What The Eagles' Final Roster Says About The Front Office's Vision

Looking at the Philadelphia Eagles' 53-man roster, the product appears to be a LEGO set that isn't quite finished.

The majority of the work is done in the structure, but there's a final part or two that needs to be complete. The Eagles are always looking to improve their team, yet have held back on making certain moves because they have to make them.

"I think that when we were talking to these other teams, the players they were interested in, felt like we were going to hold on to," said Eagles general manager Howie Roseman. "The players maybe we were interested in, maybe they felt the same way. With the way that practices went and the games went, there wasn't an opportunity to do some of the player for player trades.

"We like to get looks at guys just because of where our numbers were...I like the action and was trying, but it just didn't make sense for us at the time. We would've just been doing it to make a move."

This isn't a finished product yet. There are some noticeable trends when looking at this initial 53-man roster.

The Eagles continue to value quarterbacks

Did the Eagles keep four quarterbacks because they don't have a QB2 yet? Absolutely.

They still value the backup quarterback position when building a roster. Roseman and the front office know how valuable the quarterback room is to the organization, even using the infamous "quarterback factory" line many years back.

Despite the disappointment in Tanner McKee and Andy Dalton this preseason, the Eagles aren't in the business of giving players away for free. They rather hold on to two players they evaluated all offseason before they have to make the call on who the QB2 is -- or if that QB2 is even on their roster.

Cole Payton didn't deserve a roster spot, but the Eagles learned their lesson from waiving Kyle McCord last season. McCord sought an opportunity somewhere else after being on the practice squad. The Eagles didn't want the same situation to happen to Payton, and that can't happen if Payton is on the 53.

Long term and patience with the rookies

Roseman brought up an interesting point in his Monday press conference with the media regarding young players in the NFL. This one hits home a bit.

We live in a results-driven world, and patience isn't a virtue. The results need to be right away or a judgment is made. Perhaps I do it has a journalist at times, but I'm judging what I see right now (which is part of my job).

The Eagles don't have to think that way, especially with their young players.

"This is the only business that you look at how guys are doing right away and sometimes there are early judgments made," Roseman said. "Any other business, there's a long-term view and we see it on our roster, how [guys] developed over two, three, four years. I understand there are big resources into those guys, first and second round picks."

The Eagles only kept six rookies on their initial 53-man roster, and they are playing the long game with a lot of them.

Makai Lemon has struggled this preseason, but he'll be starting at wide receiver Week 1. Eli Stowers is still developing after a disappointing summer, while Markel Bell, Cole Payton, and Micah Morris always were viewed as long-term projects.

With many hits from previous draft classes, the Eagles will eventually have to pay these players -- and those days are coming soon. This is why they were choosing to be patient with their young players and allow them to grow into contributors on Sundays.

Their contributions won't be in Week 1 of 2026, but may pay massive dividends in Week 1 of 2027.

This team isn't as deep in years past, but deeper than you think

The Eagles had an NFL high four players claimed off the waiver wire after roster cutdowns, all players that didn't make their 53 yet were valuable somewhere else. That is the sign how strong the Eagles' 91-man roster was and how other teams valued their players.

Myles Hinton and Cameron Williams didn't pan out in Philadelphia, but the Eagles also developed a very good offensive line over time. Even with a new offensive line coach in Chris Kuper, the development of Drew Kendall, Markel Bell, and Willie Lampkin this summer made this team deep at a position that appeared to be a weakness just a month ago.

"[I] have confidence that if those guys need to play, that they're ready to play," Roseman said. "I think you guys watch it and you see that they all have a potential to come in and play at high level."

Teams saw the development in the Eagles offensive line and thought they could finish the product.

The same applied to Cameron Latu and Kapena Gushiken, two more players that were claimed off waivers. The Eagles aren't deep at tight end, but they didn't want to lose Latu. E.J. Jenkins might have been claimed, and he beat out Latu for the final tight end spot.

Gushiken was part of a numbers crunch at cornerback and safety. With Jonathan Jones (shoulder) getting healthy, the Eagles are deeper at cornerback. The Eagles can also live with three safeties since Cooper DeJean is the starter in base defense at safety.

Inside linebacker is the deepest position group on the team, per Vic Fangio. Defensive tackle is five deep, including three very good starters. The pass rush is also five deep and will be a strength of this team this season.

The Eagles even improved the depth at wide receiver by keeping Elijah Moore, even if they aren't as good at wide receiver as in years past. Running back is also very deep this year.

While the Eagles aren't as strong from 1 to 53 as they were over the past few years, this is still a very good roster. There are some good players at the bottom of this roster when looking at certain positions -- and a lot of bench players that would be starting for other teams.

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