Category: Eagles/NFL

Training camp is officially over, and Howie Roseman is on the clock.

The Eagles have to submit their initial 53-man roster by 6 p.m. Sunday, and there are key decisions to make at multiple positions, including the quarterback spot.

Projecting the 53-man roster has its twists and turns throughout a training camp. The Inquirer’s Jeff McLane revealed his one and only roster prediction earlier on Friday before the team’s 30-13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in the final preseason game.

But Friday night’s defeat provided some more data when it comes to decision making, both for Roseman and in this roster view. So, let’s get to our final projection of the 2026 training camp:

Quarterbacks (4): Jalen Hurts, Andy Dalton, Tanner McKee, Cole Payton

Well, this is quite a departure from every projection from this training camp. But if you watched Friday night, and saw the other two games, can you really imagine another NFL general manager parting with draft capital to acquire one of Hurts’ backups?

Dalton probably has more trade value at this time of year given his body of work. But trading him means the Eagles would be committing to McKee as the primary backup, and while that was fine last year, backing up Hurts with McKee and Payton seems a bit risky for a team that fancies itself a Super Bowl contender.

McKee was dreadful Friday night, though the necessary caveats need to be applied: he was playing with backups, and the only first-teamer who joined him on the field, Makai Lemon, was playing NFL football for the first time. But he was playing against backups, too. He finished the game 12-for-22 for 55 yards and an interception (that hit Lemon in the hands). A year ago, McKee dominated the Bengals in the first preseason contest of the season and cemented himself as the bona fide backup.

Keeping four quarterbacks would be a bit unusual, but it also gives Roseman some time to figure out what to do next. The first game is still two weeks away, and a lot can change on his roster and the other 31 between now and then.

The easy answer might be to cut Payton. The fifth-round pick has been turnover-prone during camp, but the Eagles may not want to expose him to waivers and ensure they’re the team that gets to develop him.

All of this uncertainty begs the question: Is the Week 1 backup quarterback even on the team’s roster right now?

Running backs (3): Saquon Barkley, Tank Bigsby, Will Shipley

Cut: Dameon Pierce, Carson Steele, Jordan Mims

This projection has been steady all camp. Pierce ran well Friday night, and Steele has been a playmaker, but that’s why there’s a practice squad.

Wide receivers (5): DeVonta Smith, Dontayvion Wicks, Makai Lemon, Darius Cooper, Hollywood Brown

Cut: Elijah Moore, Britain Covey, Quez Watkins, Danny Gray, Samori Toure, Erik Ezukanma, Tahj Washington

It’s fair to argue Moore had a better camp than Brown, but Brown signed a guaranteed $5 million deal, and Moore is a vested veteran that won’t have to go through waivers. Do the Eagles keep him around by promising him a game-day elevation to avoid him going elsewhere? Injuries plagued the top end of the receiving corps throughout camp, so the unit will enter the season without A.J. Brown and with some question marks hanging over it.

Tight ends (4): Dallas Goedert, Johnny Mundt, Eli Stowers, Cameron Latu

Cut: Grant Calcaterra, E.J. Jenkins, Stone Smartt

Stowers, who is dealing with a hamstring injury, did not have an inspiring camp. He’s likely to be ready to go for the start of the season, but he may not be ready for a real role. Thus, the need for Latu, who could clear waivers if he’s cut but provides the Eagles with a valuable special-teamer who can block.

Tight end is a spot where Roseman could be looking to upgrade via trade between now and Week 1, too.

Offensive line (10): Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens, Tyler Steen, Lane Johnson, Markel Bell, Drew Kendall, Willie Lampkin, Micah Morris, Fred Johnson

Cut: John Ojukwu, Jake Majors, Michael Jordan, Cameron Williams, Myles Hinton, Zeke Correll

Bell seems to be the winner of the swing tackle competition between the third-round pick and Fred Johnson. It’s possible Johnson’s job is in danger. He had a rough camp and the new offense might not be a scheme fit for him, but the Eagles aren’t very deep at tackle, which could work in his favor.

