August 18, 2024

Random Eagles, NFC East notes: Roster moves, Cowboys 2025 free agents, and Daniel Jones is still bad

The Cowboys' contract situations are bad. The Giants' quarterback situation is also (still) bad.

By Jimmy Kempski
PhillyVoice Staff

Troy Taormina/USA TODAY Sports

Daniel Jones... still bad.

There were some Philadelphia Eagles and other NFC East news items over the last few days that probably aren't worthy of their own articles, but we'll round them up here.

The Eagles made three roster moves

They signed OT Gottlieb Ayedze, placed CB Tyler Hall on Reserve/Injured, and waived/injured DB Mekhi Garner.

• OT Gottlieb Ayedze: Ayedze was an Eagles undrafted rookie free agent signing after the 2024 draft. Dane Brugler of The Athletic and Lance Zierlein of NFL.com both had Ayedze as a 5th/6th round prospect.

Before the start of camp, Ayedze was selected fourth overall in the UFL Draft. He started Eagles camp on the NFI (Non-Football Injury) list, and was waived two days into camp. He is healthy now, and back with the team. He already has four transactions under his belt in the NFL. Julian Vandervelde nods in approval.

• CB Tyler Hall: The Falcons signed Hall as an undrafted rookie out of Wyoming in 2020. He appeared in 9 games as a rookie, making 6 tackles. In 2021, he played for the Rams, where he appeared in 4 games (no stats), but with no snaps in the regular defense. In 2022 and 2023, Hall played for the Raiders. He had 20 tackles and 4 pass breakups in 2022, and 20 tackles in 2023. He did not stand out in Eagles camp, and was buried on the depth chart behind a lot of other corners.

• S Mekhi Garner: Garner had a good training camp as an undrafted rookie free agent last year, and he appeared in 3 games during the regular season as a practice squad callup. He played 27 snaps in the regular defense, moving from corner to safety along the way. Prior to the start of camp, I thought he was a sleeper to win a roster spot in 2024 with the team short on safety depth, but he did not stand out like he did at times last year.

The top 50 free agents in 2025

Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com does a good job of putting together a list of the top NFL free agents every year, and he already has a preliminary list published for 2025.

The only Eagles player on the list is Josh Sweat, at No. 31. In other words, the Eagles won't lose a ton of talent in free agency next offseason like they did after their Super Bowl appearance in 2022.

More interestingly, in my opinion, is that five Cowboys players cracked the top 30:

• No. 1: QB Dak Prescott
• No. 2: WR CeeDee Lamb
• No. 19: DT Osa Odighizuwa
• No. 21: RG Zack Martin
• No. 30: DL DeMarcus Lawrence

That list doesn't even include Micah Parsons, who is scheduled to play on his fifth-year option in 2025. Spoiler: Parsons will not be happy playing on his fifth-year option in 2025.

The contracts for Prescott, Lamb, and Parsons have dominated Cowboys headlines this offseason. It is expected that a deal will get done for Lamb soon enough, but Prescott's situation remains an enormous question mark. But beyond those three star players, the Cowboys could also lose other mainstays like Odighizuwa, Martin, and Lawrence.