Way-too-early Eagles 53-man roster projection

Before rookie camp rolls around, here's an Eagles 53-man roster projection.

BY JIMMY KEMPSKI
PhillyVoice Staff

JOE CAMPOREALE/USA TODAY SPORTS

If the Eagles cut Jalen Hurts they'll be left with a nonuple-figure dead money hit, so he's probably safe.

The Philadelphia Eagles have yet to conduct a single practice, so is it a little early to project the their 53-man roster? Eh, each year, I find that the initial look at the 53-man roster is a good indicator of depth, both at the gameday limit, and the 53-man roster limit. 

Spoiler: It's still a pretty loaded roster! When a team is deep, it's easy to find 53 players to make the roster, and you have to make tough choices on which players to leave off it. When a team is not so deep, you might get to, say, 48 or 49 players that you think are roster-worthy, and then you struggle to figure out which practice squad-level guys get to make the final 53. After my first pass through it this year, I found that my journey to 53 was the former.

Quarterback (3): Jalen Hurts, Marcus Mariota, Tanner McKee

McKee and Ian Book will compete for the No. 3 quarterback spot in training camp. If the Eagles were high on Book, they wouldn't have signed Mariota and drafted McKee, so McKee is probably the favorite. If neither is worthy of a roster spot, the Eagles could also just roll with just two quarterbacks.

Running back (4): D'Andre Swift, Rashaad Penny, Kenny Gainwell, Boston Scott

Trey Sermon remained on the roster all season in 2022, but he was a healthy scratch for all but two games. Scott is a known quantity and has the edge over Sermon. Giants games wouldn't be the same without him.

Wide receiver (5): A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Quez Watkins, Olamide Zaccheaus, Britain Covey

The Eagles don't have good depth on the outside, as Zaccheaus and Covey are slot receivers only. If Brown or Smith went down, Watkins would be a starting outside receiver. It's possible that the Eagles could add more depth before the start of the season, but they have steadfastly repeated their support for Watkins so I'm not sure we'll see that.

Tight end (3): Dallas Goedert, Jack Stoll, Grant Calcaterra

There were some who wondered if the Eagles might address the tight end position in the draft, but we'll reiterate that they probably like Stoll a lot more than you do. And really, his role with the team is fine. The Eagles believe that he's a trustworthy blocker, and he makes the rare plays that come him in the passing game. He's fine as a TE2 who doesn't require targets on a star-studded offense. 

The Eagles will also continue to develop Calcaterra, who is more of a pass-catching tight end. I wonder if he might get consideration for snaps in the Zach Pascal role?

Offensive line (9): Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Jason Kelce, Cam Jurgens, Lane Johnson, Jack Driscoll, Tyler Steen, Brett Toth, Sua Opeta

Last year the Eagles kept 10 offensive linemen. We'll see if there's an unexpected standout in camp, but for now the Eagles' line isn't as deep as it was a year ago. They do have some nice depth pieces, though. Driscoll brings guard-tackle versatility, and they think Steen will as well after selecting him with a high third-round pick. Otherwise, Opeta has appeared in the regular offense in 17 games (five starts), and the Eagles have demonstrated that they see something in Toth as a capable backup, seeing as he stuck on the 53-man roster all season in 2021 before spending the entirety of 2022 on the PUP list while recovering from an ACL tear.

Yesterday, we published an article listing the Eagles' remaining holes to fill, post-draft, and offensive line help was absent, which prompted some to wonder why it was omitted. There are plenty of teams that have far less OL depth than the Eagles, and some that still desperately need help. Hell, Driscoll could probably start for a bunch of teams and will probably get paid decent money in free agency next offseason. The point here is that it's May. If there were anyone worth signing at a reasonable cost on the open market, they'd already be on a roster.

Edge defenders (6): Haason Reddick, Josh Sweat, Brandon Graham, Nolan Smith, Derek Barnett, Patrick Johnson

Barnett's roster spot is far from guaranteed, and it will be interesting to see if the Eagles release him once he is able to pass a physical.

