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The Philadelphia Eagles play the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday for a spot in Super Bowl LIX. But the NFL team already is working on next season’s roster.

On Tuesday, the Eagles signed former Alabama tight end Cameron Latu to a reverse/future contract. He was among three Crimson Tide alumni to sign reserve/future contracts on Tuesday, with guard Darrian Dalcourt signing with the Baltimore Ravens and cornerback Anthony Averett signing with the Houston Texans.

A player signed to a reserve/future contract can be added to an NFL team’s roster when it expands from 53 to 90 players for the offseason on March 12, the first day of the NFL’s 2025 business year. The newly signed players become eligible to participate in offseason workouts, minicamps and OTAs as team members.

Only players who aren’t on NFL active rosters can sign reserve/future contracts.

Averett and Dalcourt finished the 2024 season on the practice squad of the team they signed with, which is overwhelmingly the case for reserve/future signees.

But that wasn’t true for Latu. The tight end spent all but two weeks of the 2024 season on the practice squad of the Cleveland Browns after being waived by the San Francisco 49ers at the end of the preseason.

A third-round pick of the 49ers in the 2023 NFL Draft, Latu has not played in an NFL regular-season game. Latu sustained a meniscus injury in San Francisco’s final preseason game in 2023. He spent the entire season on injured reserve as he had two knee surgeries.

Joining Dalcourt in moving from the practice squad to a reserve/future contract with the Ravens was wide receiver Malik Cunningham.

A star quarterback at Park Crossing High School in Montgomery, Cunningham played QB at Louisville and the Reese’s Senior. The New England Patriots signed Cunningham with the stated intention of converting him to wide receiver, but he also worked at quarterback for New England. He made the full conversion with Baltimore this season.