Philadelphia Eagles: 5 thoughts on a confusing initial 53-man roster
By David Esser
A little too much emphasis on special teams.
Special teams are an underrated piece to winning football games, as they can sometimes be the deciding factor between a close win or a heartbreaking loss. However, it appears Roseman and the Philadelphia Eagles went a tad overboard with the amount of “special teams specific” players that they’re carrying on the roster this year.
Outside of the three kicking/punting specialists, the Eagles have an additional seven players who at least entered training camp projected to play primarily special teams roles. While their roster inclusion likely means they’ll see playing time on actual defense, it’s a tad concerning that the team has so many players who don’t appear to be NFL-caliber defenders.
Safeties Marcus Epps and Rudy Ford were pretty much acquired last season to be special teams aces (granted they weren’t very good at it), Craig James made his living on the punt team, linebackers Alex Singleton, Shaun Bradley, and Davion Taylor all essentially have no NFL linebacking experience, and rookie DE Casey Toohill might see a handful of snaps at actual edge this season.
That’s a whole ton of guys who I can really only envision making an impact on punt returns or kickoffs, and it seems like way too many. Roseman highlighted the importance of special teams during his post 53-man press conference, but this looks like overkill.