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Bowen: Secondary a primary concern in preseason finale

WHEN DOUG PEDERSON was asked this week whether there are any positions he'll particularly be looking at, spots where the roster is particularly unsettled, going into Thursday night's preseason finale against the Jets, the Eagles' coach first mentioned his defensive secondary.

Eagles\' Eric Rowe could be fighting for a roster spot in Thursday night\'s preseason finale.
Eagles\' Eric Rowe could be fighting for a roster spot in Thursday night\'s preseason finale.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer

WHEN DOUG PEDERSON was asked this week whether there are any positions he'll particularly be looking at, spots where the roster is particularly unsettled, going into Thursday night's preseason finale against the Jets, the Eagles' coach first mentioned his defensive secondary.

The roster must go from 75 to the regular-season limit of 53 by 4 p.m. Saturday, and right now it feels as if the Eagles have more cornerback options than a decagon. The safety situation seems a little clearer, at least to us outsiders, whose evaluations might be completely wrong. The uncertainty there might be more in the mix - how many safeties make it vs. how many corners, taking into account that Malcolm Jenkins and, to a much lesser degree, Jaylen Watkins can perform both jobs.

The "real" starters won't play Thursday, in most instances. The Jets will see Eric Rowe and Jalen Mills as the starting Eagles corners, Rowe and Mills confirmed. It's hard to believe Rowe, a 2015 second-round pick who played well last season, is fighting for a roster spot, but if we take the coaches at their word, he kinda is. Mills, the seventh-round rookie from LSU who started off camp like gangbusters, has been much less dominant lately, slowed by a hamstring injury. The Eagles likely are deciding whether he makes the 53, or whether they can risk waiving him and bringing him back for the practice squad.

From what we've seen and heard, Nolan Carroll and Leodis McKelvin will man the corners when the season opens Sept. 11 against the Browns. Ron Brooks will be the nickel or, at least, the first corner off the bench, given that they could slide Jenkins down from safety into the nickel role.

That extensive run that undrafted rookie corner C.J. Smith got with the starters last week at Indianapolis would seem to portend that he will stick around, probably on the roster, maybe only on the practice squad, if the coaches decide to keep Rowe and Mills. (And the idea that, even in a different system from what he was drafted to play in, Rowe isn't at least the fifth-best corner seems really odd to those of us on the outside.)

"I'm excited to play in the game, another day to compete," Rowe said.

"I think we're a pretty good group. Everybody in the cornerback room is doing well, making plays on balls," he said. "It's their decision. All you can do is go out and make plays . . . I've progressed . . . It's going better."

Mills said his focus is just "in this last game, go out there and play fast."

With Aaron Grymes waived/injured and perhaps headed to the practice quad, the other remaining corner is JaCorey Shepherd, a 2015 sixth-round draft choice whose return from last year's ACL tear hasn't produced the level of excitement he engendered before the injury.

"I don't know," Shepherd said, when asked what he thinks he has to show Thursday. "I haven't really thought about that, because I don't want to put that type of pressure on myself. I'm just going to go out there and play . . . know my assignments and have fun doing it."

After starters Jenkins and Rodney McLeod, who won't play Thursday, the safeties are special-teams ace Chris Maragos, Watkins, who was drafted as a corner in 2014 and released this time last year, before returning Nov. 27, Ed Reynolds, also a 2014 draftee, who has been waived and brought back twice, and sixth-round rookie Blake Countess. Reynolds and Watkins probably are battling for the fourth and final spot.

With 75 players on the roster, the long, narrow locker room is a crowded place. Banks of locker stalls on wheels run down the center of the room. Most of those stalls will be rolled away next week, and most of the players who dress in them will have packed their belongings, never to return.

Wideout Marcus Johnson dresses in one of those stalls. Johnson has been a solid, under-the-radar undrafted rookie from Texas. He's looked good in practice, doesn't have a preseason catch. He'll probably get a few chances to remedy that Thursday night. More and more every year, it seems, this game is for the temporary stall guys.

"Know all my assignments, not only outside, but if they do put me at slot," Johnson said, when asked his priorities. "I think they want to see me play well on special teams, show my speed, show the reason they brought me here. I feel like if I can do that, anything's possible. It's a blessing to still be here. I'm looking forward to the opportunity. Like they always tell us, put something good on film and that's the most you can control . . . Don't stress out about anything else."

Everybody goes with the "worry about things you can control" rationale as cuts loom. But Johnson acknowledged that this is easier said than done, that practicing and playing while not knowing whether you will be in this locker room or some other city or without a job entirely by next week is a chore.

"It's crazy, man, because when you first get here, although you aren't comfortable, you know you have a little time. And if you're doing well, you continue to extend your time. This past week (with cuts and acquisitions) has been crazy. To know that by next week it has to be down to 53, and obviously, 10 on practice squad - I've gotten to the point now where I try not to stress about it . . . I've loved it here."

@LesBowen

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