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Following the NFL Draft, the Eagles have 87 players on the roster, including the nine players drafted over the three days.

The roster must be reduced to 53 prior to the first week of the NFL season but it’s interesting to see how it’s currently structured in terms of position, draft class, age, and draft capital.

A few important notes that might impact this analysis:

* The roster is larger and likely filled with younger and undrafted players who might not accurately represent the 53 man roster (meaning that age, draft class, and draft capital might be skewed).

* Draft class and age were separated in part because of the COVID years adding extra eligibility, and the feeling that draft class isn’t the most accurate depiction of age, but independently is still an interesting lens through which to view the roster.

* This story reflects the Eagles signing of Mekhi Becton.

Here’s a look at the Eagles’ roster construction by position, with a comparison to last season:

The roster is mostly comprised of cornerbacks, wide receivers, and linebackers.

It’s worth noting that the Eagles had a peculiar initial 53-man roster, as they didn’t have a punter on the active roster to start 2023 and only carried four receivers.

Therefore, the red-shaded area might be a better indication of the potential roster construction at the start of the 2024 season.

Regardless, the team is carrying an abundance of corners, receivers, and linebackers, several of which are unlikely to make the initial 53-man roster.

The roster is currently comprised mostly of players from the 2020 draft class forward  – 65 out of 87 players– but there are still some older vets on the roster, such as Brandon Graham (2010), Lane Johnson (2013), and Darius Slay (2013).

Those vets will remain on the roster, and some of the younger players will be released.

The Eagles have an average age of 25.4 for all players on the roster.

It’s a young team with few older vets on the roster. It’ll be interesting to see how the roster age changes throughout the offseason, and if the Eagles try to acquire more veterans – like they did by signing veteran offensive tackle Mekhi Becton.

The roster has several undrafted players, 23 of 87 – more than 25 percent.

This is partially because of the fact that the bottom of an NFL team’s roster is typically fleshed out with undrafted players right after the draft.

But it’s also because some of their biggest contributors – or future contributors – were undrafted free agents (i.e., Bryce Huff, Reed Blankenship, Britain Covey, and Eli Ricks).

Interestingly, third-round draft capital is the next-highest frequent type of player on the Eagles roster (13 of 87). This includes players such as Sydney Brown, Nakobe Dean, and newly drafted Jalyx Hunt.

The third-most frequent draft capital represented on the Eagles’ roster is from the first round (12/87), including Brandon Graham, Lane Johnson, Jalen Carter, Devonta Smith, and Saquon Barkley.

Analysis

Although the roster is going to change between now and Week 1, it’s interesting to see how Eagles Executive Vice President of Football Operations Howie Roseman has constructed the roster from the different angles of position, draft class, age, and draft capital.

Overall, the Eagles are a young and well-constructed team that has high expectations for 2024.

– Sam Finkel is a staff writer for InsideTheBirds.com whose focus is on analytics.