The Eagles made a bunch of moves this weekend to get down to their initial 53-man roster (see the cuts).
There were a few surprise players to make the roster, like TE Josh Perkins and WR DeAndre Carter. And a few surprise cuts like Josh Adams and Steven Means.
Even though they have the 32nd spot after winning the Super Bowl, the Eagles will scour the waiver wire to look for talent tossed away by the other 31 teams. They've been preparing for this. Because of that action, though, this 53-man roster isn't set in stone; it's still fluid.
But for now, the Eagles kept 27 players on offense and just 23 on defense. You can thank a few injuries on the offensive side of the ball for that.
That 27 on offense includes 10 offensive linemen after keeping just eight last year and also includes six wideouts and four tight ends.
Here's a look at who is on the roster for now:
QB (3): Carson Wentz, Nick Foles, Nate Sudfeld
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No surprises here. Christian Hackenberg and Joe Callahan were released on Saturday. The Eagles were always going to keep these three. And according to a report, it'll be Foles going in Week 1 (see story).
RB (4): Jay Ajayi, Darren Sproles, Corey Clement, Wendell Smallwood
The Eagles elected to keep four running backs and Smallwood beat out his competition for that last spot. That means Josh Adams, Matt Jones and Donnel Pumphrey were all waived. Adams or Pumphrey would presumably have a chance to land on the practice squad if they clear waivers. Smallwood didn't wow during the preseason, but he did stay healthy and has shown he can perform in the NFL before. He just needs to prove he can stay healthy.
TE (4): Zach Ertz, Dallas Goedert, Richard Rodgers, Josh Perkins
With Rodgers (knee) likely to miss the beginning of the season with a knee injury, the Eagles kept four tight ends. The surprise was that Perkins was the fourth. That's a surprise because Perkins missed the end of the preseason with an injury, but apparently he's ready to go.
WR (6): Alshon Jeffery, Nelson Agholor, Mike Wallace, Mack Hollins, Shelton Gibson, DeAndre Carter
The top five spots have been locked up for a while, but Carter won that sixth spot. The journeyman has never been on a 53-man roster before, but after he signed in late July, he earned his way to this point. We'll see if he sticks. For now, he beat out veterans Kamar Aiken and Markus Wheaton.
OL (10): Jason Peters, Stefen Wisniewski, Jason Kelce, Brandon Brooks, Lane Johnson, Halapoulivaati Vaitai, Isaac Seumalo, Chance Warmack, Matt Pryor, Jordan Mailata
After keeping just eight OL at last year's cut down day, the Eagles went with 10 this year. Warmack had a disappointing summer, but the favorite of Jeff Stoutland sticks around. And Mailata, who hadn't played football until a few months ago, earned his spot on the roster with a great summer (see story).
DE (5): Brandon Graham, Derek Barnett, Chris Long, Michael Bennett, Josh Sweat
Veteran Steven Means was cut, which had to be a hard one for the front office. But the Eagles are rolling with a group that's still really deep.
DT (4): Fletcher Cox, Destiny Vaeao, Haloti Ngata, Bruce Hector
The Eagles cut former sixth-round pick Elijah Qualls and Aziz Shittu, settling on Hector as the fourth DT on the roster. Hector is an undrafted rookie who clearly led this race for a while.
LB (5): Jordan Hicks, Nate Gerry, Kamu Grugier-Hill, Joe Walker, LaRoy Reynolds
These five seemed really likely for a while. Nigel Bradham won't be on the opening day roster because of his one-game suspension. Maybe some folks are surprised to see Reynolds, but he's a strong special teamer.
CB (5): Jalen Mills, Ronald Darby, Sidney Jones, Rasul Douglas, Avonte Maddox
The Eagles decided to keep just five, which meant waiving De'Vante Bausby. That's slightly surprising because he was taking first-team reps in the springing summer. But Jones and Maddox passed him on the depth chart and the Eagles have a strong stable of corners with this group.
S (4): Malcolm Jenkins, Rodney McLeod, Corey Graham, Tre Sullivan
I guess there was a little question if Sullivan was a lock, but he made the team over undrafted Jeremy Reaves. The top three have been locks for a long time. No surprises here.
Specialists (3): Jake Elliott, Cameron Johnston, Rick Lovato
These three have been the only three specialists with the team all offseason. For a while it looked like Johnston's spot was in question, but he picked up his play in the preseason and won the job over invisible competition.
