5 players on the Eagles 53-man roster who won't last the whole season

The Philadelphia Eagles do a lot of tinkering after their initial 53-man roster gets released. Including practice squad signings and elevations, IR movement, trades, free agent signings, etc., the Eagles made 51 transactions in the 2023 season, 63 in 2022, and 96 in 2021. It makes even the most indecisive fantasy owner look like a stagnant bozo.

This is to say that just because the Eagles have done their initial cutdowns, there will be players coming in, out, off, and on the 53-man roster for the next five months. It might be due to injuries, poor performance, trades, upgrades, or just general roster management. Whatever the reason, the 53 you see now is definitely not the 53 that will be there in January (hopefully February).

A handful of Eagles will be in the danger zone for the next five months

Some players are going to be sitting on some sort of hot seat at varying temperatures until further notice. Unless we're talking about a trade, that's a bad thing. Here are five players who aren’t a roster lock all season.

5. Oren Burks, Linebacker

Oren Burks is a pretty easy guy to assume won’t keep his spot in the 53-man roster for the whole season. He was released by the team on Aug. 27 and then signed to the practice squad the day after. He didn’t make it to the actual 53 until James Bradberry was put on Injured Reserve.

To be fair, you could probably say every linebacker on the roster is in jeopardy of losing their spot aside from Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and Nakobe Dean. Burks just so happens to be the low man on the totem pole, but that could easily change given how these guys play in actual games.

You're probably not going to be any more surprised if Oren Burks sets the world on fire than if Zack Baun sets the world on fire ... or if the exact opposite thing happens. This is what happens when a team has a patchwork linebacker group. It's important to stay grounded and remember that literally anything is better than Nicholas Morrow.

4. Eli Ricks, Cornerback

The Eagles flipped a switch after abysmal cornerback play in 2023 and built a huge amount of depth at the position. Eli Ricks’ spot on the 53 wouldn’t be due to his lack of skill, but rather, he’d make for a good trade candidate. 

There have already been teams getting plagued by injuries and other generally/genuinely bad stuff in their defensive backfield. The obvious (and by far, worst) example is with the Vikings, but also the Cardinals, the Cowboys (yuck), the Saints, and the Rams have cornerbacks who are already dealing with something or are on the IR.

That’s just right now. Injuries happen and if a team finds themselves in a hole, Ricks can be useful depth (at worst) or a lower-tier starter to a team that needs it. His spot with the Eagles will be solidified if he’s still with the team after the trade deadline on Tuesday, November 9th.

3. Kenny Pickett, Quarterback

This is more hopeful than it is probable. We’ve seen what Pickett can do, and it’s bad. There’s no way that he’ll get cut, so he’s another guy who could get traded. 

Despite his performances throughout his entire career, the Eagles are still adamant that he’s worthy of being a QB2, and Howie Roseman runs a smart front office. We’ve seen how dumb some front offices can be (Joe Shoen on Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants), and if a smart front office sees something in Pickett, a dumb front office probably sees something in him too.

Say one of those dumb front office teams gets bad injury luck in their quarterback room and they call Howie asking about a trade, we can only hope that Howie says ‘Yes, absolutely. You sucker, you just got fleeced,’ to any offer that gets put on the table.

It will be hell if Jalen Hurts goes down, but a trip to hell would be much more pleasant if Tanner McKee is driving the car rather than Kenny Pickett.

2. Darian Kinnard, Offensive line

Jack Driscoll was drafted by the Eagles in 2020 and was primarily a backup with tackle/guard versatility. He entered free agency after the 2023 season and was signed by the Dolphins a few days after free agency started, but they released him after training camp. Now he’s back.

We saw him a few times last year, but most notably was when Lane Johnson didn’t play in the Week 6 game against the New York Jets. He didn’t play well … at all. 

Regardless, the Eagles like Driscoll and he’s familiar. He's going to be on the practice squad initially, but if history tells us anything, it’s that he’ll get bumped up before too awful long. If the Eagles are going to keep eight offensive linemen on their 53, Darian Kinnard might get the ax over Trevor Keegan, the fifth-round rookie out of Michigan.  

1. Avonte Maddox, Defensive back

The Eagles told us what they thought of Avonte Maddox when they released him on March 7, 2024; Maddox didn’t offer what he was worth. Then on April 4, 2024, he re-signed on a one-year, $2 million deal, which was significantly cheaper.

Right now, he’s going to be important. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio says he can play both safety and nickel corner. That’s big because Sydney Brown, the 2023 third-round safety, is on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, so we probably won’t see him until after the bye week. Once Brown comes back, he’ll shoot right up the depth chart.

At nickel corner, we’re waiting to see about the rookie Cooper DeJean. He didn’t have a full training camp because of a weirdly obscure hamstring injury. That means he’s behind schedule. Once he gets into the full swing of things, it seems like he will slot in over Maddox’s role almost perfectly.

The other thing to note is that in the past two seasons, Maddox has had trouble staying healthy due to his incredibly physical, ‘I’m going to push my face through your face’ play style. He’s only played in 17 out of 38 games, and when he came back at the end of 2023, he didn’t look like the same player. Now, every single player on the Eagles' defense looked terrible at the end of last season, but Maddox's situation is not nothing.

There are a lot of question marks on an Eagles' roster roster full of studs. Luckily, the players who will be perpetually on the bubble aren’t key to season-long success … except for the linebackers. That’s a hot spot that only real psychopaths are comfortable with.