1. Initial Roster Complete
The Eagles announced their 53-man roster yesterday ahead of the 4 p.m. deadline. With the Eagles' regular-season opener. Here's a rundown of the team's transactions from yesterday.
2. Roseman Talks Cuts
Howie Roseman met with the media Saturday night to field questions about the decisions that went into the creation of the 53-man roster. Here are three takeaways from his press conference.
3. Initial Roster Breakdown
The 53-man roster was more difficult to put together this year for the Eagles as the team opens the season on Thursday instead of Sunday. In addition, several veterans are returning from injury and two players are suspended for week one and therefore do not count toward the total 53. More transactions are coming and it was no doubt a tricky time for Eagles' Vice President of Football Operations Howie Roseman and Joe Douglas. Eagles' Insider Dave Spadaro has more on the most important takeaways from the Eagles' 53:
"It was more complicated than normal," Roseman said."We were a little non-traditional with our position allocations. It will be, for the first couple of weeks, like normal, a fluid situation.That's our job, to continue to improve our roster so we'll look for opportunities to do that."
4. Mailata Makes the Squad
In one of the great stories of the NFL's preseason, offensive tackle Jordan Mailata made the Eagles 53-man roster on Saturday. The 21-year-old former rugby player had never played football when the Eagles drafted him in April, but his 6-8, 346-pound frame proved to have great potential. Mailata has come a long way in summer workouts, practices, and preseason games. Here's more on his journey to the Eagles' 53-man roster:
"This is still the start of everything and I still know where I need to get going," Mailata said. "People think that I made it. No. Like I said, I am happy with where I'm at, but I still want to get better every day, and when I sit here and think about how far I've come, I'm happy with all the progress that I've made but I can't settle for it."
5. Your 2018 Philadelphia Eagles
With the initial 53-man roster finalized, the Eagles are set to take on the Falcons in the regular-season opener on Thursday night. Going position-by-position, here's what you need to now about the Eagles' lineup on offense, defense, and special teams.
6. Eagles Add Safety Depth
During Roseman's press conference yesterday, he announced the addition of safety Deiondre' Hall in a trade with the Chicago Bears. In return, Chicago received a conditional seventh-round draft pick in 2019. Hall, who is suspended for Week 1 for violating the NFL-NFLPA Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse, will not count toward the Eagles' roster this week. Chris McPherson has more on the trade:
"We did our background work on him," Roseman said. "Joe Douglas was with Chicago when they drafted him in 2016. He's a safety who has a corner background as well. Had a chance to get exposure to him in the preseason and his tape."
7. Thy Kingdom Crumb
On Friday, Carson Wentz debuted Thy Kingdom Crumb: a food truck that provides free meals and can meet people where they are to provide support and community for those in need. The truck works in partnership with Wentz's AO1 Foundation and Connect Church. The truck provided 2,500 free meals on Friday to people at the ACME Supermarket located on Passyunk Avenue in South Philadelphia. Chris McPherson talked to Wentz as well as other involved in the project:
"It's very humbling to see the fans, the community come out. It's so cool to see a vision come to life for Kyle and Connect Church. It's been such a work in progress behind the scenes to get to this point," Wentz said. "We just started believing that lives can be changed. Obviously, we're providing physical food, but we believe we're providing something spiritual that's going to change lives and change the shape of eternity for many people. It's just getting started and we're having a blast with it."
