The Eagles have set their 53-man roster, but that doesn’t mean we know who’s going to suit up on Sunday. Only 48 players suit up for any given game, meaning there are five players on the active roster who don’t end up dressing on Sunday.
It’s not always easy to choose five guys to be inactive on gameday. Sometimes it’s more about depth at a given position than the overall quality of a player. And sometimes it’s the opposite – when a young player just isn’t ready to see the field on Sundays yet.
Here’s an early prediction for the Eagles’ five inactives for our season-opener agains the New England Patriots
Projecting Eagles Week 1 Inactives vs. Patriots
Tanner McKee
Tanner McKee is a bit of a low-hanging fruit here, but he’s essentially a lock to be inactive.
With the new emergency third quarterback rule, McKee doesn’t need to be active to have a chance to play. Because he and Marcus Mariota are both on the 53-man roster, McKee will be allowed to play should Jalen Hurts and Mariota both get hurt or ejected, even if McKee isn’t on the 48-man active roster.
So basically, unless the Eagles envision a scenario where Hurts and/or Mariota are still available but they want McKee on the field anyway, there is zero incentive to make him active. We could see a situation like that later in the season when maybe they’d get McKee reps in a meaningless game, but it certainly won’t happen early in the year.
McKee had a terrific preseason and more than earned this job over Ian Book, but he’s a long way from overtaking Mariota on the gameday roster.
McKee’s the easiest pick on the 53-man roster to be inactive on Sunday.
Albert Okwuegbunam
Even with only four wide receivers on the roster, it’s hard to picture four tight ends getting to dress on gameday.
To start the season, the real competition at the position will be for that third and final spot, and that means Grant Calcaterra and Albert Okwuegbunam duking it out.
Albert O looks like he might have more upside this year as a former fourth-round pick who flashed some serious athleticism and explosiveness early in his career. He’s averaged 10.1 yards per reception over his career despite seeing an average depth of target below 6 yards in two of his three seasons.
Calcaterra rarely saw the field as a sixth-round rookie in 2022, and the fact that the Eagles traded for Okwuegbunam doesn’t exactly project a lot of confidence in his roster spot.
But Albert O won’t even have been in Philly for two weeks when Sunday’s game rolls around. That’s not much time to learn an offense and build chemistry with the guys around you. For that reason, I think it’s Calcaterra that gets the nod in Week 1.
If forced to guess I’d pick Okwuegbunam to be active for more games and play more snaps than Calcaterra over the course of the entire season, but that isn’t going to start in Week 1. This is Calcaterra’s big chance, though he probably isn’t going to get onto the field for more than a couple snaps anyway.
Eli Ricks
Eli Ricks making the 53-man roster was an awesome development, and the undrafted free agent is more than just a feel-good story. But that means we also have to deal with the reality of how precarious his spot on the roster is.
Philly is incredibly deep in the secondary, and there’s not much reason to dress all 11 defensive backs on the roster.
When factoring in special teams contributions it makes sense that all four safeties will dress, and that means picking one of the seven cornerbacks to remain in street clothes on Sunday.
That one is obviously not going to be James Bradberry, Darius Slay or Avonte Maddox.
The conversation is then narrowed down to Ricks, Kelee Ringo and a pair of 2022 undrafted free agents in Josh Jobe and Mario Goodrich.
Ricks played 1 snap in the slot and Jobe played zero this preseason. Unless the Eagles want to rely on a safety or bumping a starting corner inside, that means Goodrich is in line to suit up as the direct backup to Maddox.
Ringo was largely considered a steal as a fourth-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, and despite an underwhelming preseason, I think he’s done enough in training camp to secure a spot on Sunday
So is it Jobe or Ricks that makes it?
Well, Jobe is ahead of Ricks on the unofficial depth chart. While that shouldn’t be taken as gospel, it’s definitely a potential hint. And it would track with what we often see in the NFL — veterans getting slight preference over rookies to start the year.
Like the Calcaterra/Okwuegbunam situation, don’t assume that this means Jobe will remain ahead of Ricks for long. But for now Eagles fans might need to be patient about seeing Ricks in a jersey on gameday.
Moro Ojomo
A seventh-round pick, Moro Ojomo made the 53-man roster despite missing some of the preseason with a concussion. This really highlights how much the Eagles value him — they weren’t willing to risk losing him on waivers just to get him onto the practice squad.
But that doesn’t mean he’s ready for gameday. That Philly would have had to risk losing him to get him on the practice squad doesn’t indicate that he won’t be effectively a practice squad player by being a weekly inactive on the 53.
I love Ojomo’s upside, but barring any injury issues, it’s hard to see him justifying the Eagles dressing seven defensive tackles. And honestly, even dressing six might be a stretch.
Fletcher Cox and Jordan Davis are in line to start, with Jalen Carter playing a big rotational role.
Carter is listed behind Davis on the unofficial depth chart, but it’s Marlon Tuipulotu that has the size to really fill in as the early-down 1-tech if Davis gets hurt. Milton Williams has shown some juice as a rotational pass-rusher over his first two seasons in Philly (6.0 sacks, 12 QB hits), and he’ll likely keep that job.
So then we have Kentavius Street and Moro Ojomo. And honestly, the answer to which one dresses may well be “neither of them.”
Street is the much more polished of the two though, having played 52 games in his four-year career so far. Ojomo is an exciting prospect with some intriguing upside, but there’s just way too much depth on the Eagles’ interior D-line to even start thinking about having him suiting up on Sundays.
Rashaad Penny
It’s easier to make a “how many” prediction for the Eagles running back room than a “which ones” prediction, but let’s give it a shot.
Even with a massive amount of depth and talent, I’m expecting Philly to only dress three RBs. There’s simply too much of a need for depth elsewhere — especially with players that can also contribute on special teams.
We know D’Andre Swift will be active, so there’s one.
Predicting the second active back is probably easier than predicting the actual RB2 as well. Boston Scott is the top kick returner on the roster, and the Eagles cut his only competition in Devon Allen. Scott also contributes elsewhere on specials, making him a valuable player to have active, even if he’s not the best pick to handle reps at running back.
Then I feel like I’m basically flipping a coin in picking between Kenny Gainwell and Rashaad Penny. I want both of them to dress. And talking pure RB talent, I think they’d both belong on the active roster ahead of Scott.
Neither one played a single special teams snap in the preseason (though Gainwell did play some as a rookie in 2022), and that makes it much harder to justify dressing both.
Penny seems to have the higher upside of the two, but this is another situation where the player with more familiarity and chemistry in the offense gets the early benefit of the doubt. It also seemed like Penny was lower on the depth chart for much of training camp.
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