Behind the 53

The Philadelphia Eagles made moves to bring their active roster from 90 players to 53, but a 16-man practice squad and elevation rules offer plenty of flexibility.

On the latest episode of “Inside The Birds,” Adam Caplan and Geoff Mosher offered intel on the initial 53-man roster and discussed why certain borderline players made the team.

Eagles kept both CBs Eli Ricks and Mario Goodrich on the initial 53-man roster

Albert Okwuegbunam

Adam Caplan: “This guy can run. He is a big dude. Not much of a blocker, but that is not why they made the trade. They made the trade because quite frankly, based on us checking how people saw Grant Calcaterra and Albert O, Albert O is a better football player.”

Geoff Mosher: “He can run, he can catch. He had three catches for 77 yards against the Eagles two years ago in that game in Denver. He had 101 yards on seven catches in the preseason finale. I get that they thought they had two other guys with upside in Calcaterra and Tyree Jackson, but this guy may have more upside because he has already played and proven what he can do. If Goedert gets hurt, you could see Albert O stepping in and being a pretty good number one for a few games.”

Kentavius Street

Caplan: “Kentavius Street was signed for a reason. We all had him on the team. I know it looks like a lot of numbers, but the guy is a three technique and they’ll play some 43 (front). I don’t know how much he’ll play, I don’t know if he’ll dress every week, but he is a good football player and has pass rush skill.”

Derek Barnett

Mosher: “We know the Eagles talked to teams around the league about Barnett. I know one team in particular in the AFC spoke about it, but they didn’t feel they needed Derek Barnett…Another team I spoke to internally discussed the idea because they needed a pass rusher, but they came to the conclusion that they weren’t going to make the move because they felt he was a little too undisciplined and also not explosive enough as an edge rusher.”

Mario Goodrich/Eli Ricks

Mosher: “As we understand it, we heard they could have been claimed and if you looked at how many guys were claimed, 24 all together, 10 of them were defensive backs. Almost 50% of the waiver claims the day after were d-backs, so I can understand why the Eagles were reluncant there.” 

Caplan: “Goodrich is more or less their backup slot for Avonte Maddox. Right now, (Darius) Slay, Avonte Maddox, James Bradberry, and (Josh) Jobe are your four that you definitely dress. You have (Kelee) Ringo, that would surprise me if he dresses, Goodrich could dress, and you have Ricks who definitely opened up some eyes in the Colts game, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” 

Arryn Siposs

Mosher: “I just want to caution everybody to remember that Jake Elliot has kicked very well since Siposs not only became the punter, but the holder for the kicks. We detailed this a couple of years ago when they moved on from Cam Johnston, that we were told the operation needed to improve.”

– Benjamin Paul is a staff writer for InsideTheBirds.com.

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