Ojukwu could be a player the Eagles want to get on the practice squad, as a veteran who has positional versatility. Kendall and Lampkin both have positional versatility along the interior, as does Majors, who had a good camp and may end up making the team.

Defensive tackles (6): Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Moro Ojomo, Byron Young, Ty Robinson, Uar Bernard

Cut: Gabe Hall, Zion Wilson, David Blay

Robinson came on a few weeks into camp and solidified his spot on the roster. The Eagles have one of the best interior trios in the NFL in Carter, Davis, and Ojomo, and a pretty solid No. 4 in Young. It’ll be hard for Robinson to carve out a large role, and he’ll need to show he can execute against first-team offensive linemen.

Bernard, meanwhile, is a long-term project the Eagles want to develop and probably won’t risk losing to a waiver wire claim.

Edge rushers (6): Jonathan Greenard, Jalyx Hunt, Nolan Smith, Arnold Ebiketie, A.J. Epenesa, Joshua Weru

Cut: Tarron Jackson, Keyshawn James-Newby, Jose Ramirez

Greenard’s status for Week 1 might be in doubt, but it seems unlikely he starts the season on the PUP list, so the Eagles will need to roster him on the initial 53. Hunt has had arguably the best training camp of any Eagles player. It’s after Smith where the Eagles may have some depth concerns. Ebiketie hasn’t exactly looked like a world-beater in camp, but he’s signed to a relatively expensive deal (one year, $7.3 million, $4.3 million guaranteed).

The Eagles plucked Epenesa out of free agency in June, and while he’s firmly in the mix for a roster spot, the Eagles could cut him and bring him back on the practice squad with the aim to elevate him on game day. He will not need to go through waivers.

Weru is in the same category as Bernard.

Linebackers (4): Zack Baun, Jihaad Campbell, Jeremiah Trotter Jr., Smael Mondon Jr.

Cut: Chance Campbell, Deontae Lawson, Brandon George

Vic Fangio likes Chance Campbell, but is he even the best deep reserve at his position? Lawson has as good an argument for a roster spot. The Eagles have an abundance of capable linebackers. Trotter probably could start on multiple teams. Mondon, a 2025 fifth-round pick, seems to be developing well.

Campbell and Lawson are deserving of spots. But that doesn’t mean the Eagles need to keep a fifth linebacker. The Eagles could roll the dice and cut both Campbell and Lawson and live with one of them being claimed and getting one of them on the practice squad while crossing their fingers it’s both of them.

Cornerbacks (6): Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, Riq Woolen, Jonathan Jones, Kelee Ringo, Mac McWilliams

Cut: Jakorian Bennett, Tariq Castro-Fields, Shaun Wade, Ambry Thomas, Isaiah Bolden

McWilliams struggled during the team’s preseason games, but the Eagles need all the depth they can get behind their top-line trio of Mitchell, Woolen, and DeJean (nickel). Jones battled a shoulder injury during camp, and while he may be the primary backup option on the outside, he’ll be 33 in a few weeks.

Ringo’s special teams talents help get him on the roster.

Safeties (3): Andrew Mukuba, Marcus Epps, Michael Carter II

Cut: Cole Wisniewski, Maximus Pulley, Andre Sam, Kapena Gushiken, Jaylen Mahoney.

Maybe Wisniewski ends up on the roster if he didn’t suffer a concussion in the second preseason game. The seventh-round pick dealt with a hamstring injury for most of the first part of camp.

Safety is the thinnest position on the roster, and keeping just three is fitting. Roseman could be looking to acquire a safety to bulk up the position.

But keeping three is also reasonable because DeJean is going to eat up some snaps at safety when the Eagles are in base. Carter, meanwhile, could be on the field in dime packages and can provide some backup nickel snaps, too.

