"A guy by the name of Glecko" is going to be the Eagles' fourth defensive tackle, the defensive coordinator said before practice.

Scour the roster all you want, but you won't find a guy by the name of Glecko. But we're pretty sure Johnson just hasn't yet learned how to pronounce the name of veteran defensive tackle Dan Klecko. That doesn't mean Klecko hasn't caught Johnson's eye.

"He looks pretty good to me," Johnson said. "He had a good game the other night, and he's had a great camp. He's got such great quickness and good football sense, and he loves to play. He's a high-motor guy."

Klecko, a sixth-year veteran from Temple whose father, Joe, was a four-time Pro Bowler with the New York Jets, wasn't the least bit concerned about Johnson's mispronunciation of his name.

"Jim can call me whatever he wants," Klecko said. "He's the boss. I'm not going to call him out on it."

When training camp started, Klecko seemed like a long shot to make the roster because when he signed with the Eagles as a free agent in March, the team intended to move him from defensive tackle to fullback. That meant he had to trim down.

"I only lost about 10 pounds," he said. "It really wasn't that big of a deal. Putting it back on wasn't a problem. It was the chicken and the salads when I was taking it off that were hard."

Even though he put the weight back on after the Eagles ended the fullback experiment in June, Klecko, at 5-foot-11 and 275 pounds, is considered small for a defensive tackle.

"I'm not going to say he didn't surprise me some," Johnson said. "I think he's surprised a lot of people. We've seen before he has played some linebacker, some tackle, some fullback. Right now, he's one of those four tackles."

Klecko and rookie Trevor Laws will open the season as the backup defensive tackles, behind Brodrick Bunkley and Mike Patterson. But that still leaves Johnson and the coaching staff with difficult decisions at defensive end.

Seven defensive ends - Trent Cole, Juqua Parker (formerly Juqua Thomas), Victor Abiamiri, Chris Clemons, Darren Howard, Bryan Smith and Jerome McDougle - remain on the roster, and the Eagles could keep six.

Cole and Parker will open the season as the starters, and Abiamiri, a second-round draft pick last year, is expected to return from a wrist injury at some point during the season, so he will not be placed on injured reserve.

"I think [Abiamiri's] progress is good," Johnson said. "I think he's right on schedule or maybe even a little bit ahead of schedule. I'm glad he's going to be back this year."

Clemons, signed to a five-year contract in the off-season after registering eight sacks for Oakland a year ago, will make the team, even though he's been hampered by a calf injury. He has not practiced this week but is considered an outstanding special-teams player, in addition to being a third-down rushing end.

That leaves Howard, Smith and McDougle.

Howard's ability to move inside and play defensive tackle could be his ticket onto a team that has only four defensive tackles, and Smith was a third-round draft choice this year.

McDougle, who was the 15th overall pick in 2003 and whose career has been stunted by a long list of injuries, could draw the short straw when the final cut is made. If he does, he has at least made the decision difficult with the best preseason of his career. McDougle's two sacks in three preseason games are just one fewer than he had in his first five NFL seasons.

"There are options on the table," Johnson said. "How many guys do we keep? McDougle had had a good preseason. I think everybody knows that."

By the end of the week, we'll know if it was good enough to earn a spot on the 53-man roster.