It’s way too early, right? Here they come, all the post-draft grades for the 32 football teams in the National Football League after last week’s festivities. Along with that comes forecast our how the respective teams will shape up after draft and UDFA (undrafted free agent) signings have taken place. In light of the huge trade up which eventually landed the Eagles the number 2 pick in the draft in which they selected Carson Wentz, the Eagles were very aggressive in the UDFA market, signing 16 free agents. Let’s take a crack at looking at how the 53-man roster may shape up after final cut-downs in August. Here are my projections:
Offense
QB: Sam Bradford, Chase Daniel, Carson Wentz
RB: Ryan Matthews, Darren Sproles, Kenjon Barner, Wendall Smallwood
WR: Jordan Matthews, Nelson Anghlor, Reuben Randle, Josh Huff, Chris Givens, Hunter Sharp (UDFA)
TE: Zach Ertz, Brent Celek, Trey Burton
OL: Jason Peters, Lane Johnson, Brandon Brooks, Jason Kelce, Stefan Wisniewski, Isaac
Seumalo, Halapoulivaati Vaitai, Malcolm Bunche, Allan Barbre, Dennis Kelly, Brett Boyko
Defense
DL: Fletcher Cox, Bennie Logan, Brandon Graham, Conner Barwin, Vinny Curry, Mike
Martin, Bryan Braman, Alex McCalister, Steven Means
LB: Mychal Kendricks, Jordan Hicks, Nigel Bradham, Najee Goode, Joe Walker
CB: Eric Rowe, Nolan Carroll, Leodis, McKelvin, JaCorey Shepherd, Ron Brooks
Safety: Malcolm Jenkins, Rodney McLeod, Jalen Mills, Chris Marigos
Special Teams
LS: Jon Dorenbos
K: Cody Parkey
P: Donnie Jones
There will be competition throughout camp and as always, there will be some tough roster decisions Dougie P and company will have to make at the end of the day. At corner, JaCorey Shepherd, who showed promise in training camp before tearing his ACL, will compete with Blake Countess, Ron Jones and others for a roster spot. Will the Eagles play Mills at corner or safety? I chose the latter for now, but Mills was projected as a 3rd or 4th rounder if not for some off-the-field issues that plunged him to round seven. This kid has talent and will be coming in with a big chip on his shoulder. Should make for an interesting summer.
Bradford Not Retiring
There was a lot of chatter this week regarding the prospect of Sam Bradford pulling a Carson Palmer like retire. This sentiment seemed to be more based in opinion and speculation in lieu of anything substantive. Guess what? Sam has $22 million reasons to not call it quits. Give this guy credit in that he is a master at stealing money. Sam will be back before the on/or before the mandatory camp commences and Conner Barwin appears to agree with me.