Camp Eve: A Semi-Educated Guess
The countdown to camp has quickly gone from months to weeks to days, and now it's down to hours. Rookies and selected veterans -- apparently including No. 5 himself -- will report to Lehigh tomorrow afternoon, ahead of Saturday's initial practices.
The Eagles roster is something like 87 names large right now, but that won't last the month. They cut down to 75 first, and then a few days later on Sept. 1, down to a season-ready 53. Here's my prediction for that 53-man roster, based on conversations, history, speculation and math.
OFFENSE
QB -- Donovan McNabb, A.J. Feeley, Kevin Kolb
RB -- Brian Westbrook, Correll Buckhalter, Tony Hunt
FB -- Thomas Tapeh
TE -- L.J. Smith, Brent Celek
WR -- Reggie Brown, Kevin Curtis, Jason Avant, Jeremy Bloom, Hank Baskett, Greg Lewis
OT -- Jon Runyan, William Thomas, Winston Justice, Pat McCoy
OG -- Shawn Andrews, Todd Herremans, Max Jean-Gilles, Scott Young
C -- Jamaal Jackson, Nick Cole
DEFENSE
DE -- Jevon Kearse, Trent Cole, Darren Howard, Victor Abiamiri, Juqua Thomas
DT -- Mike Patterson, Brodrick Bunkley, Ian Scott, Montae Reagor
LB -- Takeo Spikes, Jeremiah Trotter, Chris Gocong, Omar Gaither, Tank Daniels, Matt McCoy, Dedrick Roper
CB -- Lito Sheppard, Sheldon Brown, Will James, Joselio Hanson, Dustin Fox
S -- Brian Dawkins, Sean Considine, Quintin Mikell, C.J. Gaddis
SPECIALISTS
PK -- David Akers
P -- Saverio Rocca
LS -- Jon Dorenbos
I think that by the time the season starts, LB Stewart Bradley, CB Rashad Barksdale and RB Nate Ilaoa will have developed mysterious injuries that land them on Injured Reserve. In other words, they'll Goconged. They may not be ready, but as draft picks, there's no guarantee they could make it to the practice squad.
There will obviously be several young players who will end up on the practice squad, perhaps even some for the second time (I'm not sure, but I think two seasons is the limit for the practice squad.) Personally, I'm rooting for WR Dereck Faulkner, our local Moorestown connection. It all depends what the coaches think they may need as the season rolls on, and who stands out at Lehigh.
The veteran players I see losing out are DE Jerome McDougle, DT LaJuan Ramsey, TE Matt Schobel, RB Ryan Moats, and of course punter Dirk Johnson.
McDougle was shot a couple of years ago, and he looked shot by the end of last season. Ramsey goes because I just don't see them keeping 10 defensive linemen with the ucertainty at linebacker. Schobel goes because the Eagles drafted Celek as L.J. insurance, and they have to find out if he can play. Moats is gone because, even though the Birds finished with five backs last year, that extra slot moves over to the receivers this year because Bloom is the returner and not Reno Mahe. Finally, Johnson is gone because I feel that Rocca can come close to matching his consistency, and Dirk didn't punt all that well in 2006.
The guys I thought hard about for various reasons were Matt McCoy, Buckhalter, Lewis and Tapeh, and I would still not be shocked to see any one of them cut.
Obviously, preseason injuries are almost inevitable, and things will happen to change this picture in the next month. If this is the team the Eagles go to Green Bay with, however, how would you feel? There are no real weaknesses. There are some stone-cold gambles, expecially with Bunkley and Gocong, but they're not necessarily bad bets, especially given the contingency plans in place.
Honestly, as a fan, I would feel pretty decent.
The Eagles roster is something like 87 names large right now, but that won't last the month. They cut down to 75 first, and then a few days later on Sept. 1, down to a season-ready 53. Here's my prediction for that 53-man roster, based on conversations, history, speculation and math.
