Game Thoughts And Roster Musings

First off, thank you Kevin Kolb for not making me look like an idiot.  It was good to see the QBOTF make some plays and generally show off a pretty strong-looking arm.  At the very least, the respective performances of the two main quarterbacks tonight should back off the pro-Vick fanatics for a little while.

Beyond that, everything else I have to talk about is probably best handled within the framework of a roster discussions, so let's have at it.

Quarterback

1. McNabb, 2. Kolb, 3. Vick, 4. Feeley 

Feeley is obviously the odd man out -- at some point.  The interesting question, of course, is when.  I don't think the Eagles are in any rush here.  If they get an offer they think is fair, Feeley moves.  If not, they've got two weeks to see if any other teams have a guy go down to injury or decide maybe their backup situation isn't as strong as they'd hoped.  They could even keep Feeley around longer than that, since Vick's two-week-only suspension means they're probably going to put him on the active roster right away anyway, so it's not like there will be some great decision point. 

Running Back

5. Westbrook, 6. McCoy, 7. Buckley

Booker continues to be the opposite of impressive.  Meanwhile, Buckley just runs hard.  The fact that Booker was relegated to second-half duty tonight makes me feel confident that he's gone. 

Fullback

8. Weaver

Not sure why everyone always lumps these two positions together.  It's not like Westbrook is going to start lead blocking for people.  Anyway, the job goes to Weaver, Eckel moves on, and Mailei hits the practice squad, since they seem to like to keep a fullback down there every year (especially because Weaver's on a one-year deal).

Tight End

9. Celek, 10. Curtis, 11. Myers

In the fight of his NFL life, Matt Schobel managed one start, two appearances, and no catches this preseason.  If he makes this team ... 

Eugene Bright may or may not have a future on the practice squad.  I'm leaning towards "not," unless a lot of Plan As fall through.  The transition just isn't going well and Ingram's back next year. 

Wide Receiver

12. Curtis, 13. Jackson, 14. Avant, 15. Maclin, 16. Baskett

And the Eagles continue to eat up 2009 cap room by ditching overpriced veterans.  I don't see how you justify keep Reggie Brown over any of the five guys above.  And I don't see how you keep six receivers again with the Vick situation and all the other needs on this team.  I like Gibson and I hope he signs with a team I don't have to root against so I can keep liking him.

Offensive Line

17. Peters, 18. Herremans, 19. Jackson, 20. Andrews, 21. Andrews, 22. Jean-Gilles, 23. Cole, 24. Justice [UPDATE:  Justice out for the year.  Swap in McGlynn here SECOND UPDATE:  Bad info, Justice is fine.], 25. Dunlap

Obviously, this position gets tricky after the first eight.  I'm sticking with Dunlap because he's a physical specimen who just needs a lot of polish, and because it's not difficult to foresee a situation where the Eagles need another starting offensive tackle next season.  I know lots of people are seeing 10 guys here, but the nice thing about this group is how versatile it is.  Six of the nine can play tackle.  Seven can play guard.  Two can play center.  You don't have to worry quite as much about numbers when you have guys you can mix and match.

Defensive End

26. Cole, 27. Abiamiri, 28. Howard, 29. Clemons, 30. Parker, 31. Babin

This is a lot of ends.  I realize Babin wasn't always going against starters, but sacks are sacks and he led the Eagles with three this postseason.  Maybe Bryan Smith becomes a "fastball" somewhere down the line, but that looks to be what Babin is right now.  His LB background also means he could be useful in some zone blitzing packages without a lot of additional work.

Defensive Tackle

32. Bunkley, 33. Patterson, 34. Laws, 35. Klecko

Again, this is a lot of defensive linemen, but if you look at where the talent is, it's more here than on the OL.  I think Klecko can get to the QB, and that's a useful skill, especially because Howard has injury concerns (and is due for a fall-off after last year anyway) and Abiamiri has proved almost nothing.  I think he stays.  I also think they try really hard to get PSUer Josh Gaines to join the practice squad as a developmental DT guy, but he played all tonight at the DE position in what looked like a "build some film" move, so that may just be wishful thinking.

Linebacker

36. Gocong, 37. Jordan, 38. Gaither, 39. Mays, 40. White, 41. Fokou

This could be a little light, but the other options aren't that appealing.  Tracy White continues to be an excellent special teams player, so I think he makes the team over Tank Daniels, who isn't what he used to be there.  I don't know what to make of Curtis Gatewood.  He got very little time this preseason, and didn't play at all in the fourth game, when all the down-roster guys get to showcase themselves.  Either that means he really doesn't have any business being out there or otherwise the Eagles are trying to keep him under wraps to stash him on the practice squad.  I believe with only six game played last year, he's still eligible, although I'm sure Sam will correct me if I'm wrong.

Cornerback

42. Samuel, 43. Brown, 44. Hanson, 45. Hobbs, 46. ??????

I haven't been all that impressed with the Iguana.  I guess that gives Dimitri Patterson the nod ... but somehow I get the feeling that this position won't be set once the initial cutdowns are made.  There are plenty of ex-Eagle cornerbacks floating around the league, one of them (or some other guy we've never heard of) may be getting a call here in a bit.

The interesting thing with this position is that both Demps and Harris can play some CB.  You could potentially get into a situation where they're on the field more at those positions than safety.  But given the injury history at the CB position, I still don't see how you don't keep at least five bodies back there.

Safety

47. Mikell, 48. Jones, 49. Demps, 50. Harris

Clearly, based on my theory from a few days ago, I like Jones to open the season as the starter here.  It also doesn't hurt that Jones looked like he was better than pretty much everyone else when he was running around out there with the #2s in game four. 

Specialists

51. Rocca, 52. Akers, 53. Dorenbos

Duh.  Although I think this is Rocca's last year with the Eagles.  He looks really, really shaky out there, to the point that I'm kind of worried about what he's doing and all the things he's thinking about when he kicks the football.  Not everyone has to be David Akers.  Catch the ball and kick it, man, that was good enough last year and will be good enough this year if you can just figure out the whole wind issue.

Clearly, A.J.'s the wild card in all of this.  Right now, I'm guessing there are big For Sale signs on both him and Reggie Brown.  If one guy gets moved, the other gets to keep his roster spot (for awhile).  If the Eagles find takers for both -- and it won't be easy -- then that opens up a spot for Gibson.