Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Howie Time

Posted August 28th, 2023 | 1 Comment »

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.

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.

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.

*****

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.

*****

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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Roster Week

Posted August 27th, 2023 | Comments Off on Roster Week

The preseason is over. Training Camp is over. The next order of business is choosing a 53-man roster and filling out the practice squad. Roster cuts must be made by 4pm on Tuesday. The Eagles have started the process of making cuts.

That leaves 30 more official cuts to go.

There are reports about other players being waived.

Jackson is the only one that surprises me. I thought he had a good preseason and had earned a roster spot. The argument against him is that he will turn 26 in November and is still a project. Normally by that age you are who you are. I give Jackson some flexibility on that because he’s made a position change and had some injury issues. I still think he’s worth keeping around.

The Eagles have a stud TE in Dallas Goedert. They have a blocker in Jack Stoll and a backup receiver in Grant Calcaterra. Those two combined for 16 catches last year. If you keep Jackson, when is he going to play and how do you use him? That’s not an easy question. I just hate to give up on a big guy who can run and has good hands. This is one of those good problems to have. Jackson is an interesting project and the Eagles are passing on him.

We got some good news on the injury front.

Goodrich is on the bubble for a roster spot so being healthy is crucial for him. Ojomo and Covey will be important role players this year so they want to practice to be ready for the regular season.

Quez Watkins came back recently so it will be important for him to get back to where he needs to be. Watkins had a good camp prior to his injury so the hope is that he’s going to be an improved player this season. As good as the offense was last year, Watkins can make that unit even better.

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I think this is a good point that we can overlook at times. The coaches see things we don’t because they spend so much time with the players. A couple of years ago the Eagles kept DT Marlon Tuipulotu despite him having a mediocre TC and looking bad in preseason games. The coaches liked his potential and felt he was worth keeping around. He’s turned into a valuable role player. That was a really smart decision.

I still think Siposs shouldn’t feel safe about keeping his job. He’s struggled for a while and really hurt the Eagles in some big games. That’s different than having a couple of bad practices.

*****

Howie Roseman and the pro personnel staff will have a busy week. They have to study the cuts made by the other 31 teams. They’ll be looking to see if there are any players they want to claim/sign. You never know when another team will cut someone loose that fits your scheme/roster.

Roseman will also be calling the other teams in the league to see who might be available in a trade. Last year a call like this led to CJ Gardner-Johnson becoming an Eagle. Roseman has legit interest in always improving the roster and is willing to make moves. He will take chances.

The staff also needs to figure out who they want on the practice squad. Most of those players will be guys the Eagles cut, but they could add a player or two from other teams. The scouts have studied preseason game tape for the other 31 teams. They also have the pre-draft scouting reports. There are some players the Eagles will have interest in. They can talk to the players to see if they’re interested in coming to Philly, but there aren’t any guarantees.

The Eagles do as good a job as any team in the league at adding to the roster at this time of the year. It will be interesting to see if they can find another good player or two to add to the mix.

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