Posted December 10, 20231 yr Catching up on recent Eagles roster moves Since their signing of Shaq Leonard, the Eagles have made a number of roster changes. Here's a list to keep you updated. BY JIMMY KEMPSKI PhillyVoice Staff KATE FRESE/FOR PHILLYVOICE Former Eagles LB Christian Elliss After agreeing to terms with linebacker Shaq Leonard on Monday, the Philadelphia Eagles made a number of other roster moves later in the week. Let's briefly review each of them. • They waived LB Christian Elliss: This was a surprise move. The Eagles have the No. 1 ranked special teams units in the NFL, and Elliss led the team in special teams snaps, with 238. Eagls special teams Snaps LB Christian Elliss 238 CB Kelee Ringo 225 CB Josh Jobe 212 LB Patrick Johnson 189 EDGE Nolan Smith 166 Six (!) teams put in waiver claims for Elliss: He was awarded to the Patriots. With the return of Dallas Goedert to the field, Albert Okwuegbunam felt like the easy choice for waivers. Instead, the Eagles lost a good special teams player who was active for every game. Perhaps this is a sign that the Eagles have seen enough development from undrafted rookie Ben VanSumeren that he will move into Elliss' core role on special teams. The consensus on VanSumeren as a draft prospect was that he was more of an athlete than a football player. The athleticism is certainly appealing, as he ran a 4.45 40 and vertical jumped 42.5" at 231 pounds. A scouting report from NFL.com's Lance Zierlein from draft season: VanSumeren’s production and game tape won’t draw draftable grades, but he possesses extremely rare athletic attributes for his position and that might create an opportunity with a team coveting elite traits. He’s not a thumper as a run defender and his football instincts leave much to be desired, but if he can prove himself as a special teams contributor in camp, he could force a team to give him a year on the practice squad for additional development. The Eagles now have four linebackers on their active 53-man roster: Zach Cunningham, Nicholas Morrow, Leonard, and VanSumeren. • OL Brett Toth is back: The Panthers poached Toth from the Eagles' practice squad and added him to their 53-man roster in late October. Toth started a game against the Titans, playing both at LG and RG. PFF had him down for 1 sack and 4 pressures allowed, as well as 1 penalty in that game. Earlier this week they waived Toth, who signed back to the Eagles' practice squad after clearing waivers. • WR Greg Ward got a few days off: The Eagles released Ward from the practice squad last Thursday, and added him back six days later. • The released OL Ross Pierschbacher and WR Cam Sims from the practice squad. https://www.phillyvoice.com/catching-recent-eagles-roster-moves/
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