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4 Philadelphia Eagles that should be cut before taking a snap in 2021


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4 Philadelphia Eagles that should be cut before taking a snap in 2021

by Geoffrey Knox13 hours ago
 

It’s time for the Philadelphia Eagles to end a few roster experiments.

Here’s some advice that all NFL fans can learn from, whether you’re a Philadelphia Eagles fan or you’re a fan of any of the other 31 franchises. Believe it or not, your favorite team’s general manager is better at his job than any of us would be if we had to do it.

Managing the salary cap and the process of building a roster isn’t as easy as EA’s Madden makes it look in the Franchise Mode or on the Ultimate Team setting. None of us are better play-callers than our team’s offensive coordinator because we can’t be stopped on the video game.

Now, that we have that out of the way, something else needs to be stated. There are times when it’s hard to argue that G.M.s seem to be clueless sometimes.

Who knows why Jalen Reagor was taken over Justin Jefferson or why Eagles vice president and general manager Howie Roseman can’t figure out when it’s time to move on from some of these guys when the rest of us can (think Mack Hollins). That’s okay, here’s some help that some of you can probably pass along if you have Howie’s phone number.

Here are four players that the Philadelphia Eagles should cut before they even take a snap in 2021.

 

JOE OSTMAN, DEFENSIVE ENDhttps%3A%2F%2Fcdn.fansided.com%2Flogos%2Fnfl%2Feagles.png

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Isn’t it time to admit Joe Ostman won’t work out for the Philadelphia Eagles?

If an award was given out for team MVPs during training camp, Joe Ostman would be named as someone that could be thrown into the running. Even if you’ve never seen him play for yourselves, you’ve, no doubt, been inundated with the hype machine that has flooded your cell phone notifications with information about how Ostman is at the NovaCare Complex, blistering the young understudies and showing the most established veterans on the offensive line that all he needs is a chance.

It just never seems to work out for him though. In 2018, he was waived, brought back to the practice squad, and stayed there for the entire season. In 2019, he looked like he might have a shot at a roster spot, but he tore his ACL at an open practice. In 2020, he was released during final roster cuts but, again, brought back to the practice squad.

This time, he was elevated to the active roster for Week 11, Week 16, and Week 17 but demoted to the practice squad after each game. He has 29 defensive snaps, 42 special teams snaps, and one tackle to show for his efforts.

The Birds like Ostman, but it’s never translated into real playing time. The merciful thing to do now is to allow him an opportunity to see if he can make the squad on another team because with Brandon Graham, Derek Barnett, Ryan Kerrigan, Josh Sweat, and rookie Tarron Jackson on the roster, it looks more and more like Ostman will again fall victim to the numbers game.

 
 

MATT PRYOR, GUARD/TACKLE https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.fansided.com%2Flogos%2Fnfl%2Feagles.png

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Matt Pryor is never going to mature into a starter for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Here’s a trivia question that you can use during your next family function. Can you name something that Matt Pryor and Jordan Mailata have in common? Here’s your answer, Both are offensive linemen that the Philadelphia Eagles selected on the final day of the 2018 NFL Draft.

Here’s what’s bizarre about that. The seventh-rounder, Mailata, a man that never played American Football before 2018, is clearly much better than the guy that was taken 27 spots ahead of him.

The hope was Matt Pryor could begin as a reserve but grow into someone capable of being a starter. The reality is this Matt Pryor, at this point of his career, hasn’t grown past being a reserve option that you only want on the field in an emergency, and even then, though he can look good at times, he’s not someone that you want out there for extended periods of time.

The fact of the matter is this. You can argue about whether or not Sua Opeta and Nate Herbig are better, but while they still have room to grown, we’ve all probably seen all that we need to see from Matt Pryor. He’s probably not going to get any better than he is now.

Sometimes, sixth-round draft choices are sixth-round draft choices for a reason, and Philly has better options now with Jack Driscoll, Brett Toth, and the aforementioned Opeta and Herbig. Again, they, unlike Pryor, haven’t reached their respective ceilings.

 
 

ELIJAH HOLYFIELD, RUNNING BACK https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.fansided.com%2Flogos%2Fnfl%2Feagles.png

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The Philadelphia Eagles like Elijah Holyfield, just not enough to let him play.

After going undrafted in 2019, Elijah Holyfield found his way onto the Carolina Panthers roster, but was waived on September 1st of that year and re-signed to the practice squad shortly thereafter. That’s where the Philadelphia Eagles found him.

Holyfield’s contract with Carolina expired, and on New Year’s Eve in 2019, the Birds added the young man to their nest as we were told Philly wanted to give him the jump start on the next season in 2020. He was waived in September on the 3rd, re-signed to the practice squad three days later, and even elevated in Week 11 to the active roster.

Unfortunately, it’s now approaching year three for the son of a former world boxing champion, and Elijah Holyfield still has yet to register his first carry in an NFL game. He’s been on the Philadelphia Eagles roster for a while now, but if he has one thing working against him, it’s this. He was brought into Philly’s nest by the last coaching regime, not the new one.

