free safety snaps) consistently stayed ahead of him in the pecking order.

Epps departs a veteran safety room for a much younger one in Philadelphia, where the most experienced option is fourth-year pro Reed Blankenship. The latter figures to get the majority of deep safety snaps for the Eagles defense, but Epps makes sense as a plug-and-play backup if they ever need him.

Thomas Fidone II #86 of the New York Giants scores a touchdown while being defended by Marcus Epps #22 of the New England Patriots during a preseason game at MetLife Stadium.

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Marcus Epps (pictured above) never seemed to make any progress in Patriots training camp, leading to his departure and new deal with the Eagles.

Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel didn't seem to agree with a report by MassLive's Mark Daniels that Epps asked the Patriots for his release. Vrabel characterized it as more of a mutual breakup.

Regardless of how Epps departed, he's gone now, and the Patriots have set their safety group, with Hawkins the most likely candidate to man the deep part of the field. The Eagles, meanwhile, are going for a Super Bowl repeat, with Epps added back to the locker room as a familiar face and veteran defender.