After linebacker Myles Jack joined the Eagles on Aug. 6, he said he had been contemplating retirement when the Eagles called and considering going to trade school to become an electrician or plumber.
Two weeks later, he has that opportunity again.
Jack, 27, has left the team and told Eagles officials he plans to retire, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.
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SIGN UP HERE Jack got reps with the first defense when he first got here but by Tuesday’s game against the Browns he had dropped down to the third team. He was still on the field in the closing minutes of the game and had a tackle on Browns tight end Zaire Mitchell-Paden with 14 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
When you’ve started 98 NFL games and you’re still on the field with 14 seconds left in a preseason game, the writing is on the wall.
Jack played 52 snaps on defense and four on special teams in the two preseason games and had five tackles.
Zach Cunningham, another veteran linebacker who signed with the Eagles the same day as Jack, has been working with the first defense lately and appears to be the likely opening-day starter opposite Nakobe Dean.
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Jack, a second-round pick of the Jaguars in 2016 out of UCLA, had 636 tackles, 24 tackles for loss, 20 quarterback hits, four interceptions, three forced fumbles, 7.5 sacks and five fumble recoveries in 106 career games.
He spent his first six years with the Jaguars before spending last year with the Steelers and starting 13 of 17 games.
According to Spotrac, Jack has earned just over $49.1 million in his NFL career, about $37 million of it from the four-year, $57 million contract he signed with the Jaguars in the summer of 2019.
With Shaun Bradley out for the year with an Achilles injury and Jack now retired, the Eagles have seven off-ball linebackers on the roster: Dean, Cunningham, Christian Ellis, Nicholas Morrow and Ben VanSumeren along with Timber Creek graduate Tyreek Maddox-Williams, who signed with the team on Saturday. Kyron Johnson remains on the roster but recently underwent an appendectomy and is out indefinitely.
Once the Eagles formally place Jack on the Reserve-Retired list, they’ll have an opening on the 90-man roster.