Defensive Line Under Construction with Three Rookies Among Six Veterans

Howie Roseman talked about long-term gain over short-term pain when he was asked about the defensive line following Tuesday’s roster cutdown to 53 players.

“I think we're always trying to balance the short- and long-term for this franchise,” said the Eagles’ general manager.

“I think that's the hardest part of the job, is you want to give the coaches as much support as possible to win on Sundays, but I think our coaching staff and Coach [Nick Sirianni] do a great job of understanding kind of the big picture here, too, and understanding what we're trying to do, trying to get back to competing for championships and really being in the playoffs every year.

“Some of the decisions that you're going to make right now, you sacrifice some things for the short-term for the long-term, and I think that rolls right into the defensive linemen.”

The Eagles kept nine players on their defensive line.

Of those nine, three were rookies – Milton Williams, Marlon Tuipulotu, and Tarron Jackson.

Williams, a third-round pick, and Jackson, who came in the sixth round, showed flashes throughout camp and the preseason games.

They are far from a finished product, but they will learn under one of the more experienced, and one of the best, defensive lines in the NFL.

Tuipulotu, a sixth-round selection, struggled in his first two preseason games, and never really flashed much during camp. He did, however, have a better game against the New York Jets.

It was, at least, a more encouraging performance to justify being kept on the 53-man roster.

Speaking specifically of Williams and Jackson, Roseman said: “Are they exactly where they need to be today? No. I think that when you talk about coming into any profession, as you grow, as you learn, as you get better with time and experience, that helps, and we see the potential in these guys.”

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If the Eagles want their defensive line to be a strength over the next five seasons, the development of these three rookies will be paramount, given the advancing ages of several veterans on the defensive front, such as Brandon Graham and Fletcher Cox.

The potential short-term pain is that veteran Hassan Ridgeway was released to keep the rookies, and T.Y. McGill was placed on the Reserve/COVID list.

McGill, who led the Eagles with three sacks in the three-game exhibition season, will have to come off the list at some point, and it will be interesting to see if Tuipulotu is the one who is released with the hope of getting him to the practice squad.

The Eagles tried a similar tactic last year when veteran Vinny Curry was healthy enough to return from IR. The team cut rookie seventh-round pick Casey Toohill, who was then claimed by the Washington Football Team. Toohill, by the way, made the WFT 53-man roster.

The Eagles, though, as Roseman said, want to balance the present with the future, so it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

For now, they are going with three rookies on their defensive line.

“We are looking to see that they continue to improve,” said Roseman. “They got the tools in their body. We had good grades on both those guys coming out. We love the character and the work ethic, and so we want to work with those guys and develop them.

“I think that kind of looking back at maybe sometimes we've gone with an older guy in the short-term and then the next year we've got to go draft another guy at that same position, I think we're investing in our player development program. We're investing in our coaches and trusting in those guys to get these guys better and be ready to play this season.”

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.