The Eagles made their final cuts today, reducing their roster from 72 players down to the mandated 53. To get there, the Eagles made a series of moves. First, the Eagles placed Michael Vick on their roster exempt list until Week 3, meaning that Vick can't practice with the team until that time. The Eagles then released 17 players and placed OT Fenuki Tupou on Injured Reserve.
The following 17 players were cut:
WR Danny Amendola
RB Lorenzo Booker
LB Tank Daniels
FB Kyle Eckel
G Paul Fanaika
DE Josh Gaines
G Mike Gibson
CB Jack Ikegwuonu
DT Dan Klecko
S Reshard Langford
FB Marcus Mailei
TE Rob Myers
C Dallas Reynolds
TE Matt Schobel
DE Bryan Smith
LB Matt Wilhelm
CB Trae Williams
Of the list, there aren't too many surprises, except for the fact that the Eagles went with 7 wideouts. Brandon Gibson deserved to make the team so perhaps the Eagles will try to trade Reggie Brown in the next few days.
The exemption of Vick allowed the Eagles to keep A.J. Feeley around as the 3rd QB. That gives them a few weeks to try to trade Feeley. It's a smart move because a quarterback always goes down early in the season and there will be a desperate team out there.
The emergence of Jason Babin meant the Eagles could rid themselves of both Dan Klecko and Bryan Smith. While Klecko can still play, Smith was always just too much of a project as an under-sized lineman. It's too bad the Eagles wasted a 3rd rounder on him.
Thankfully, the Lorenzo Booker era is over in Philadelphia. Booker, who was acquired for a 4th round pick last year with visions of him being Westbrook-lite, never amounted to anything as an Eagle. The fact that he got beat out by undrafted rookie Eldra Buckley tells you all you need to know about Booker.
Jack Ikegwuonu certainly wasn't what the Eagles hoped for after they drafted him last season and stashed him on Injured Reserve. At the beginning of training camp, many thought that Ikegwuonu was nearly assured of making the team. After he never really did anything of note, he was beat out by Dimitri Patterson for the 5th cornerback spot.
The Eagles also went with only two tight ends for now, cutting both Matt Schobel and Rob Myers. I would expect that they work to pick up a better backup than Tony Curtis over the next few days.
Some of the players cut, like Danny Amendola, Mike Gibson and Rob Myers, have a good shot of coming back to the Eagles on the practice squad. Amendola in particular emerged as a quality prospect who could possibly make an impact with the Eagles a year down the road.
Over the last few weeks, I have been making my own projections of the Eagles roster. Here is the Eagles actual roster, with changes from my final version in bold:
Offense:
QB(3): Donovan McNabb, Kevin Kolb, A.J. Feeley, (Michael Vick)
RB(3): Brian Westbrook, LeSean McCoy, Eldra Buckley
FB (1): Leonard Weaver
WR(7): DeSean Jackson, Kevin Curtis, Jason Avant, Jeremy Maclin, Hank Baskett, Reggie Brown, Brandon Gibson
TE(2): Brent Celek, Tony Curtis
LT(2): Jason Peters, King Dunlap
LG(2): Todd Herremans, Max Jean-Gilles
C(2): Jamaal Jackson, Nick Cole
RG(2): Stacy Andrews, Mike McGlynn
RT(2): Shawn Andrews, Winston Justice
Defense:
DE(6): Juqua Parker, Trent Cole, Victor Abiamiri, Darren Howard, Chris Clemons, Jason Babin
DT(3): Brodrick Bunkley, Mike Patterson, Trevor Laws
LB(6): Chris Gocong, Akeem Jordan, Joe Mays, Omar Gaither, Moise Fokou, Tracy White
CB(5): Asante Samuel, Sheldon Brown, Joselio Hanson, Ellis Hobbs, Dimitri Patterson
FS(2): Quintin Demps, Macho Harris
SS(2): Quintin Mikell, Sean Jones
Special Teams:
K(1): David Akers
P(1): Sav Rocca
LS(1): Jon Dorenbos
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