My friend Frank made a great point during the Eagles season last year:
When was the last time the Eagles didn’t have a starting-quality backup at any position? He made the point because last year they obviously didn’t. Under Andy Reid, the Eagles usually had a nice player on the bench that would start for someone else, i.e. Rod Hood.
In thinking about that, I wanted to look at the roster and see if the Eagles have done a good job in adding quality depth. Starters are key for sure, but backups can often determine how far you go in a given season.
QB: Donovan McNabb is obviously the starter. Is A.J. Feeley starting-caliber? Well, sort of. With the Eagles he tends to fill in relatively well in the absence of Donovan. But those INT’s keep him from being a legit starter. That and his penchant for stinking on any team not named the Eagles. We have no idea about Kevin Kolb.
Offensive Line: If I wrote that Winston Justice was a starting-caliber backup, G. would fire me and even perhaps drive to North Jersey to sit me down and give me a stern talking to. And I wouldn’t blame him. Max Jean-Gilles could be a starter, so they’ve got that going for them, which is nice. After that, a lot of question marks. Todd Herremans could soon find himself to be a starting-caliber backup.
Wide Receiver: Do they have any starting-caliber starters? Yeah, I guess. DeSean Jackson could turn out to be that guy, but who knows?
Tight End: You could consider Brent Celek a starter somewhere when you look around the league and see some of the terrible TE’s that teams are starting. He could be a nice safety valve for some team. Hey, not everyone has Antonio Gates or Jason Witten.
Running Back: Probably not. Lorenzo Booker will be a nice addition in this offense, but he hardly got on the field for a 1-15 team. None of the other backs would be guys I’d be thrilled about starting on any team.
Defensive line: There actually might be some nice depth here now. Chris Clemons only started two games last year for Oakland, but I like having eight sacks on the bench. Trevor Laws could also be a really nice backup at the tackle spot, but he’s a rookie so we have no clue. I like Chris Gocong in the mix here too, although he’s technically a linebacker. They certainly addressed this part of the team in the offseason.
Cornerback: Found one!
Safety: Eh. Quinton Demps could be a nice player, but see: Trevor Laws. He’s a rookie so we don’t know. And no, I don’t consider Sean Considine a starter in any way, shape or form.
Linebacker: I’m going to go with a flat-out “no” on this one. They have added some players to the mix, but nothing that tells me there is a legitimate starter waiting in the wings.
What did I conclude from this exercise? Not much. But I will say that I feel better about this team’s depth than I did a year ago.
Let me know if I missed someone:
micahw@feverpitchmedia.com
