Britain Covey made his NFL debut last Sunday, playing four special teams snaps for the Philadelphia Eagles as a punt returner in their 38-35 win over the Detroit Lions.
Covey ended up with two punt returns for 13 yards, including an 11-yard return in the second quarter, as well as a pair of fair catches.
While none of those statistics showed off the game-breaking ability he was known for as a wide receiver and return specialist at the University of Utah, his poise in his first NFL game did grab some attention.
“He’s cool, calm and collected,” Eagles special teams coordinator Michael Clay said, per NBC Sports’ Dave Zangaro. “It’s like having a veteran out there. He catches it, gets downhill. He’s very talkative on the sideline with guys on the punt return team, with myself, what he’s seeing right there.
“Going against who I arguably think, I think (Lions punter) Jack Fox is one of the better punters in the league. He was hitting balls up there I’ve never seen before. But he didn’t bat an eye, caught it, was smooth.”
Zangaro noted that perhaps his best play of the game — at least from showing poise in the face of pressure — came early in the fourth quarter.
With Philadelphia holding a 38-28 lead, Covey cleanly fielded a punt with a fair catch inside the Eagles’ 20, with the Lions’ Quintez Cephus bearing down and Eagles teammate Zach Pascal nearly bumping into him as the ball approached.
“It was pretty impressive for a young cat like Britain,” Clay told Zangaro.