Eagles Bring Back Young Defensive Tackle After He Clears Waivers
Posted September 12, 2025
The Philadelphia Eagles continue to shuffle their practice squad roster ahead of the Super Bowl LIX rematch with the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Eagles on Thursday announced the return of recently waived defensive tackle Gabe Hall.
The 6-foot-6, 295-pound Hall made his NFL debut in Week 1, playing five defensive snaps and four special teams snaps in a 24-20 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.
In a corresponding move, defensive tackle Jacob Sykes was waived from the practice squad.
Hall Overcame Odds to Make Eagles Roster
Hall signed with the Eagles in 2024 as an undrafted rookie out of Baylor. He spent all last season on the practice squad and was not elevated for any games.
But Hall continued to improve his craft, and it led to him making the Eagles’ initial 53-man roster this season.
Upon receiving the news, Hall was in disbelief.
“It was a blessing that the head coach and everybody was so patient with me,” Hall said, via NBC Sports Philadelphia. “They believed in me. That was a good thing for me too. And that made me work harder, knowing that I had the coaching staff behind me. It made me come in here and work and be hungry every single day.”
Hall got his first regular-season reps last Thursday but did not record any stats.
On Tuesday, Hall was waived to make room for newly acquired running back Tank Bigsby, who was traded from the Jacksonville Jaguars.
In 48 games over five seasons at Baylor (2019-23), Hall recorded 77 tackles and 12.5 sacks to go with 18.5 tackles for loss.
Hall Hopes to Emulate All-Pro DT
It’s too early to say how much, if it all, Hall will play in Week 2. Regardless, he’ll be looking to prove doubters wrong.
Last month, the 24-year-old spoke to the Philadelphia Inquirer about his desire to emulate Chiefs three-time All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones.
“If I can be on his level, that would be amazing,” Hall said.
The Eagles have plenty of talent up front as well, including Jalen Carter, who was ejected last week for spitting on Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. Carter was fined $57,222 and suspended one game. However, he will be eligible to play Sunday.
The NFL said that “because Carter was disqualified before participating in a single play, the suspension was considered to have been served in Week 1.”
Justin Jefferson Takes Blame for J.J. McCarthy’s Pick-Six in Vikings' Week 1 Win
Star receiver Justin Jefferson says the blame lies on him for the pick-six thrown by first year starting QB J.J. McCarthy in the third quarter of Minnesota's 27-24 win over the Bears.
“J.J. wasn't ready for me to be out that soon. That's why the ball was thrown inside of me, where it needed to be outside. So it’s mostly on me, on that play," Jefferson said in his weekly media session on Thursday. "I'm just happy that J.J. really didn't think about it too much. J.J. was on to the next play.”
The pick-six gave the Bears a 17-6 lead with 12:51 left in the third quarter. With the offense sputtering and the defense struggling to get off the field, the 11-point lead felt bigger at the time. However, McCarthy quickly reset and turned his focus back to helping engineer a miraculous fourth quarter comeback in his first start.
"At the end of the day, yeah, it sucks. It's one of the worst things you can do as a quarterback. But you can't do anything about it. You've got to focus on the next play," McCarthy said after the game in Chicago.
Early in the fourth quarter, McCarthy threw a dart to Jefferson in the middle of the endzone that made it a five-point game. Less than three minutes later, McCarthy threaded a 27-yard pass to running back Aaron Jones for his second touchdown pass to give the Vikings the lead. McCarthy would top it off with a 14-yard option run that resulted in a touchdown and put the Vikings ten ahead with just under three minutes left in the game.
"When you have a pick-six, the way the first half went, normally that's enough for a lot of teams to go ahead and pack their stuff up and head home," said Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell of McCarthy's resolve. "There wasn't one moment. I just told him, I said, 'You did everything right. They made a play. You protected yourself enough' – there was another potential eligible on the play that might have had an opportunity to score, honestly, and what kind of play would that have been? Great learning opportunity."
"Defense kept us in it the whole time. It was on our shoulders just to go out there and execute and play as one and move on from that. That's one of those things I don't really hang on. And I was really grateful the way Coach McCown and (Kevin] O'Connell handled it the next play," said McCarthy.
