Eagles Backup Ready for Anything: 'You Never Know!'

Josh Andrews was ready to call it quits when he got the call.

It was Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman on the other end of the call asking him if he wanted to join the team.

“I was in shape and ready,” he said. “They needed some help at center, so I’m like, ‘Yeah I’m available, I’ll come and work out.’ I was moving good, so they signed me.”

It’s probably no coincidence that the Philadelphia Eagles’ second-team offense was able to have some success during Day 8 of training camp because there were no worm-burner snaps back to Marcus Mariota.

Low, off-the-mark snaps had become too many, too often.

In fairness to the one getting the work as Jason Kelce’s primary backup, Brett Toth, he hadn’t played much center before. 

Offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland liked some of the skills Toth showed in the final regular-season game of the 2021 season when Toth started a game against the Dallas Cowboys that meant nothing to the Eagles since they had already clinched a playoff spot.

Toth tore his ACL in that game and missed all last season as he worked his way back.

One of camp’s underrated questions was who would back up Kelce if Cam Jurgens were to win the right guard job? Jurgens has that job locked down, though coach Nick Sirianni isn’t ready to make it official, yet.

Now, it appears that job will go to Andrews, who has played mostly center with some sprinkling in at guard during his 10-year NFL career, a career that began right here with the Eagles in 2014 as an undrafted free agent out of Oregon State.

“Spent my first four years here,” he said. “This place is special, so I’m glad to be back.”

Two of Andrews’ years in Philly were spent on the practice squad, but he also made it into a combined 16 games in the other two seasons. He then moved on to the Indianapolis Colts for two seasons, the New York Jets for one, the Atlanta Falcons for one more, and, last year, with the New Orleans Saints.

Thinking that may have been it, he began spending his days mixing in some corporate networking with his workouts. 

He lives in Portland, Ore., with his wife, two sons, one of whom is four months old, and his 4-year-old daughter, not far from Nike headquarters. He said he has plenty of friends who work there and that may be where his future lies when the day finally comes when he has to call it quits, perhaps doing product testing or market research.

It may not be this year, though. He is 32 and has primarily been a backup, getting just nine starts and playing in 48 games in his career, but he could become a serviceable backup at center, especially when Kelce takes his veteran’s day off during the week leading up to each game and the team needs somebody to work in with the first team.

“You never know what’s going to happen in this league,” said Andrews. “Me being 10 years (in the league) and the older you get the more expensive you get, and it gets harder to say in this position. Not for long, that’s what this league is all about.

"They called me and I was like I’m definitely coming back to Philly with Stout. It’s like being in grad school at Stoutland University.”

Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.

Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter at @kracze.