Eagles cutting former mid-round picks is bad look for Howie Roseman

The Philadelphia Eagles general manager parted ways with a couple of mid-round draft picks on cut day Saturday.

Every NFL fans’ social media feed has been flooded with a wave of news on Saturday, as all 32 teams are cutting down their rosters to 53-players ahead of the first week of the regular season. Some cuts weren’t too much of a shock, while others were downright perplexing. The guilty party of the latter was Philadelphia Eagles, as head coach Doug Pederson cut ties with a variety of mid-round picks made by general manager Howie Roseman.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported that the Eagles have cut cornerbacks Sidney Jones and Rasul Douglas, as well as defensive end Shareef Miller, all of whom were mid-round picks in the past four years.

All three players never panned out like Roseman expected

Jones was the biggest name to be handed their walking papers in Philadelphia this weekend. Back in 2017,  Jones was deemed the best cornerback prospect in the entire NFL Draft class. However, his first-round aspirations were hindered after he tore his Achilles during his pro day at Washington. He dropped to the Eagles in the second-round, in hopes that he’d turn into their starting corner of the future. That never happened due to his progress being halted by multiple hamstring injuries. Jones played in 12 games (four starts) last season, where he recorded 23 total tackles, eight passes defended and two interceptions.

Douglas was selected the same year as Jones, but in the third-round. In his three years, Douglas was relatively healthy, as he missed a total of two games in that span. However, he was never given a real shot at starter, as he was mostly used as a rotational corner. In 2019, Douglas posted 35 total tackles and 10 passes defensed through 16 games (six starts).

Miller was selected in the fourth round of last year’s NFL Draft out of Penn State. In his four years as a Nittany Lion, Miller put up 100 total tackles (31.5 for loss), 14.5 sacks and two fumble recoveries. As a rookie, Miller played in one game, but didn’t log a single statistic.

While these picks never worked out the way Roseman had envisioned, don’t be shocked to see these three players end up on different squads in the very near future. Jones and Douglas should find a new home prior to the start of the regular season, given their overall potential.