Interior defensive line (6): Fletcher Cox, Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, Milton Williams, Marlon Tuipulotu, Moro Ojomo

Kentavious Street will have a chance to compete for a roster spot, but here I have him as the odd man out after the Eagles drafted two defensive tackles in Carter and Ojomo.

Linebacker (4): Nakobe Dean, Nicholas Morrow, Christian Elliss, Shaun Bradley

Dean and Morrow could become a decent starting duo, or, you know, maybe not. Time will tell 🤷‍♂️. Regardless, the Eagles are going to have to add another playable linebacker.

Cornerback (5): Darius Slay, James Bradberry, Avonte Maddox, Zech McPhearson, Kelee Ringo

McPhearson has become a valuable contributor on special teams, and he has looked fine in games in which he has had to fill in at outside corner, but the team has curiously not asked him to play in the slot in his first two seasons despite playing inside at times in college. It would make sense for the Eagles to put more on his plate in 2023 and save themselves a roster spot on a dedicated backup slot.

Safety (5): Reed Blankenship, Terrell Edmunds, Sydney Brown, Justin Evans, K'Von Wallace

Blankenship, Edmunds, and Brown will compete for two starting spots.

Specialists (3): Jake Elliott, Arryn Siposs, Rick Lovato

If the Eagles had signed a legit veteran punter or drafted one, I'd be penciling that guy in as the team's punter this season. BUT... they reportedly signed an undrafted free agent in Ty Zentner. For a guy like that to beat Siposs out for a job, he will probably have to be emphatically better in camp. Siposs has faltered in important games, but he has looked fine in camp. He could be tough to beat out even after disastrous ends to the last two seasons.

https://www.phillyvoice.com/way-too-early-eagles-53-man-roster-projection-2023/

I think we probably go 6 CB’s and 4 Safeties with Wallace being the odd man out. We also need to upgrade Britain Covey. 

Also wonder who’s Elliott’s holder if Siposs is gone. 

You don’t need 12 DLs so 1-2 of Ojomo, Patrick Johnson or Tuipolotu will go to the PS plus you add an injury or two in training camp and you have 2-3 roster spots for that extra LB that we absolutely will need from cuts, if not before plus probably Greedy Willams at CB and maybe another WR to compete for WR3 from the current roster and PS or from another team in cuts. 

Start here - 26 on defense and 24 on offense. Kempski got that right. 

I think 4 safeties and 6 corners, 12 onthe DL and 4 LB's

Where Jimmy and I differ and agree - 

• Safety - Wallace is history = 4
• Corner - McPhereson out, Williams and Ricks in = 6
• Linebacker - Bradley out Taylor in = 4
• DL - I think he got this right
• QB - right!
• RB - Surprise, Scott out Sermon in
• WR - probably
• TE - right again
• OL - can't beat that group

4 hours ago, Rob331 said:

Start here - 26 on defense and 24 on offense. Kempski got that right. 

I think 4 safeties and 6 corners, 12 onthe DL and 4 LB's

Where Jimmy and I differ and agree - 

• Safety - Wallace is history = 4
• Corner - McPhereson out, Williams and Ricks in = 6
• Linebacker - Bradley out Taylor in = 4
• DL - I think he got this right
• QB - right!
• RB - Surprise, Scott out Sermon in
• WR - probably
• TE - right again
• OL - can't beat that group

I think they like McPhearson. He was the first backup on the outside the last two seasons.  I'm glad we were able to sign Ricks and all, but he's more of a project at this point and is the kind of guy you hope to get on to your practice squad. I think at LB Bradley makes it over Elliss. Taylor is a wildcard to keep an eye on. I'm also not so sure Morrow is a lock. I don't see Tuipulotu beating out Street nor do I see us keeping 6 DTs (so they may both be gone if Ojomo impresses). Going with 5 DTs would leave room for a 5th RB which may sound unnecessary until you factor in the injury histories of our two newest RBs. 

On 5/9/2023 at 5:17 PM, brkmsn said:

I think they like McPhearson. He was the first backup on the outside the last two seasons. 

