Former USC wide receiver Tahj Washington has a new home. On Thursday, the Philadelphia Eagles signed Washington to their active roster and waived Brandon Hayes in a corresponding move — two days after the Miami Dolphins released him.
For Trojans fans, the transaction is a reminder of how productive Washington was in cardinal and gold.
After two seasons at Memphis, he transferred to USC and spent 2021–23 as one of the program’s most reliable receivers, first through the end of the Clay Helton era and then under Lincoln Riley. Over 39 games as a Trojan he caught 163 passes for 2,449 yards and 15 touchdowns.
His senior year in 2023 was the peak. Washington led USC with 59 receptions for 1,062 yards and eight scores and paced the Pac-12 at 18.0 yards per catch.
He earned All-Pac-12 honors for a second straight season after a 50-catch, 785-yard, six-touchdown junior year. He also scored in the 2023 Holiday Bowl, a snapshot of the vertical threat he became in Riley’s offense.
The Eagles connection is personal as well as professional. Washington and first-round rookie Makai Lemon were teammates in 2023, Washington’s last season in Los Angeles.
Lemon is already on Philadelphia’s crowded receiver list; Washington now joins him in the same room, which also includes DeVonta Smith and several veterans fighting for roster spots.
Eagles quarterbacks coach Parks Frazier was an offensive assistant in Miami in 2024, another thin thread between Washington’s first NFL stop and this one.
Washington’s pro path has been harder than his college production suggested. Miami took him in the seventh round of the 2024 draft (No. 241 overall). A torn ACL ended his rookie season before it started. In 2025 he appeared in six games and finished with three catches for 37 yards.
The Dolphins waived him this week after drafting three receivers and after a muffed punt in the preseason. At 5-foot-10 and 174 pounds, he has always been undersized by NFL standards; he will have to prove special-teams value and slot reliability quickly.
The Eagles play their preseason finale Friday, then must trim to 53 by Sunday night.
That is a tight window. But Washington’s USC tape still shows a player who separated, finished after the catch, and produced when targeted.
Fight On now means fighting for a roster spot in midnight green — next to a fellow Trojan.
