CAN HEAR CLEARWATER CALLING
With all the roster shuffling and injuries in the last few days, we thought we would take a look at the current list of the 53-man roster by position.
Putting together the 45 players who will dress this week against New Orleans could be an interesting process.
Quarterbacks (4): Donovan McNabb, Kevin Kolb, Jeff Garcia, Michael Vick.
Kolb is scheduled to take the reps with the first-team offense when practice resumes today and it seems unlikely McNabb will be able to play with his broken rib, although both he and coach Andy Reid have not completely ruled out that possibility. Vick is suspended for one more game, but his move to the 53-man roster allows him to practice with the team this week in preparation for his debut next week against Kansas City. With McNabb and Vick out, the emergency QB will again be wide receiver DeSean Jackson.
Running backs (4): Brian Westbrook, LeSean McCoy, Leonard Weaver, Eldra Buckley
All four were active and there is no reason to think that will change.
Wide receivers (6): DeSean Jackson, Kevin Curtis, Jason Avant, Jeremy Maclin, Brandon Gibson, Reggie Brown
The Eagles cut Hank Baskett yesterday, even though he was active against Carolina and both Reggie Brown and rookie Brandon Gibson were not. In order to have five receivers active on game day, either Brown or Gibson will get the nod against New Orleans. Brown's stock has dropped so far that it is hard to know just how much -- if any -- belief the team has left in him, but he is still here and that counts for something. Brown has more talent than Baskett, but is less of a contributor on special teams. The guess here is the rookie Gibson gets his shot to make his NFL debut.
Tight ends (2): Brent Celek, Alex Smith
Not much flexibility here, so status quo.
Offensive linemen (9): Jason Peters, Nick Cole, Jamaal Jackson, Stacy Andrews, Winston Justice, Todd Herremans, Max-Jean Gilles, King Dunlap, Mike McGlynn
Shawn Andrews’ move to injured reserve does not impact the group who played last week because he was inactive. Todd Herremans remains out following foot surgery. Reid hinted his recovery could take more than the first two games, as initially projected. The Eagles still don’t have a true backup at right tackle behind Justice that would not involve moving another starter. McGlynn should again be the other inactive player, with Dunlap as a backup tackle and Jean-Gilles as a backup guard.
Defensive linemen (10): Trent Cole, Victor Abiamiri, Brodrick Bunkley, Mike Patterson, Chris Clemons, Darren Howard, Juqua Parker, Trevor Laws, Antonio Dixon, Jason Babin
Things should stay the same here. Babin was inactive last week as the sixth defensive end.
Linebackers (6): Chris Gocong, Omar Gaither, Akeem Jordan, Joe Mays, Moise Fokou, Tracy White
Reid said Monday that Mays was making “quite a little bit of progress” as he tries to return from a shoulder injury. He had been inactive last week. If he can go, then Fokou, the Birds’ seventh-round draft choice, likely is inactive. White is a valuable player on special teams.
Defensive backs (9): Asante Samuel, Sheldon Brown, Quintin Mikell, Macho Harris, Quintin Demps, Ellis Hobbs, Joselio Hanson, Sean Jones, Dmitri Patterson
Demps is not expected to play after suffering a hamstring injury against Carolina. That means newcomer Jones, signed as a free agent from Cleveland, moves up and makes his Eagles debut after being inactive last week.
Specialists (3): David Akers, Sav Rocca, Jon Dorenbos
No changes here.
To review, our projected eight inactives at the moment, although injuries can change all this: McNabb, Vick, Brown, Herremans, McGlynn, Babin, Demps, Fouku or Mays.
Injured reserve: Shawn Andrews, Stewart Bradley, Cornelius Ingram, Fenuki Tupou
*
More later as the Eagles take the practice field and Andy Reid and Brian Westbrook address the media.
Les
Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News
since 2002.
Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les
only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no
penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite
what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News
from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much
lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their
two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey.
E-mail Les at bowenl@phillynews.com
and follow
him on Twitter.
Paul
Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982.
He has spent most of his nearly 3 decades with the paper covering the
Eagles and pro football. For the last 10 years, he’s been a
selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A native of Wilkes-Barre
and a graduate of Wilkes University, Domo started his career in Texas,
working first for the Midland Reporter-Telegram (1976-78), and then for
the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas
Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually was
boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose 2 sports coats to
blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley,
a University of Oklahoma grad who still hasn’t gotten over
that Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State 5 years ago, have 2 terrific
daughters -- Allison, 28, who is an attorney in South Jersey, and Amy,
25, who works in administration for a professional baseball team.
E-mail Domo at PDomo@aol.com and follow
him on Twitter.
Download our iPhone/Android app for even more Birds coverage, including app-exclusive videos and analysis. Get it here for iPhone or here for Android.
 | Join on Facebook |
