Britain Covey (born March 18, 1997) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

wide receiver and

punt returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

and was signed by the Eagles as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in .

Early years

Covey grew up in

Provo, Utah Provo ( ) is the fourth-largest city in Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the largest city and county seat of Utah County and is home to Brigham Young University (BYU). Provo lies between the ...

, and attended

Timpview High School Timpview High School (THS) is a public secondary school located in Provo, Utah, Provo, Utah, United States. Timpview is a 6A school and is one of the three high schools in the Provo City School District. The current principal (school), princip ...

. He is the grandson of author

Stephen Covey Stephen Richards Covey (October 24, 1932 – July 16, 2012) was an American educator, author, businessman, and keynote speaker. His most popular book is '' of Highly Effective People''. His other books include '' First Things First'', ''Pr ...

. Covey earned the

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Sc ...

rank in 2015 with the Utah National Parks Council. In high school, Covey played two years at

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

and led his team to a 26–0 record. He totaled 4492 passing yards and threw for 56 touchdowns, while also making 2904 rushing yards and scoring 44 touchdowns as a runner. He finished his high school career fourth all-time in Utah touchdowns (with 111), despite only playing two years as a starter. He was twice the Utah Valley Football Player of the Year and led Timpview to back-to-back state championships. Covey made nearly 7,400 yards of total offense at the school.

College career

Covey committed to the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

, and as a true

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

started eight games and appeared in twelve. He led Utah with 43 catches for 519 yards with four touchdown catches, and was the conference leader in receiving yards per game, total receiving yards, catches per game, touchdown catches and overall receptions, being named honorable mention All-Pac-12. He also played on special teams, leading the team with 916 all-purpose yards and being named first-team Freshman All-American by ''

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'' and

Scout.com Scout Media is an integrated sports publishing company that produces Internet content covering hundreds of professional and college teams across America. The company was founded in 2001 and was acquired by Fox Sports in 2005. In 2013, Fox Sports ...

for his work as a

. Covey was named a freshman All-America receiver by Pro Football Focus. Covey missed the

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

and 2017 seasons as he was on a LDS mission in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. He returned to Utah in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

. That year, he started four games and appeared in a total of thirteen, being named a first-team all-conference returner after posting 221 punt return and 144 kick return yards. He also led Utah in receptions with 60, receiving yards with 637 and yards per game with 49.0. He finished the year with one touchdown and 1,174 all-purpose yards, and also was 3-for-3 passing with 71 yards and two scores. A

torn ACL An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during inju ...

in the Pac-12 Championship Game forced him to miss the bowl games. In

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, Covey redshirted after playing in four games (three as a starter). He recorded ten catches for 77 yards, three rush attempts for 22 yards, nine punt returns for 69 yards and three kickoff returns for 52 yards. He was a Pac-12 All-Academic Honor Roll selection. In a

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

-shortened 2020 season, Covey appeared in four games and started two. He made 19 receptions for a team-leading 264 yards and scored a team-high three touchdowns receiving. He was second in the FBS (first in the conference) with a punt return average of 16.1 yards. Against

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

, Covey recorded 134 receiving yards, a career-high, and made a 91-yard touchdown catch, the second longest in school history. He was a first-team All-Pac-12 return specialist and was honorable mention all-conference at receiver. Phil Steele named him an honorable mention All-American. As a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, Covey started six games and appeared in a total of fourteen, making 52 catches for 514 yards and a team-leading 1,400 all-purpose yards. In the

Rose Bowl Game The Rose Bowl Game is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2. The Rose ...

against

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

, Covey made a 97-yard kickoff return touchdown and recorded 208 total all-purpose yards, second all-time in a single game for Utah. His kick return score was the fourth longest in team history. He was named Paul Hornung Player of the Week for his performance against

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

, in which he made eight catches for 46 yards and a touchdown, in addition to six punt returns for 132 yards and a 25-yard kick return for a total of 203 all-purpose yards. The 132 punt return yards ranked second-most for an FBS player on the season and is sixth all-time in team history for a single game. Covey placed seventh in the FBS with combined return yards with 787 and was third in punt return average and first in punt return touchdowns. He averaged 100.0 yards exactly per game, and was named a

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W 5 ...

and Phil Steele first-team All-American at the end of the year. FWWA named him a second-team selection, as Covey also made first-team All-Pac-12. Covey finished his college career with the all-time team record in punt return yards (with 1,092), second in career punt returns (with 92), second in catches (with 184), third in all-purpose yards (with 4,241) and sixth in receiving yards (with 2,011). He led the school in receiving yards in three seasons (2015, 2018, 2020) and played in 47 total games, with 23 starts.

Professional career

After going unselected in the

2022 NFL draft The 2022 NFL Draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The first round was held on Thursday, April 28, and w ...

, Covey was signed by the

as an

. He was waived on August 30, 2022, and signed to the

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

the next day. He was elevated to the active roster for their week one game against the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

, and made his NFL debut in the match, returning two punts for 13 yards. Covey was signed to the active roster on October 1. In week thirteen against the Tennessee Titans, he returned six punts for 105 yards for an average of 17.5 yards-per-return, which was the second-highest single-game total in the season. Covey helped the Eagles reach Super Bowl LVII. In the Super Bowl, Covey had two punt returns for 35 yards in the Eagles 38–35 loss to the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

. On August 29, 2023, Covey was waived by the Eagles and re-signed to the practice squad. He was elevated to active roster for the first two games before being permanently signed to the active roster on September 20 ahead of their week 3 matchup against the Buccaneers, where Covey had 111 return yards including a 52-yard punt return in the 25-11 win. Covey finished the season 2nd in average yards per punt return and led the league in total punt return yards with 417. He was listed an alternate to the 2024 Pro Bowl following his successful season.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Postseason

References

External links

Philadelphia Eagles bio

Utah Utes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Covey, Britain Living people Players of American football from Provo, Utah American football quarterbacks American football wide receivers American football return specialists Utah Utes football players Philadelphia Eagles players 1997 births