Alex Singleton Confirms Breakthrough COVID-19 Infection

The veteran LB is back with the first team after his COVID-19 positive test, and confident he still has a place on the team

PHILADELPHIA - Forced to stay away through the Eagles' first six practices of the summer due to a breakthrough COVID-19 infection, linebacker Alex Singleton kept up with his conditioning with an 11-yard hallway.

“It’s 11 yards,” Singleton smiled prior to Sunday's practice at Lincon Financial Field on a zoom call when thinking about his makeshift quarantine mini-track. “The wall comes real quick.”

Singleton confirmed that he tested positive for COVID on July 26 despite being fully vaccinated. He was allowed back into the facility and back on the field on Wednesday and Thursday earlier this week before being activated and returning to practice on Sunday, immediately taking a number of first-team reps in both 7-on-7s and teamwork next to Eric Wilson.

Singleton noted his symptoms were mild and he attacked his quarantine period the best he could.

“I feel 100 percent," he said. "I felt really 100 percent the whole time."

Singleton's older sister Ashley was born with Down syndrome and he said his entire family has taken the pandemic very seriously.

“I don’t know any of the science, but you never know how her immune system would react to it, so me and my family have always taken it very seriously,” he said. “I would just say everybody protect everybody."

As far as his fitness routine, Singleton went to YouTube and found a kettlebell routine he found intriguing.

"I was able to get some kettlebells and dumbbells and stuff like that,” Singleton said. “I think the first day, I looked up a YouTube kettlebell routine and it was like a 45-minute routine with a 60-pound kettlebell and I think the guy in the video had about a 10-pound and I just about killed myself in the living room.”

The classroom side of things was easier as Singleton was able to do everything virtually.

“With all this Zoom stuff and all the communication that we have now I was able to be in meetings and watch practices pretty much through my iPad,” he said. “Mentally I was able to stay completely in it, and with this defense, with OTAs and everything I was able to get those reps in."

By the time Saturday arrived Singleton felt ready to go and it showed as the defense dominated. His running rate Wilson picked off Jalen Hurts and Singleton nearly had an INT of his own.

"It was great being out there with the team," said Singleton. "It was really nice to be able to get out there and run around with the guys.”

Despite missing the first eight practices, Singleton feels more comfortable that he will have a job on the team, something that hasn't been the case before his breakout 2000 season.

"I think for so long in my career it’s been trying to fight for a spot," he said. "Every year you have doubt in the back of your head. Every offseason you never really know when you’re in camp. Like those eight days I missed, if I were coming back last year, I would have been sick to my stomach right now. 

"I would be fighting for my life out here. Not that I’m not, but now you come out and you’ve had an offseason where you build, you watch film, you talk to the coaches a little more. The coaches reach out a little more, so you just build yourself as a player. You’re more confident that you’re going to be in Philadelphia for this season."

John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.