At least one of the 22 tryout participants in the Philadelphia Eagles’ rookie minicamp made a good impression over the weekend. According to Andrew DiCecco, the organization has signed undrafted rookie free agent cornerback Shon Stephens to its offseason roster.
ESPN’s Tim McManus earlier stated that Stephens was “off to a strong start in camp.” Stephens, Joey Porter Junior’s cousin, was also invited to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ rookie minicamp but will not be attending right now.
Dane Brugler of The Athletic rated Stephens as a priority free agent signing. Here’s a scouting report on him from the 2024 edition of The Beast.
Shon Stephens, a Ridgeview High cornerback, spent three seasons playing for Bakersfield (Calif.) College. He then signed with Division II Missouri Southern State in 2020, but came home after his mother had a heart attack. He committed to Penn State as a walk-on, but credit issues rendered him ineligible.
After an All-America season at West Liberty in 2022, he committed to Purdue, but NCAA concerns prevented him from attending. Instead, he spent his final season at Ferris State. Stephens maintains good space in coverage with fluid hips and body twitch, and he is always a scoring threat – his tape reminded me of Darius Phillips.
Overall, Stephens is undersized and older [he turns 26 in December], but he has A-plus speed, toughness, and ball skills and projects as a back-end/practice-squad player.
Stephens is a long shot to make the Eagles’ 53-man roster, especially with the team’s surprising abundance of cornerbacks and returners. However, he will now have the opportunity to join the squad by demonstrating his abilities throughout OTAs and training camp workouts.