Special teams (2): Jake Elliott (kicker), Braden Mann (punter)

Cut: Rocco Underwood (long snapper)

Cutting Underwood helps Roseman get other players on the roster and bides time.

The preseason mercifully ends with a goose egg in the Eagles’ win column.

Andy Dalton led his first touchdown drive of the preseason, but the Eagles still fell to the Cincinnati Bengals, 30-13, at Lincoln Financial Field on Friday night.

Here’s our instant analysis from the Eagles’ third and final game of the exhibition slate:

Meh-kee; Dalton shows (a little) life

The Eagles backup quarterback competition continued to underwhelm on the whole.

After displaying signs of progress in the second preseason game against the New England Patriots, Tanner McKee took a step back on Friday.

He started and played the entire first half. On 32 plays, McKee went 12-for-22 for 55 yards and an interception, good for a 41.1 passer rating. He was sacked twice.

Dalton, meanwhile, had his best single-game performance of the preseason on paper. He went 12-for-19 for 104 yards and a touchdown (95.1 quarterback rating) on 26 plays.

Still, aside from the scoring drive, Dalton amassed just 45 net yards on 15 plays. In total, the Eagles depth quarterbacks combined for four touchdown passes — two from McKee, one from Dalton, and one from rookie Cole Payton — through three preseason games.

While neither McKee nor Dalton seemed to definitively separate themselves in the competition, Nick Sirianni expressed confidence in both quarterbacks and their capabilities.

“I’ve been pleased with both those guys through camp,” Sirianni said after the game. “I feel we’re in a good spot there. We’ll go back and look at every throw they made from preseason games to practices to joint practices to operation practices and we’ll make our decision.

“I thought there were some good things. There were obviously always things you got to clean up at every position and in every game.”

McKee, the 2023 sixth-rounder out of Stanford struggled to push the ball downfield in Friday’s game. Most of his yardage came on short gains, namely checkdowns to the running backs. Running back Carson Steele was McKee’s most popular target in the first half, as he amassed five receptions on five targets for 32 yards. Steele had one long 17-yard catch-and-run gain, but he averaged 3.75 yards per reception on his other four.

The sacks that McKee took highlighted his inability to escape the pocket. Former Eagles defensive end Antwaun Powell-Ryland split a sack with Bengals defensive end Isaiah Foskey on the Eagles’ opening drive, collapsing on McKee from either side as he lingered too long in the pocket and eventually attempted to flee.

Right before the end of the first half, McKee took another sack from Foskey, who beat left tackle John Ojukwu. Again, McKee failed to get the ball out quickly, but this sack was less egregious than the first one.

McKee was nearly strip-sacked in the second quarter by Powell-Ryland after right tackle Cameron Williams gave up the pressure, but the play was eventually ruled an incomplete pass.

Despite his shaky performance in the preseason finale, McKee said he felt good about his overall showing in training camp.

“I feel a lot more comfortable just with the offense, calling the plays, [getting] guys in the right spots. I feel like at the beginning, you’re thinking a ton. … Then by the end of training camp, you can get guys on the right page, and they have questions about their route stem or their depth or whatever it is. And as a quarterback, you’ve got to have all the answers.

“Felt like we’ve made a huge step, and we’re going to continue to grow in that way.”

Dalton, the former Bengals quarterback of nine seasons (2011-19), took over at the beginning of the second half. He wasn’t any more impressive than McKee was to start.

Dalton was handed favorable field position after Eagles receiver Jordan Mims, who signed with the team on Monday, forced a fumble on Bengals kick returner Tahj Brooks and Andre Sam came up with the recovery at the Bengals’ 43-yard line.

The 38-year-old quarterback didn’t do much with it. After a Steele five-yard run, Dalton threw two straight incomplete passes to Steele and Britain Covey. The Eagles settled for a 56-yard Jake Elliott field goal to pull within 9-6.s

But Dalton heated up on his second possession. He led an 11-play, 76-yard scoring drive, highlighted by a 26-yard play-action strike over the middle for Danny Gray that put the Eagles in the red zone. Steele continued his impressive preseason showing, as his five-yard touchdown reception made it 16-13, Bengals.

