Your 2009 Philadelphia Eagles Roster

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

Eagles/Giants inactives: L.J.'s back, Booker is sitting

The Eagles and Giants announced their inactives for Sunday night's big game:

Eagles: G Shawn Andrews, RB Lorenzo Booker, FB Kyle Eckel, QB A.J. Feeley, LB Joe Mays, G Mike McGlynn, TE Matt Schobel, DE Bryan Smith

Giants: SS James Butler, RB Reuben Droughns, CB Kevin Dockery, T Adam Koets, WR Mario Manningham, DE Jerome McDougle, RB Danny Ware, LB Gerris Wilkinson

L.J. Smith returns to the line-up, pushing Schobel back to the bench. Lorenzo Booker is a surprise inactive for the Birds, leaving them with only two running backs for the night. It's hard to say that Booker has been a disappointment for the Eagles this season because he gets so few touches, but he certainly hasn't been what the team thought he would be when the acquired him. Jason Avant also returns to the field tonight after being benched last week. Kyle Eckel will continue to wait to take the field.

The Giants are without Butler which will allow rookie safety Kenny Phillips to start. With all the talk about how the Eagles would regret letting McDougle go, it's nice to see him not playing against his old team. The Giants will also allow both of their kickers to suit up, which is a strange move.

Should be a great game, here's hoping the Eagles can pull it off! Go Birds!!

Comeback effort falls short as Eagles drop first preseason game to Steelers

(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

It's only preseason, so I spent most of my night watching the Phillies, but I thought I would share some positives and negatives from the Eagles first preseason game against the Steelers, which, despite a last ditch effort by A.J. Feeley, they lost 16-10.

Positives:
-Donovan McNabb and the first team scored on both of their drives to account for all of the Eagles' points. McNabb looked pretty sharp, completing 10 of 13 for 97 yards and hooking up with fullback Jason Davis for a touchdown. McNabb spread the ball around, hitting 7 different receivers, and the offense looked good early even without newly rich offensive MVP Brian Westbrook. More important than all the numbers, though, is that McNabb looked healthy and didn't get injured.

-Lorenzo Booker ripped off several good runs. On the second drive of the game, Booker had two runs of 6 yards where he looked really good. Booker finished with 16 yards on 4 carries, and he further solidified his spot as Westbrook's back-up.

-DeSean Jackson, who has been dealing with a hamstring injury, looked great in the passing game, catching 5 passes for 51 yards. He didn't make an impact in the return game, but he showed flashes of being a quality third or fourth receiver option for the Eagles.

Negatives:
-The first team defense was very porous on the Steelers first drive, giving up multiple big yardage plays, including runs of 7 and 11 yards and two 19 yard passing plays, including the touchdown. It was the only time the Eagles defense faced the Steelers first team, and they weren't impressive. Once Charlie Batch entered the game, things changed as the Eagles managed a pair of 3-and-outs in a row.

-The running game as a whole was pretty weak. The Eagles were without their top running back, but the backups should be able to do better than 61 yards on 18 carries. Tony Hunt in particular didn't look good, making it even more likely that he will be the odd man out in the backfield.

-Kevin Kolb looked like the third string QB. With A.J. Feeley nearly leading the Eagles to a last minute win, Kolb looked like he took a step back. With the running game not doing much, it was up to him to do something through the air, but after starting strong and completing 10 of 13 passes, he faded to finish 12 of 21 for only 81 yards, leading the offense to no points. If Kolb is supposed to unseat McNabb any time in the next few years, he's going to have to play better.

Eagles acquire RB Lorenzo Booker

The Eagles have acquired running back Lorenzo Booker from the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins will get the Eagles fourth round draft pick for the veteran running back. Booker was a third round pick by the Dolphins last year, and he rushed for 125 yards on 28 carries in 2007. He was mostly a third down back last season for Miami, catching 28 passes for 237 yards.

I have no idea how the Eagles plan on using Booker. They don't really need a running back with pass-catching ability, they already have the best in the business at that. He will likely be some help on special teams, and perhaps he could learn to return kicks or punts. For the price they paid the Eagles obviously feel that Booker has some real value. A fourth round pick is a pretty hefty price to pay for a guy that isn't at least a second string running back.