Nick Sirianni’s guys don’t have a ton of loyalty to him, and even when Doug Pederson and Duce Staley were pacing the sidelines, it never seemed like they could find a way to get Holyfield into the lineup or the team’s running back rotation. Now, with Miles Sanders, rookie Kenneth Gainwell, and so many good prospects on the training camp roster, the belief is Holyfield will probably fall victim to the numbers game as Philly only figures to carry four tailbacks on the 53-man roster.

 
 

JJ ARCEGA-WHITESIDE, WIDE RECEIVER https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.fansided.com%2Flogos%2Fnfl%2Feagles.png

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JJ Arcega-Whiteside won’t become what Philadelphia Eagles fans were told.

By now, if you read Inside The Iggles with any regularity, it has to feel like we’ve been kicking JJ Arcega-Whiteside while he’s down. That hasn’t been the intention, but here’s something that can be stated with the utmost confidence.

 

One, we’ve seen this movie before. Philly gives guys too many chances (Mack Hollins, Corey Clement), and the decision always comes back to bite them in some shape, form, or fashion. By now, you have to be able to see that JJ Arcega-Whiteside isn’t this Alshon Jeffery clone that we were promised.

When he entered the NFL Draft, NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein stated, in a draft profile that he cooked up on the Stanford Cardinal that JJ has "functional quickness in spurts, but not enough to get away from tight coverage” and that "he won’t run by many NFL cornerbacks on go routes”. He also listed the following as weaknesses:

He plays with some hip tightness. He may need pre-snap movement to free him versus some NFL defenses. He also plays with hip tightness. It takes him additional time to settle in and open on comeback routes, and he’s unlikely deep-ball threat as a pro.

 

 

All of those are still issues as we enter year three, and none of us can say that he’s getting any better as time has gone on. Here’s the verdict.

Believe it or not, the Philadelphia Eagles might be able to dupe someone into giving them something for this guy, but they have to make a move now. Philly will never get more for JJAW than they’d get for him right now.

If they’re stubborn and wait or if they don’t get anything for him, then, it’s time to move on. This team probably won’t carry more than six wideouts into the 2021 season on the 53-man roster, and it’s time to see what guys like John Hightower and Quez Watkins can do. We’ve seen the best of JJAw, and sadly he doesn’t give the Birds much.

https://insidetheiggles.com/2021/06/21/philadelphia-eagles-cut-taking-snap-2021/

 
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These are the worst types of sports writing. If the premise was "Players on the Bubble heading into Training Camp" it would be spot on. But this is just click-bait hate. It' would be incredibly unwise to dump players before someone actually beats them for the roster spot. This is why we have TC and pre-season. They should save these pieces until the week before the roster cuts when things have actually played out a bit. 

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20 hours ago, brkmsn said:

These are the worst types of sports writing. If the premise was "Players on the Bubble heading into Training Camp" it would be spot on. But this is just click-bait hate. It' would be incredibly unwise to dump players before someone actually beats them for the roster spot. This is why we have TC and pre-season. They should save these pieces until the week before the roster cuts when things have actually played out a bit. 

And also... Its click bait but when you actually delve in to it there's not a lot to this. I mean if we look at it... Holyfield hasn't played a snap for the team. Ostman hasn't either I don't think? He's a camp darling. And Pryor I mean he regressed last year and is being drowned out at a position of actual relatively good depth.

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3 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

And also... Its click bait but when you actually delve in to it there's not a lot to this. I mean if we look at it... Holyfield hasn't played a snap for the team. Ostman hasn't either I don't think? He's a camp darling. And Pryor I mean he regressed last year and is being drowned out at a position of actual relatively good depth.

All 4 players are clearly on the bubble. 

Right now, we are loaded at RB, OL, and DL. I would say we are stronger at WR than many fans realize. So in order for any of these players to make the final roster, they will  have to really stand out.

Last year they altered the PS rules along with other roster-related rules to help with covid issues. I haven't heard if these changes will remain for 2021 or not. If they do, I can see a  guy like Ostman finding his way back on to the PS once again. Even Holyfield may have a shot at PS since he'll still be eligible in any case. If Pryor doesn't make the cut, he'll probably get a shot with another team. Same goes for JJAW. The weird thing about Pryor is that he wasn't good in TC, practice, or games last year. JJAW actually had a strong TC last year, then got hurt in the pre-game warmups before his 1st scheduled start and lost his role to a red-hot Fulgham. I believe sticking with Fulgham was the correct decision. But I don't feel we really saw where JJAW is as a player last year. Another strong camp from him with a new coaching staff / new offense might help him find a role on this team. Heck, just having a different QB can make a world of difference in how individual players are targeted.

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On 6/22/2021 at 6:55 PM, brkmsn said:

These are the worst types of sports writing. If the premise was "Players on the Bubble heading into Training Camp" it would be spot on. But this is just click-bait hate. It' would be incredibly unwise to dump players before someone actually beats them for the roster spot. This is why we have TC and pre-season. They should save these pieces until the week before the roster cuts when things have actually played out a bit. 