Granated, but he hasn't shined and sure doesn't seem like a viable starter at this point. For what it's worth, I'd move on and look for the gem we'll need to replace Slay or Bradberry. 

We have multiple chances at the hit McPhereson has shown he isn't - Ringo, Williams, Ricks, Jobe, Garner, and Goodrich all might be and if they aren't move on from them too. 

3 hours ago, Rob331 said:

Granated, but he hasn't shined and sure doesn't seem like a viable starter at this point. For what it's worth, I'd move on and look for the gem we'll need to replace Slay or Bradberry. 

We have multiple chances at the hit McPhereson has shown he isn't - Ringo, Williams, Ricks, Jobe, Garner, and Goodrich all might be and if they aren't move on from them too. 

We could have moved on from Brandon Graham after any of his first five seasons. If we had, there's a good chance this team is still waiting for its first Lombardi. We haven't needed McPhearson to play a larger role to date. That doesn't necessarily mean he can't. During the last two seasons this team has signed, traded for or acquired a bunch of young project CBs and not a single one of them has bumped McPhearson back on the depth chart. Meanwhile, since Zech has been here, Slay has put up back to back Pro Bowl seasons. So maybe we haven't seen much from Zech outside of special teams, but maybe he was enough of a challenge in practice to push Slay a bit more. Being a key player on special teams and embracing his role there also adds value to him while he's a reserve. 

I look for the UDFA WR to replace Covey. 

I also like Eli Ricks to make this roster as well.

19 hours ago, brkmsn said:

We could have moved on from Brandon Graham after any of his first five seasons

C'mon man, no comparison. BG was a 1st roun pivk who had to change positions to LB in his first couple of years. Zech is jusst a guy.

6 hours ago, Rob331 said:

C'mon man, no comparison. BG was a 1st roun pivk who had to change positions to LB in his first couple of years. 

And fans were crying "Bust! Bust!" the whole time. 

You can label people however you want. Foles was "just a guy" his entire career. He still managed to play a pivotal role on this team in 2017. Who knows how McPhearson will turn out? I don't. I suspect the coaches and FO have a better idea of what to expect. You want the Eagles to find the "next gem," and automatically assume Zech can't become that guy at some point. Heck, as much as I'd like "gems," sometimes you have to be happy with solid and reliable. Not everybody on a single team will be the best at their respective position in the NFL. Take a guy like Sheldon Brown. He was just a backup until injuries and age caught up to Bobby Taylor and Troy Vincent. When he became a starter, he was solid and reliable, but never a Pro Bowler, All Pro or list-maker. Yet Eagles fans look back on him fondly as a player. 

I'm not down on Zech because he didn't beat S. Nelson as a rookie or Bradberry last season. I'm also all for looking at other young, developmental prospects, but until one shows more promise than McPhearson, it would be stupid to put that person ahead of him on the depth chart. Not only does a guy like Ricks need to show promise at CB, but he needs to contribute to special teams. 

Personally, I'd just keep 4 safeties from the above group (Blankenship, Edmunds, Brown, and either Evans or Wallace) and go 6 CBs (Slay, Bradberry, Maddox, McPhearson, Ringo, Ricks). That way you have three guys with the potential to eventually take over for Slay and Bradberry and hope at least 2 of three of them pan out, without losing the special teams contributions from McPhearson.

Not to mention, Ringo could possibly get moved to safety down the road. He's a developmental prospect at this stage, who the team isn't going to try to rush into a starting role this year. Sydney Brown has a very good chance of being a starter on opening day. Terrell Edmunds and Reed Blankenship are the penciled in starters for now, but I can see Brown pushing Blankenship to the 3rd safety role if he impresses in camp.

Realized I completely forgot about Greedy Williams in my post above 😄 and I guess Jimmy doesn’t think he's making the team anyways.

Will be interesting to see if he gets moved to safety or not but looks like there are going to be decisions that have to be made.

I don't think Kvon Wallace makes the team at this point with all of the players the team has brought in via free agency and the draft. Probably the one prediction about this DB group I feel confident in haha