Overall, Dalton was pleased with his entire body of work throughout the summer.

“I think just being comfortable in everything that we’re doing,” Dalton said. “Having a good understanding of the little things that go into play in this position. I felt really comfortable out there, especially tonight. I felt like I was in a good place.”

What does the future hold for either quarterback, as the Eagles trim the roster down to 53 on Sunday at 6 p.m.?

“They haven’t given us a time frame [for a decision],” McKee said. “So, we’ll see.”

Lemon drop

After missing three weeks of training camp with a hamstring injury, rookie first-round receiver Makai Lemon made his preseason debut.

He was rusty. Lemon was on the field for the Eagles’ first four possessions on offense. He finished with three receptions on five targets for three yards.

McKee got Lemon involved right away. On the first play of the game, he completed a three-yard play-action bootleg pass to Lemon. His throw was a little low, but the 22-year-old receiver managed to adjust and snag the pass.

That three-yarder was Lemon’s longest reception of the night.

He was targeted again on the opening drive on another play-action pass, this time down the right sideline. McKee’s pass was nearly intercepted by Bengals rookie cornerback Tacario Davis, and it fell incomplete.

McKee wasn’t as lucky in the second quarter. On third-and-7 from the Bengals’ 25, the Eagles’ best field position at that point in the game, McKee was picked off by Davis after Lemon dropped a pass on an in-breaker. The pass was a bit high, but the ball deflected off both of Lemon’s hands.

“I’ve got to get the ball down,” McKee said. “I know it’s not fun as a receiver to put your hands over your head when you’re going across the middle, and so as a quarterback, I’ve got to get the ball down and make that an easier catch for him.”

The Bengals turned Davis’ 15-yard return to their own 36 into an eventual 34-yard field goal, going up 9-0.

He also took a rep at punt returner late in the third quarter. Bengals punter Ryan Rehkow shanked it, and while Lemon initially waved it off, he mishandled the ball when it bounced in his direction. Lemon ultimately managed to secure it, but he lost a yard on the return.

Seeing double

Two No. 10s in white Eagles jerseys shared the field on Friday.

Payton and Braden Mann are both wearing the number in camp, which is not uncommon, especially between players in different phases of the game. But it’s less common to see those two players on the field at the same time.

On a couple of Mann’s punts in the first half, Payton was on the field in punt coverage. As the Eagles mull whether to keep the rookie fifth-rounder out of North Dakota State on the initial 53-man roster, they’re getting a better sense of the ways he can contribute beyond the quarterback position.

Payton entered the game at quarterback with roughly four and a half minutes remaining in regulation. He did not complete either of his two pass attempts. He was sacked by Powell-Ryland.

Injury report

Safety Andre Sam went down late in the third quarter after attempting to make a tackle. He did not put any pressure on his left leg as he was lifted off the field and carted indoors.

Sam, the 2024 undrafted free agent out of LSU, had a strong outing prior to his injury. He recorded a pass breakup, a forced fumble, two fumble recoveries (one on defense, another on special teams), and three tackles.

Cornerback Isaiah Bolden was injured late in the fourth quarter. He did not return to the game.

When the Eagles host the Cincinnati Bengals on Friday night for the preseason finale, neither team will likely send out its starters. But Philly fans will get a glimpse of two of their own on the opposite sideline.

Wide receiver Ke’Shawn Williams and linebacker Eric Gentry, both of whom grew up and played their high school ball in Philadelphia, will return to the city that helped mold them into professional football players.

Gentry, who starred at Neumann Goretti and then Southern Cal, says returning “feels very much like a full circle moment” after being signed by the Bengals as a free agent following the 2026 NFL draft.

