While a big focus of the preseason and training camp is sorting out who will make the active 53-man roster, players’ jobs are only beginning once they make it that far.
The NFL is a cutthroat business, and there is always someone nipping at your heels trying to take your job. And you better believe coaches will happily give it to them if it’s the choice that will help the team win.
With more top-end star power than most teams, the Eagles have more guys who manage to be basically unbenchable. But Philly also has more depth than anybody, meaning even quality starters are at risk of getting replaced.
Here are four Eagles starters who could get benched this season.
Eagles Starters Who Will Lose Their Jobs
1. Arryn Siposs
Let’s start with the easy one, shall we?
Arryn Siposs is a starter in name only for now. He’s the only punter on the roster, but nobody in Philadelphia expects the Eagles to keep him as a starter this season.
Hopefully the delay in replacing him is that there’s someone the Eagles think will get cut that they can sign to replace him, but if we do happen to go into Week 1 with Siposs as the punter then it won’t be long until he’s benched.
He was bad last season, he was bad in training camp and he was bad in his preseason games. He might just not be a very good punter at the NFL level.
There aren’t a huge number of great options out there to replace him, but there are a handful of good ones, and Siposs’ time as the top punter in Philly is almost up.
2. Terrell Edmunds
Reed Blankenship has emerged as the team’s top safety. He’s the only one who didn’t play a single snap in our final preseason game, when most of the starting defense sat.
Terrell Edmunds seems like he’ll get the first crack at starting opposite Blankenship, which we often see early in the season. Veterans are typically just a lot more game-ready than younger players when Week 1 rolls around.
But it’s not like Edmunds is a star. He was a five-year starter in Pittsburgh, but he never really stood out as one of the better safeties in the game. He has no Pro Bowl appearances to his name, and Pro Football Focus (PFF) only gave him an overall grade of at least 70.0 once.
Edmunds will also have to deal with at least two capable young safeties fighting for his spot.
K’Von Wallace has totally smashed my expectations this preseason and seems to have taken a big jump. But he’s not even the one to be concerned about.
Third-round pick Sydney Brown looks the part as a future starter, and it’s going to be hard to keep him off the field for long.
Unless Edmunds has a career year, then we will likely see him wind up on the bench before the season is out.
3. Fletcher Cox
When a position gets rotated situationally, the distinction of what it means to get “benched” is a little less clear. Whatever you want to call it, I expect to see Cox go from in the starting lineup to out of it as the season progresses.
The 32-year-old Cox is still a terrific veteran presence and valuable interior pass-rusher, but he was something of a liability against the run last season. He had 7.0 sacks and 14 QB hits but only received a run defense grade of 49.0 from PFF.
Cox’ strength has long been his pass rush, but we’ve now seen his run defense drop off in each of the last two seasons, and that’s a trend to take note of.
It also doesn’t help Cox’ case that we have two first-round defensive linemen on the interior to claim playing time.
Jordan Davis is the presumed starter at the 1-tech spot, and Jalen Carter is going to be hard to keep off the field.
Carter can play on the edge, but with how much talent the Eagles have on the outside, the easiest spot to get him on the field consistently is in Cox’ spot at the 3-tech.
I still expect Cox to play a significant rotational role, but that can happen while he also loses his official status as a starter.
4. Zach Cunningham
Nakobe Dean and Zach Cunningham were the linebackers to sit the final preseason game, so it’s likely those two are starting in Week 1.
It’s easy to see why, too. Dean was basically a lock, and Cunningham soundly outplayed Christian Elliss in the preseason. Most roster projections have those three as the only linebackers making the roster.
But I wouldn’t be so sure that Cunningham keeps that job over Elliss.
Elliss has only played seven games over his first two seasons in Philly, but he has been very good when he has seen the field.
The NFL’s leading tackler from 2020, Cunningham hasn’t looked nearly that good in recent years, and he’s one of the weakest starters on the entire roster. If you don’t count Siposs, you could make a case that he is the weakest starter.
So even if you don’t love Elliss, it could be a practice squad call-up or free agent signing that ends up unseating Cunningham before long.
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