Murphy: Tanking in the NFL, roster tweaks, and projecting the practice squad

If you are a roster junkie like myself, one thing to pay attention to as NFL teams make their cutdowns over the next week is the situation in Cleveland. Given the size of rosters and the immediate impact a draft class can have, there will never be a full-on "tanking" episode in the NFL. But the Browns are coming as close to it as we've seen.

One of the surest signs of tanking is veterans openly complaining about the machinations of the front office, and we've seen that this year from Donte Whitner and Paul Kruger, the latter of whom was recently released and then picked up by the Saints. The Browns raised some eyebrows when they hired former Dodgers whiz kid/Billy Beane protege Paul DePodesta to oversee their football operations. DePodesta's modus operandi lies in exploiting the conventional wisdom of the establishment to stockpile young, cost-effective talent.

I wouldn't be surprised if one hole he's identified is the notion that teams can stash young talent with upside on the practice squad rather than wasting a roster spot on players who have not developed enough to be trusted in present-time game action. That is to say that I wouldn't be surprised if the Browns scuttle a lot of teams' plans by scooping up players off waivers who teams assume are safe bets to make it through to the practice squad.

In some ways, the decision-making process on the practice squad is a lot like the 40-man roster and Rule 5 draft in baseball. Baseball teams will leave players unprotected who might be decent prospects but who they figure have no chance of sticking on a 25-man roster throughout the entire season. But a team that is prioritizing the future can sacrifice an active roster spot to get a young unprotected player into its system. Think Tyler Goeddel.

It's difficult to figure out how, exactly, the Eagles are weighing the present against the future, but I think we can discern from some of their recent actions that they are intent on keeping as much young talent as possible, particularly at premium positions.

That said, I'd also expect them to be looking hard at the waiver wire to upgrade the back of their depth chart at a few positions, specifically defensive back and wide receiver. I think they could also use another offensive tackle to slot behind Matt Tobin.

Before we try to project the practice squad, I'm tweaking my roster projection that I posted Wednesday, this after marinating in it for 24 hours. You can find the one that I posted yesterday here, which featured Byron Marshall on the roster, which upon further reflection you can find here. Goodbye, Chris Pantale and Byron Marshall. Hello, ninth and 10th offensive linemen.

Explanations are at the end ...

Quarterbacks: 3 (Bradford, Wentz, Daniel)

Running backs: 4 (Mathews, Sproles, Barner, Smallwood)

Wide receivers: 5 (Matthews, Green-Beckham, Agholor, Huff, Turner*)

Tight ends: 3 (Ertz, Celek, Burton)

Offensive line: 10 (Peters, Barbre, Brooks, Semaulo, Kelce, Tobin, Wisniewski, Vaitai, Greene*, Gordon*)

Defensive ends: 5 (Barwin, Graham, Curry, Means, Smith)

Defensive tackles: 4 (Cox, Logan, Allen, Vaeao*)

Linebackers: 5 (Hicks, Kendricks, Bradham, Tulloch, Goode*)

Cornerbacks:  6 (McKelvin, Carroll, Brooks, Rowe, Mills, Smith*)

Safeties: 4 (Jenkins, McLeod, Watkins, Maragos*)

Specialists: 4 (Jones, Sturgis, Dorenbos, Braman)

Practice squad: RB Marshall, WR Jones, WR Johnson, S Countess, LB Gause, LB Tavarres, CB Shepherd, TE McFarland, OL Jones, OL Andrews

*Turner has gotten a lot of pub recently, and he has done everything right this preseason. But it is tough to see him contributing this season, particularly now that it seems as if Josh Huff has a spot locked up. Turner plays exclusively in the slot, and he doesn't really contribute on special teams, and he is at a huge size disadvantage in the middle of NFL defenses. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Eagles add a WR off waivers and place Turner on the practice squad.  ... I've added two offensive linemen, where it makes the most sense to avoid the risk of losing a potential future contributor to waivers. The Eagles desperately need youth there moving forward. This line is going to need to be rebuilt in a hurry in 2017 and 2018 to avoid fracturing the rest of Carson Wentz's ribs. ... It doesn't make sense for the Eagles to carry five running backs. It isn't a premium position. In my opinion, Barner has limited upside and a running style that will expose him to a lot of punishment if he ever has to play a lot of snaps. But he was here last year and he has had an extremely productive preseason, and, again, running back is the least premium of the positions. ... Same goes for tight ends and keeping four at that position. Pederson might prefer four, but it just doesn't make sense from a long-term perspective.