Howie Time

Some teams are really good at free agency. Some are really good with the draft. Howie Roseman and the Eagles do an excellent job in both areas, but don’t stop there. They tend to make the most out of this time of the year.

Let’s take a look at what is going on now.

#Eagles signed CB Isaiah Rodgers, who was recently released by the Colts after being placed on the NFL’s Reserve Suspended list for violating the league’s gambling policy.

He will not be with the team until his suspension is lifted next season.

— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) August 28, 2023

I had a co-worker tell me about this move and I said “Who?” He repeated the name and added Rodgers was a CB. That had me confused. That’s one of the deepest spots on the Eagles.

Then you start thinking about the move. The Eagles didn’t gamble on him with a draft pick. Rodgers doesn’t have to overcome long odds of coming back from an injury. This is a signing the Eagles hope to parlay into the addition of a valuable role player, a talented CB and experienced KOR.

You can stop groaning now. I’m done with my bad jokes.

Nick Sirianni knows Rodgers from their time together in Indy in 2020. He must feel that Rodgers is a good person who just did something dumb. Rodgers will sit out 2023 and then the Eagles will see how he fits in.

Isaiah Rodgers had a 82.1 PFF grade last season. This was the 5th highest out of all CBs in the NFL.

Great stash by Howie. Low risk, super high reward.

pic.twitter.com/f0yoXvSnWm

— Word On The Birds (@WordOnTheBirds) August 28, 2023

The Eagles have some talented young CBs in Josh Jobe, Kelee Ringo and Eli Ricks. At the same time, none of them are proven. Why not add a talented young player to the mix and see if he turns out to be a good addition?

Low risk. Potential for a solid reward.

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#Eagles DE Derek Barnett, through agent Drew Rosenhaus, is gauging the market for the potential to play more elsewhere, per sources. Philly plans to keep Barnett but understands a deep pass-rush roster limits playing time. The 2017 first-round pick should have trade value. pic.twitter.com/lq4KrNNFsC

— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) August 28, 2023

Edge – Josh Sweat ……….. Nolan Smith
Edge – Haason Reddick … Brandon Graham

Derek Barnett is #5 in that group. Smith has value because he can help on STs. The other three all had double-digit sacks last year. That leaves Barnett inactive a lot of the time. I can see where he’d like to go elsewhere. The Eagles are willing to keep him because they value depth, but if Rosenhaus can find a team in need of a rusher, the trade could happen. The Eagles won’t just give him away. Rosenhaus has to find a team that expects to compete this year and feels trading for a veteran DE makes sense.

I would love to see the Eagles be able to trade Barnett. That would free up a roster spot for someone like Janarius Robinson, a cheap, young guy with some upside.

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In his weekly FMIA column, Peter King had some good info on what goes on this time of the year.

1. I think we’ve never seen what we’re going to see Tuesday afternoon, when the 32 NFL teams are required to cut the roster from 90 to 53. The one-cut date is new this year. (Some teams aren’t at 90 currently; they’ve either cut some players loose or put them on IR, or both. But with about 1,100 players flooding the market Tuesday instead of the customary 800, it creates a couple of issues for teams. Teams have until 4 p.m. ET Wednesday to claim players; the league awards players to claiming teams based on the inverse order of last year’s standings. The top four teams in the claiming order, in order: Chicago, Houston, Arizona, Indianapolis. So if Chicago GM Ryan Poles claims any of those cut loose, he’ll get as many as he claims. The schedule, per a memo from NFL Player Personnel last week:

Tuesday, 4 p.m. ET: Deadline for all teams to be at a 53-man roster limit, sending players they intend to release to the league’s personnel wire. There are two categories of players: waived players (players with less than four years of credited NFL service), or termination of vested veterans (players with four years or more of credited service). Vested veterans can sign with any team. Waived players are subject to the claiming system.

Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET (approximately): Teams will be informed of all players who have been released in a league email.

Wednesday, Noon ET: Deadline for teams to submit claims on any waived players.

Wednesday, 1 p.m. ET: Teams will be informed of any players they have been awarded under the waiver system. Once notified, each team has one hour to notify the league of a corresponding removal of a player or players from their 53-man roster to make room for the claimed player or players.

Wednesday, 6 p.m. ET: Deadline for teams to submit 16-player practice squads to the league. The league will post each team’s practice squad in an email to teams by 8 p.m. ET Wednesday.

2. I think the first issue is how you decide if you’re going to claim any players, with so many coming on the market. One AFC GM told me he divides teams up among six scouts, with each told to isolate on players he thinks could get cut from that team Tuesday and who his team had previously graded highly—either coming out of college or in looks since they got into an NFL camp. This GM asks his scouts for a list of five to eight players per team the GM should consider claiming. The GM might watch some preseason tape on some of the highlighted players his scouts are high on. Then the claims are made. Another GM said he divides the 31 teams among eight scouts—some pro, some college evaluators—and tells them to gather whatever intelligence they can on those likely to be 40 or lower on the team’s pecking order. Then the GM asks for a list of best candidates on the team the scout is studying who the scout thinks could help the team.

3. I think one other thing fascinates me—how coaches and GMs try to stash players they plan to cut but bring back to the practice squad. I talked to one GM about plans for the practice squad. His point: We have a 69-man roster, not 53-. Many teams feel this way, because of how players float back and forth from practice squad to active roster during the season. So you’ll see some teams cut guys who might have shined in major playing time during the three preseason games—while keeping guys who barely played, or may not have played. Smart GMs don’t want to play some guys they know they want on the practice squad because that just puts tape out on strong players for other teams to see. “That’s why joint practices have become so popular, and you see teams doing them twice pretty often now,” one GM said. “You can see how a guy plays against quality competition. Then you might not feel you need to play him in a preseason game—and you avoid putting tape out on the guy if all you’re doing is playing him in joint practices.”

Lots of good info there.

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The Eagles will make their cuts on Tuesday. We might not get the final list until late in the day. In the past, the Eagles have been one of the last teams to announce their moves.

I don’t expect any major surprises, but I also didn’t expect them to claim a suspended CB today. We’ll see what happens.

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