Eagles add TE Rucker to practice squad

The Eagles tight end situation has been pretty fluid this season with players coming and going due to injuries and ineffectiveness. That fluidity continues today as the Birds made another move at tight end today, adding former 2008 4th round pick Martin Rucker to the practice squad. Rucker had been with the Browns the last two years before being waived on Wednesday. He has only 2 career catches in the 5 games he suited up for but is still considered a good prospect with a lot of upside. Rucker, who played with Jeremy Maclin at Missouri, is a pass-catching tight end who needs to work on his blocking. At 6 foot 5 and 260 pounds, he certainly has plenty of size and if the Eagles can keep him around for a while he will develop into a useful player.

To make room on the practice squad for Rucker the Eagles released TE Rob Myers. Myers had a decent showing in the preseason but was the odd man out when the team brought in Tony Curtis and later Alex Smith. Myers was an undrafted free agent so the fact that he stuck along this long is commendable.

The Eagles also added former Penn State WR Jordan Norwood to the practice squad on Wednesday to replace the departed Danny Amendola. Norwood had also spent the preseason with the Browns.

Eagles sign 4 to practice squad

The Eagles have signed four recently cut players to their practice squad:

WR Danny Amendola
G Paul Fanaika
G Mike Gibson
TE Rob Myers

All of the players spent some or all of training camp with the Eagles. Bringing back Amendola is a great move after the promise he showed late in the preseason. After spending a year learning the Eagles system, Amendola could make an impact next year. Rob Myers was also a solid signing considering how well he played in the preseason games and the fact that the Eagles only go two deep at tight end. Gibson and Fanaika will stick around for depth along the line.

Teams are allowed to keep 8 on their practice squad, so the Eagles still have four more players to sign. Word is that will happen tomorrow.

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

The Eagles sign tight end Tony Curtis

As was rumored a few days ago, the Eagles have signed tight end Tony Curtis, according to Brian Seltzer on Twitter. According to Seltzer, Curtis is recovering from a high ankle sprain and will continue his rehab with the Eagles and should have a good shot at making the team. As a veteran with some NFL experience, if healthy, Curtis should beat out Eugene Bright and Rob Myers for a spot on the roster. There is also the possibility that the Eagles could be looking to cut oft-injured Matt Schobel since he has barely been healthy this preseason, making Curtis a possibility for the second tight end spot.

The Eagles are extremely thin at tight end so the signing of a veteran, even though he is injured, is a solid move to try to build some depth. Curtis only has 11 career catches in two NFL seasons with the Cowboys but those 32 games of real experience give him an upper hand over two unproven tight ends like Myers and Bright. Time will tell if he is healthy enough to make a contribution, however.

Eagles close to signing tight end Tony Curtis

It's not an earth-shattering move, but when you are desperate for some depth at tight end, these are the kind of signings that happen. According to an NFL.com blog, the Eagles are "on the verge" of signing veteran tight end Tony Curtis. Curtis, who had spent two years with the Cowboys and part of this preseason with the Chiefs, has been brought in by the Eagles, who are evaluating him with a plan to sign him if he passes a physical. Curtis was battling injuries this past offseason, so there is no guarantee that he will be healthy enough to contribute.

Curtis, who had 11 career catches and three touchdowns in two full seasons in Dallas, is likely being looked at as competition for the 3rd tight end spot. Currently, the Eagles have Matt Schobel, Eugene Bright and Rob Myers battling for two backup spots behind starter Brent Celek. Schobel appears likely to make the team, so that would leave Bright, Myers and Curtis in a fight for the third spot. After a solid game last night, Myers might be making his move for the spot, but Curtis actually has experience in the NFL and could quickly vault onto the roster.

Again, this move is hardly exciting considering he only had 8 catches last year, but Curtis could have a role to play given how little depth the Eagles have at tight end. Should anything serious happen to Brent Celek, it's safe to say the Eagles are screwed.

More Eagles injuries: Ingram lost for the season

The regular season can't come soon enough for the Eagles. A few days after losing middle linebacker Stewart Bradley for the season, another Eagle is gone for 2009: rookie tight end Cornelius Ingram. Ingram tore his ACL, the same ACL he tore last year in college, and will require surgery, putting him out for the year. While Ingram's loss won't hurt as much as Bradley's, Ingram was expected to step into the back-up tight end role and be a factor at some point this season.

To get more competition at tight end, the Eagles signed undrafted rookie tight end Rob Myers. Barring another injury to a tight end, Myers will be a longshot to make the team. With Ingram out, the tight end situation is shaping up to have Brent Celek at starter, with Matt Schobel and Eugene Bright backing him up. Those that hoped Schobel would be gone this season won't get their wish unless the Eagles sign a free agent tight end before the season starts.

In other injury news, DeSean Jackson hurt his knee in practice on Saturday. He was back doing light work on Sunday so he isn't expected to miss any time.