July 28, 2016
Chris Szagola/AP
Eagles training camp in underway, which means 53-man roster projections.
The Philadelphia Eagles' 2016 training camp is underway, with the first three practices in the books. However, it has barely even gotten started, as Thursday will be the first time the full roster practices as a team. Therefore, this is more of a pre-training camp look at the 53-man roster projection, which we'll update roughly every week.
First we'll show the depth chart as a whole, with a highly scientific color-coded system showing starters, reserves, inactives, and practice squad guys. And then we'll do a quick rundown at each position.
| Offense | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| QB | Sam Bradford | Chase Daniel | Carson Wentz | |
| RB | Ryan Mathews | Darren Sproles | Wendell Smallwood | Byron Marshall |
| WR | Jordan Matthews | Rueben Randle | ||
| WR | Nelson Agholor | Chris Givens | ||
| WR | Josh Huff | |||
| TE | Zach Ertz | Trey Burton | ||
| TE | Brent Celek | Chris Pantale | ||
| LT | Jason Peters | |||
| LG | Isaac Seumalo | Allen Barbre | ||
| C | Jason Kelce | Stefen Wisniewski | ||
| RG | Brandon Brooks | |||
| RT | Lane Johnson | Dennis Kelly | Halapoulivaati Vaitai |
| Defense | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| DE | Connor Barwin | Brandon Graham | |
| DT | Bennie Logan | Taylor Hart | |
| DT | Fletcher Cox | Mike Martin | |
| DE | Vinny Curry | Marcus Smith | Bryan Braman |
| SAM | Nigel Bradham | Myke Tavarres | |
| MIKE | Jordan Hicks | Joe Walker | |
| WILL | Mychal Kendricks | Najee Goode | |
| CB | Leodis McKelvin | Eric Rowe | |
| S | Malcolm Jenkins | Chris Maragos | |
| S | Rodney McLeod | Blake Countess | |
| CB | Nolan Carroll | Jalen Mills | |
| Nickel | Ron Brooks | JaCorey Shepherd |
| K | P | LS |
| Cody Parkey | Donnie Jones | Jon Dorenbos |
OG Darrell Greene, OG/OT Malcolm Bunche, WR Cayleb Jones, QB/WR David Watford, DE Alex McCalister, DT Destiny Vaeao, DT Aziz Shittu, LB Quentin Gause, CB Aaron Grymes, S Ed Reynolds
At the start of camp, Doug Pederson reiterated once again that Bradford is the starter, Daniel is the backup, and Wentz is likely to begin the season as an inactive, although he certainly left some wiggle room for that to change as the season progresses.
"We don't know it will be his entire rookie year; we can't speculate that far out," explained Pederson in regard to Wentz's potential inactive status. "But going into the season, there is a good chance it starts that way."
Training camp hasn't really even begun yet, and Ryan Mathews is already hurt. Beyond Mathews, Darren Sproles and Wendell Smallwood are locks to make the team. That fourth running back spot could be a veteran the Eagles sign away from some other team after roster cutdowns, or they could simply opt to go with guys like Kenjon Barner or UDFA Byron Marshall. In this scenario, we'll project Marshall to beat out Barner.
Many of you may be surprised to see Josh Huff among the top three wide receivers. According to a source, the team still believes in Huff and thought he had a good spring. While I disagree, that's the intel that I've received.
The five receivers we noted above are the clear favorites to land roster spots.
This was a difficult one to figure out. The glaring omission is Matt Tobin, who was working at LT with the second team defense during the spring, and has versatility to play inside at guard as well. While Tobin certainly wasn't good as the starting RG in 2015, he is at least somewhat valuable for his ability to play multiple positions along the line as a backup. However, Tobin is scheduled to make $1,671,000 in 2016, the entirety of which the Eagles can save if they cut him. He's not competing against other players as much as he's competing against his salary cap figure. I believe the Eagles will opt to save that money over keeping Tobin.
You may also notice that Isaac Seumalo is listed as a starter over Allen Barbre. I believe Seumalo will earn a starting job over the next month, and Barbre will become a versatile backup capable of filling in a four of five OL spots.
The only surprise here to some could be the omission of Beau Allen. Jim Schwartz's scheme is geared more toward quick defensive tackles over space eaters, which could leave Allen on the outside looking in. His chances of making the team will rise considerably if the Eagles can find a trade partner for Taylor Hart.
The arrest of Nigel Bradham hammered home once again that the Eagles lack depth at linebacker. I believe the Eagles will keep six linebackers, one of which will include undrafted free agent Myke Tavarres.
When asked about the cornerback spot, both Doug Pederson and Jim Schwartz rattled off a bunch of names that did not include Eric Rowe. I don't know if that was an oversight or if it was calculated, but either way it is not a good sign for Rowe. We'll leave him out of the starting lineup for now along with Jalen Mills, who still has to prove he can play well when they put on the pads.
I believe the team really likes Blake Countess, and I have him as a near-lock to make the team. Chris Maragos, meanwhile, is a stud special teamer and a competent reserve safety. With a few corners on the roster with some safety experience, the Eagles will likely only keep four safeties.
The only camp battle here is Cody Parkey vs. Caleb Sturgis. My money is on Parkey.
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