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The Philadelphia Eagles whittled the roster down to 53 players on Tuesday. There weren’t too many surprises, but there were plenty of tough choices that kept the front office and coaching staff awake over the past few nights.
General manager Howie Roseman addressed the media to explain some of the ones that lingered into the wee hours. For starters, the decision to keep Jalen Reagor was the sharpest talking point all day. He ended up sticking around ahead of guys like Deon Cain, Britain Covey, and Devon Allen.
Why? Roseman saw a young playmaker – Reagor will turn 24 years old in January — with huge energy and upside.
“I think when you look at Jalen, one of the things that my scout guys said to me today was, he’s one of the only guys to practice every day. The guy brought it every day,” Roseman told reporters. “He worked on his craft. He had a great attitude, great energy. Obviously, he’s a talented guy. He’s 23 years old, and we’re going to do whatever we think is in the best interest of the team and we felt like there was no doubt in our mind that he deserved a role on the team.”
Head coach Nick Sirianni pointed out how hard he worked at training camp. Reagor attacked every rep like it was his last.
“I just felt like he made plays this summer and it started right from the beginning, from Day 1 of training camp,” Sirianni said. “And it continued on throughout the practices that we had. And you could definitely see the explosion.
“He’s never lost that, right? He’s had this explosion in his body and he uses it to separate from the defense, and so I just thought he had a good camp, and he made plays and he was more consistent this year throughout training camp.”
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Leaving Door Open for Anthony Harris
Listening to Roseman talk, it sure sounds like Anthony Harris will find his way back onto the squad. The Eagles initially cut him, but they can bring him back by placing someone on injured reserve. Cornerbacks Josiah Scott (hamstring) and Josh Jobe (elbow) are two likely candidates.
Harris is a veteran leader adored by the organization. His return seems obvious.
“One of the tough conversations was with Anthony Harris today, one that the two of us [Roseman and Sirianni] were really not looking forward to,” Roseman said. “But what a pro he is, and like everything he does, he handles everything gracefully; and we felt like since there’s a possibility that his role had changed from when we had signed him because when we were looking at options [at safety] he also deserved to kind of look at options himself. And, obviously, you don’t want to close any doors on anyone or anything, not at this time.”
Harris’ role changed when the Eagles traded for Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. He’s the new starter, a guy the Eagles scouted heavily coming out of college in 2019. Roseman loves his competitive fire, even if the trash-talking sometimes gets him into trouble.
“He loves football. He’s got a passion for the game and he’s not afraid to show it,” Roseman said. “And I think what Coach [Sirianni] does with our team is he lets them show their personalities and he lets them be them, and I don’t think that anything we found on him is malicious. He just loves to play, and I think our fans like that.”
Roseman continued: “I know our team does and that may frustrate offensive players and receivers at times, but it’s all because he’s got a passion for the game. We like that, that makes practice fun, and we’ll see if he can compete with [Darius] Slay.”
Eagles Definitely Stashing Third Quarterback
Reid Sinnett is gone. And the Eagles currently have no third-string quarterback on the roster. Make no mistake, they are going to grab one from the waiver wire and add him to the practice squad. Roseman has 16 spots to fill over the next 48 hours.
“We will have a third quarterback on the 69, 70-man roster with Matt Leo being the 70th guy,” Roseman said. “We will have a third quarterback for sure.”
Interesting that Roseman mentioned Leo since he was listed among the final cuts. The 280-pound defensive end from Australia has been with the Eagles since 2020 as part of the International Player Pathway program. He’ll likely return to the practice squad.
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