It was Aug. 10, 2009, and the Eagles had a preseason game three days later against the Patriots and a shortage of quarterbacks.
Kevin Kolb, the second-year pro from Houston, was expected to play a lot against the Patriots, but he hurt his knee that day in practice at Lehigh University in Bethlehem.
That left Donovan McNabb and A.J. Feeley as the only healthy quarterbacks on the Eagles’ preseason roster.
So Andy Reid got creative.
He had a former college star quarterback in training camp as a summer coaching intern, and he signed him to a contract so he could practice the rest of the week and then play against the Patriots in the upcoming preseason game at the Linc.
His name was Matt Nagy and he had been a star quarterback at the University of Delaware, where one of his teammates was Brett Veach — then Reid’s coaching assistant and now the Chiefs’ general manager.
Nagy tried to pursue a playing career after he graduated from Delaware.
NFL
He had a workout with the Packers but didn’t get signed. Then he spent seven seasons bouncing in and out of the Arena League — with the New York Dragons, Carolina Cobras, Georgia Force and Columbus Destroyers.
Now, at 30 years old, he was finally going to get a chance to practice with the Eagles and play in an NFL preseason game.
Coach Reid brought me in and asked me if I had an agent, if I was in shape and if I knew the playbook. And so … they gave me that practice.
Nagy participated in the Eagles’ morning practice at Lehigh and threw the ball well alternating reps with McNabb and Feeley. He’s got a rocket arm.
The Eagles even held a Nagy press conference under a large tent to handle all the media requests for Nagy, and Nagy told reporters he was hopeful the one-week tryout might even lead to an improbable career.
There was only one small problem.
Even though the Arena Football League had folded, Nagy was still under contract with the AFL.
And NFL teams can’t sign players to contracts if they’re under contract with another team. Even in a defunct league.
League officials notified Eagles general manager Tom Heckert that the Eagles weren’t allowed to sign Nagy.
His contract was voided.
And that was the end of Nagy’s one-day NFL playing career.
“Tom Heckert tapped me on my shoulder and told me I gotta go back in and put the shorts on and get back to coaching,” Nagy said this week. “So I went from an ultimate high to a ultimate low, but that’s just how life goes and everything happens for a reason. … That was a roller-coaster of a day.”
Nagy was back in coaches’ gear for the afternoon practice that day at Lehigh.
But it all worked out.
Nagy climbed the coaching ladder under Reid with the Eagles and then the Chiefs and is now head coach of the Bears, who face the Eagles in a wild-card game Sunday at Soldier Field.
The Bears went 12-4 this season under Nagy, who is probably the favorite to win the Coach of the Year award.
But for one hot summer afternoon 9 ½ years ago, Nagy thought his dream of becoming an NFL quarterback was about to come true.
“I thought I was going to be a starter in the NFL for the next eight years,” he said. “But it never happened.”
Click here to download the MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Flyers, Sixers and Phillies games easily on your device.