OFFENSE
QB -- Donovan McNabb, A.J. Feeley, Kevin Kolb
RB -- Brian Westbrook, Correll Buckhalter, Tony Hunt
FB -- Thomas Tapeh
TE -- L.J. Smith, Brent Celek
WR -- Reggie Brown, Kevin Curtis, Jason Avant, Jeremy Bloom, Hank Baskett, Greg Lewis
OT -- Jon Runyan, William Thomas, Winston Justice, Pat McCoy
OG -- Shawn Andrews, Todd Herremans, Max Jean-Gilles, Scott Young
C -- Jamaal Jackson, Nick Cole
DEFENSE
DE -- Jevon Kearse, Trent Cole, Darren Howard, Victor Abiamiri, Juqua Thomas
DT -- Mike Patterson, Brodrick Bunkley, Ian Scott, Montae Reagor
LB -- Takeo Spikes, Jeremiah Trotter, Chris Gocong, Omar Gaither, Tank Daniels, Matt McCoy, Dedrick Roper
CB -- Lito Sheppard, Sheldon Brown, Will James, Joselio Hanson, Dustin Fox
S -- Brian Dawkins, Sean Considine, Quintin Mikell, C.J. Gaddis
SPECIALISTS
PK -- David Akers
P -- Saverio Rocca
LS -- Jon Dorenbos
I think that by the time the season starts, LB Stewart Bradley, CB Rashad Barksdale and RB Nate Ilaoa will have developed mysterious injuries that land them on Injured Reserve. In other words, they'll Goconged. They may not be ready, but as draft picks, there's no guarantee they could make it to the practice squad.
There will obviously be several young players who will end up on the practice squad, perhaps even some for the second time (I'm not sure, but I think two seasons is the limit for the practice squad.) Personally, I'm rooting for WR Dereck Faulkner, our local Moorestown connection. It all depends what the coaches think they may need as the season rolls on, and who stands out at Lehigh.
The veteran players I see losing out are DE Jerome McDougle, DT LaJuan Ramsey, TE Matt Schobel, RB Ryan Moats, and of course punter Dirk Johnson.
McDougle was shot a couple of years ago, and he looked shot by the end of last season. Ramsey goes because I just don't see them keeping 10 defensive linemen with the ucertainty at linebacker. Schobel goes because the Eagles drafted Celek as L.J. insurance, and they have to find out if he can play. Moats is gone because, even though the Birds finished with five backs last year, that extra slot moves over to the receivers this year because Bloom is the returner and not Reno Mahe. Finally, Johnson is gone because I feel that Rocca can come close to matching his consistency, and Dirk didn't punt all that well in 2006.
The guys I thought hard about for various reasons were Matt McCoy, Buckhalter, Lewis and Tapeh, and I would still not be shocked to see any one of them cut.
Obviously, preseason injuries are almost inevitable, and things will happen to change this picture in the next month. If this is the team the Eagles go to Green Bay with, however, how would you feel? There are no real weaknesses. There are some stone-cold gambles, expecially with Bunkley and Gocong, but they're not necessarily bad bets, especially given the contingency plans in place.
Honestly, as a fan, I would feel pretty decent.
Labels: training camp
posted by SMc. at 10:31 PM
3 Comments:
I think if Celek makes the roster, you have to keep 3 TEs. Unless the Eagles feel good about resigning LJ (and I'm not sure how they could), he's gone after this year.
So without carrying Schobel, you'd only have Celek on the roster next year.
Probably Celek to the PS, but if you decide to carry 3, then maybe you go with 5 WR - assuming Bloom is a WR/RS, then Lewis is the odd man out.
I'd be surprised to see Buck go. He's a good player and they have him at a good number.
Is your WR chart list how you see the depth chart? With Baskett that low?
Rocco will be some fun to watch. He's a beast!
I'd also like to get a good long look at Gaddis. Our safety play needs to improve, although I'm expecting that the D-Line will bring a lot more heat along with our improved linebacking corps.
I feel pretty good about this team heading into camp. I feel especially good since the rest of the NFC has gone backwards.
Giants have lost their best player, have a QB in a make or break year, and a lame duck coach.
Dallas took a step backwards with their coach, Romo's been figured out (as evidenced by the Cowboy Collapse last year) and I expect he'll be frustrated often this year. And the Cowboys biggest signing was re-signing their own O Line Guy.
The Redskins are the Redskins.
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If you're talking about just WRs, then no, Baskett would probably be fourth on the depth chart based on Avant's red-hot spring, but only by a whisker, with Bloom actually sixth behind Lewis. When making up the list, I based it on the order of awarding roster spots. In other words, as the only guy returning punts and kickoffs, they're counting on Bloom a lot more than Baskett right now.
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