Cuts Start

The Eagles started making roster moves on Friday.

Sidney Jones was placed on the Reserve/Non-Football Injury list. No surprise there. He can start running this week so the team will get a feel for where he is right now. Jones has six weeks to continue improving. Then the team will have a 3-week window to let him practice. After that, he’s got to be activated or put on IR. The Eagles are taking this slow, which is the smart move. Jones requires long term thinking, not what’s best right now.

Matt McGloin was cut. No surprise there either. He played well against Miami, but stunk the rest of the summer. I had reasonable expectations with him and he still failed to reach them. It may seem like we pick on McGloin, but he just didn’t play well. I wish he did. He did some good things at Penn State and has been able to stay in the NFL longer than I ever would have expected. But the tape is the tape, and his isn’t good from this summer.

Quick thoughts on the other players cut:

CB Aaron Grymes – Had a solid summer, but failed to play well enough to win the Nickel CB spot. Being a pretty good player just wasn’t enough for him to make the roster.

LB Don Cherry – Effort guy, but limited athlete. Made plays, but had no real chance to make the roster. Isn’t a natural MLB (physical thumper) and isn’t enough of an athlete to fit outside. Could still be on the PS.

DT Winston Craig – Small school DL failed to stand out. Good athlete, but that didn’t show up on the field with any consistency. Played DE and DT.

WR Rashard Davis – Late addition to the roster had some good moments vs Jets, but was too little, too late. Should be in a camp next year. Has some potential.

TE Anthony Denham – Backup TE didn’t stand out at all and was caught in bad situation. Eagles have 4 good TEs so Denham had to really shine to get any attention and that didn’t happen.

QB Dane Evans – Has some talent, but erratic QB who played with too much nervous energy. Has a solid arm and is a good athlete. Struggled with accuracy at times and didn’t make good decisions often enough. Didn’t look to me to be a player worth developing, but coaches might feel differently if they like his intangibles and his physical traits.

C Tyler Orlosky – Highly sought after UDFA got hurt in the spring and never seemed to catch up from that. Played C in college, but saw most time at RG for the Eagles. That wasn’t a good sign. If the team still likes his potential, could be PS material.

T Victor Salako – Big LT was impressive at times, but simply doesn’t have the footwork to play OT in the NFL.

DT Gabe Wright – 1-gap DT who flashed good athleticism at times, but failed to stand out like the other backup DTs.

TE Adam Zaruba – Big, fast and good athlete. Didn’t join the team until the summer due to playing rugby in Canada. I would love to see him with a full offseason. Has NFL size and physical traits, but is way too raw. A full offseason would help him a lot, but would still be a project. Interesting guy.

LB Christian Tago – Just a body for the Jets games.

DE Jake Metz – See above.

LB Carlos Fields – See above.

*****

I’ll be posting my roster prediction later tonight. None of these players was a serious consideration.

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