“I’m really happy for this opportunity to be able to showcase my talent, especially in front of my hometown. Most importantly, in front of my hometown,” Gentry told The Inquirer by phone. “Being able to be in the city and have family be able to come out there and see me, and I think more importantly, this being the last preseason game, so being able to get more opportunities than I may have gotten before. I just want to make myself be prepared and work as much as I can this week, just to put in the time and effort.”

Williams and Gentry, beyond both being from the Philly area, share another commonality: They played for the North Philly Blackhawks Pop Warner team together, with the 6-foot-7 Gentry noting that “our coach always said [Williams] was the best player on the field.”

“It shows that other guys you’re competing with — all the work that they put in was worth it. You got to that end result,” said Williams, a former Springside Chestnut Hill Academy standout. “[Gentry’s] still fighting, of course. He’s not satisfied just getting here, but it’s cool to see a guy from the same background, from a similar background and similar upbringing, to also make it here and see him compete at this level as well.”

While Gentry is experiencing his first training camp and preseason, Williams is in his second season after initially signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers as an undrafted free agent last year. Williams didn’t make the initial 53-man roster, but ended up on the practice squad.

He was elevated to the active roster in October, playing eight games in Pittsburgh primarily as a return specialist. He returned 11 punts for 112 yards, and 18 kickoffs for 425 yards, before being claimed off waivers by Cincinnati last December.

He appeared in three games for Cincinnati to close the season, also primarily in a returner role, but caught his first NFL pass in a Dec. 28 win over the Arizona Cardinals. Now, he’s trying to make the Bengals’ roster out of training camp. He racked up 95 yards on nine punt returns with the Bengals and another 203 yards on eight kick returns.

“When you go out there and compete in the preseason, you’re not only competing for the team that you’re currently on, but also all other 31 teams in the league that are watching, and it’s just a reminder to go out there and you know not to add any extra pressure on yourself, but to go out there and put your best stuff on tape because that becomes your resume,” Williams said. “Coming into this training camp, coming into this preseason, understanding that the opportunities may be limited, but you know when they come around, it’s like ‘What do you do with them?’

“And if you have a couple of splash days, a couple of teams around the league are also watching.”

Gentry, who added that he’s been “grinding and learning” this summer, noted that the biggest difference between college and the NFL is “understanding a lot of the stuff that goes outside of football that helps with on-the-field [matters].” A conversation last week with Chicago Bears running back D’Andre Swift, a fellow Philadelphian , helped put in perspective the importance of “keeping a routine and keeping your head on right.”

Leaning on Williams has also been part of Gentry’s education to the NFL.

“He don’t talk too much. He just puts his work in. Never complain. Never gets too up. Never gets too down or anything. Just stays mellow and just worry about himself,” Gentry said.

Williams, meanwhile, has soaked in the opportunity to work alongside Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, one of the top wideout duos in the NFL. The second-year player says he’s been observing “their IQ for route running and savviness of playing the ball in the air,” and noting the “tips and tricks” he can apply to his game.

They will be put to the test Friday night with Williams and Gentry expected to get extended playing time. Gentry, who has mainly played special teams in preseason, will likely play more defensive snaps, specifically at weakside linebacker.

While there may not be many Bengals fans in the crowd, expect a large presence representing Gentry and Williams. Beyond their families, many who knew them growing up will be in the stands, watching them play in the city for the first time since high school.

“I don’t know nobody who isn’t trying to see what’s up for this week,” Gentry said with a laugh. ”I’ve been happy though because it shows a lot of support from the city, and it was so many people — even at [my draft party] that you know said they couldn’t make it, but wanted to be there, and was texting me before the draft. … Just always having people who always supported me, who is going to be there.”

Added Williams: “It’s a special occasion. I don’t want to make it bigger than it is … but in the back of my mind, you could never get over the full fact that you get to come home and play in front of your loved ones. I’m hoping I get out there and make a couple of plays. That is something worthwhile seeing.”