The guy is literally an amateur.  When he writes a story, it gets posted literally three successive times on Twitter, and maybe two or three responses total - usually nothing at all.  Just a fan pretending to be a sportswriter - but this is the new form of journalism.

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8 hours ago, Procus said:

The guy is literally an amateur.  When he writes a story, it gets posted literally three successive times on Twitter, and maybe two or three responses total - usually nothing at all.  Just a fan pretending to be a sportswriter - but this is the new form of journalism.

I should probably avoid posting any future stories from this guy.  It just seemed to be a slow period where there wasn’t a lot of news being reported - I was just trying to keep the forum going but am now thinking it is probably best to post less, screen content to see what is worthy of posting.  :-)

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9 hours ago, time2rock said:

I should probably avoid posting any future stories from this guy.  It just seemed to be a slow period where there wasn’t a lot of news being reported - I was just trying to keep the forum going but am now thinking it is probably best to post less, screen content to see what is worthy of posting.  :-)

I'm glad you posted.  We are having a good discussion about this.

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22 hours ago, brkmsn said:

Right now, we are loaded at RB, OL, and DL. I would say we are stronger at WR than many fans realize. So in order for any of these players to make the final roster, they will  have to really stand out.

Agreed on RB, OL and DL. We are pretty loaded there and there are certain guarantees at those positions that mean others are without doubt on the Bubble. 

I don't agree about WR though. I don't think it's that we are stronger than many fans realise. I just think that beyond Smith the options aren't great and so that really opens up a battle. 

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Honestly it is hard to say any player should be cut immediately without seeing what they can do with new coaching and a new scheme in which they’ll be playing.  Pryor you can likely say is the one with the longest odds of making the final 53 and could be argued his spot would be better served with a young player that may have development potential.  But the others (including JJAW) would be best to evaluate in the new schemes to see if the change (including shift in philosophy with designing scheme to play to players’ strengths) will serve them well.  

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36 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Agreed on RB, OL and DL. We are pretty loaded there and there are certain guarantees at those positions that mean others are without doubt on the Bubble. 

I don't agree about WR though. I don't think it's that we are stronger than many fans realise. I just think that beyond Smith the options aren't great and so that really opens up a battle. 

In regard to WR, it is my opinion that their lack of production last year was more of an effect of the offensive problems than one of its causes. 

Our QB was having his worst season ever and our Head Coach didn't want to be here. Nothing was done from a coaching standpoint to guide the team out of a funk. Personnel decisions were strange all year, but not even close to as strange as the game plans. We kept forcing the same philosophy week after week, even though it wasn't working. As a result ... well ... we all saw it. 

Reagor was drafted last year to replace Jackson as the Z receiver. He was not drafted to be a DJax clone (like some posters here think). He was actually supposed to become our version of Tyreek Hill. Why didn't it work out last year? The first reason was because the injury to Jeffery left an opening at X for at least the first few weeks and they wanted to get Reagor on the field right away. So that's where they had him practicing. If you want to use Reagor in the Tyreek Hill role, you need to have him lining up in the slot a lot and at Z (which he returned to last year when Jeffery returned). To really utilize his skill set, you want to move him around and find ways to get him the ball in space. Doug barely did this with Reagor in his offense. Siriani, on the other hand, is planning to make this a big part of his offense.

The addition of Smith, not only makes this possible, but it will make this so much easier. Smith will likely to a majority of the Z snaps now. I know it's still way early and right now we can only project, but I'm expecting Smith to resemble DJax in his prime without the occasional bone-head play.

That brings us to Fulgham. He should be the frontrunner at X. He had success last year and he also had some struggles. He saw his playing time decrease, in part because of those struggles. He was one of the only guys on offense last year that seemed to play with some fire. I expect him to learn from the experience (good and bad) he gained last year and prove he's a starter in this league. 

Watkins and Hightower are both young and it would be nice to see one or both of them show a lot of growth in year 2. I think Watkins' potential excites me a little more than Hightower's at this point.

As for JJAW, he was drafted to be a 50/50 guy and red zone specialist. I do think they saw him as a Jeffery clone when they chose him. The thing is, Jeffery and his skill set were integral to Doug's offense and not so much to Siriani's. It is possible for JJAW to have success under Siriani if he is used properly (used to be the type of player he was drafted to be).

We don't talk about Ward a lot. He is a capable slot receiver that would probably be even more efficient on any team besides the Eagles the last 2 years. Ideally, you want someone to win the job from him and with the talk of us lining WRs up all over, that may just happen. If he loses his job but still makes the roster we'll know we can depend on him in a pinch. 

 

Anyway, DJax and Jeffery are no longer our starters on paper. When your starters are hardly ever available it's hard for a struggling team to get on track. The guys that will be playing this year will actually be "the starters." I predict the difference between last year's offense and this year's will be night and day.

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