Former Texas A&M University-Commerce quarterback Luis Perez has been signed to a one-year contract by the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles.
Perez, 24, led the 2017 A&M-Commerce Lions to the NCAA Division II national championship. Perez was not drafted in 2018, but was invited to the Los Angeles Rams’ mini-camp. Perez saw some preseason action with the Rams and made the team’s practice squad to begin the 2018 season, but Los Angeles eventually released him in mid-Septmeber. Perez eventually signed with a minor-league team, the Alliance of American Football’s Birmingham Iron.
With Birmingham, Perez completed 135 of 258 passes for 1,460 yards with five touchdowns and six interceptions. The Iron finished 5-3 in the 2019 season, which began in February and ended in April. Perez’s signing is one of a flurry of contracts being awarded by NFL teams to former AAF players. The league folded earlier this month after just one season of operations.
The Eagles’ NFL veterans Carson Wentz and Nate Sudfeld are currently the only quarterbacks on their roster, but the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the Eagles are expected to draft or sign one more quarterback in the coming weeks. Philadelphia will likely have four quarterbacks in training camp, the Inquirer reports.
In 2017, Perez won the Harlon Hill Trophy as the NCAA Division II National Player of the Year. Perez threw for 4,999 yards with 46 touchdowns and 11 interceptions during the Lions' championship season.
The Eagles' signing of Perez is likely to result in some complicated feelings among A&M-Commerce Lions fans who are also fans of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys. The Eagles and Cowboys have a long-standing and often bitter rivalry, a very close second only to the Dallas-Washington rivalry in the Cowboys' history and fan culture.
