The following are the nine players who were released yesterday to get the Eagles down to a 53-man roster: T Michael Bamiro, TE Clay Harbor, LB Travis Long ,LB Chris McCoy, WR Greg Salas, WR Russell Shepard, S David Sims, RB Matthew Tucker and G Danny Watkins.
Eagles General Manager Howie Roseman stressed the fact that the Birds didn’t want to have backups who closely mirrored the abilities of the starters at their position. For instance, they went with TE/FB Emil Igwenagu over TE Clay Harbor because he’s been a fullback, who is a very good straight-ahead blocker, while Harbor is a tight end, who mirrors TE’s Zach Ertz and James Casey.
Roseman explained the decision to keep WR Jeff Maehl over WR’s Greg Salas and Russell Shepard by pointing to special teams contributions and Maehl’s history and toughness as a defensive back. Of course he played for Chip Kelly at Oregon. Coaches rarely forget a player they won with.
The GM explained the decision to keep LB Casey Matthews over LB Chris McCoy by telling us about Matthews versatility and ability to move outside and play outside linebacker, if needed. Again Matthews played for Kelly at Oregon.
The Eagles roster now stands at 53 players and this is how it is broken down:
Quarterbacks (3): Matt Barkley, Nick Foles, Michael Vick
Running Backs (3): Bryce Brown, LeSean McCoy, Chris Polk
Wide Receivers (5): Jason Avant, Riley Cooper, DeSean Jackson, Damaris Johnson, Jeff Maehl
Tight Ends (4): James Casey, Brent Celek, Zach Ertz, Emil Igwenagu
Offensive Line (9): Allen Barbre, Todd Herremans, Lane Johnson, Jason Kelce, Dennis Kelly, Evan Mathis, Jason Peters, Matt Tobin, Julian Vandervelde
Defensive Line (7): Fletcher Cox, Vinny Curry, Clifton Geathers, Bennie Logan, Isaac Sopoaga, Damion Square, Cedric Thornton
Linebackers (8): Emmanuel Acho, Connor Barwin, Trent Cole, Brandon Graham, Mychal Kendricks, Jake Knott, Casey Matthews, DeMeco Ryans
Defensive Backs (11): Nate Allen, Colt Anderson, Brandon Boykin, Patrick Chung, Kurt Coleman, Bradley Fletcher, Brandon Hughes, Curtis Marsh, Jordan Poyer, Cary Williams, Earl Wolff
Specialists (3): Jon Dorenbos, Alex Henery, Donnie Jones
Paulman said it best in an earlier post. There are clearly guy’s available that could vastly improve our secondary. This current group with the exception of Chung and possibly Wolfe is a disaster waiting to happen.
Good Day, Good Sports
One coach wanted to be like Indy(Andy Reid), the next coach(Kelly) wants to revolutionize the game(i.e New England). Maybe one day they’ll find an identity! New England has never presented a problem to anyone defensively, so if your looking for the Birds to have this stand out defense, just look at the New England template. Out score your opponent, and minimize the damage on defense.