The Eagles’ 53-man roster is set —and flexible, as Howie Roseman explains the cutdown day decisions

The Eagles’ initial 53-man roster is set with plentiful numbers at defensive tackle and cornerback at the expense of depth at wide receiver, linebacker, and on special teams.

General manager Howie Roseman was predictably busy turning over the last few spots on the active roster, which had to be set by 4 p.m. Tuesday. The team released punter Arryn Siposs early in the day and traded for tight end Albert Okwuegbunam just before the deadline.

The initial 53 consists of seven defensive tackles, seven cornerbacks, and nine offensive linemen. To make space for the crowded position groups, the team went with just four wide receivers, three linebackers, and no punter.

» READ MORE: Here’s the Eagles’ initial 53-man roster — and the players they cut to get there

After starting camp with two punters, the Eagles will need to add one to the practice squad or active roster in the coming days.

Siposs spent most of the last two years handling punting and holding duties for the Eagles with mixed results. The Australia native out of Auburn struggled with consistency as each of the last two seasons waned on and the weather shifted.

He had untimely shanks in the playoffs both years and a wayward punt against the Chiefs in the Eagles’ Super Bowl LVII loss contributed to a pivotal return by Kansas City’s Kadarius Toney.

Siposs went into training camp in a competition with undrafted rookie Ty Zentner, and both had uninspiring moments during the summer. Zentner, a three-year starter at Kansas State, was released midway through training camp.

At a news conference Tuesday evening, Roseman alluded to the possibility of adding Siposs to the practice squad. Doing so would give the team the opportunity to elevate him for game days three times to start the season before needing to make an ensuing move to play him.

“A lot of these guys that we cut today we’re interested in bringing back,” Roseman said. “We have a practice squad, we’ve talked about the roster being 69 guys as opposed to 53 and having flexibility in those spots. I think when you look at Sip, obviously the season didn’t end the way we wanted to and he would say the same thing, but also have confidence in his abilities. So we’ll just see what happens in the next 24 hours with him and a bunch of these other guys and try to bring some of these guys back.”

The Eagles did something similar with veteran punter Brett Kern late last season when Siposs missed time with an ankle injury.

Tuesday gave each of the Eagles’ drafted rookies a chance to exhale, with all seven making the initial 53. Former Alabama and LSU cornerback Eli Ricks was the lone undrafted rookie to make the cut after putting together a strong preseason.

Ricks, a former five-star recruit with long arms and solid movement skills, made it over a few contributors from last year’s team, including safety K’Von Wallace and last year’s punt return specialist, Britain Covey. Wallace, a 2020 fourth-round draft pick out of Clemson, played in all 17 games for the Eagles last year as a special teams ace but couldn’t crack the starting defense this summer even with a notably thin group of safeties ahead of him.

» READ MORE: Get to know the Eagles’ lone undrafted rookie on the 53-man roster: Cornerback Eli Ricks

Covey, an undrafted rookie last year, missed time during training camp with a hamstring injury. He was the most sure-handed punt returner on the roster throughout the summer but didn’t offer much as a slot receiver.

When asked who would handle punt-return duties if Covey isn’t back on the practice squad, coach Nick Sirianni was noncommittal.

“We still have time,” Sirianni said. “You have 69 guys to choose from — well, we’re not going to pick Jordan Mailata or something like that — but you have a lot of guys to choose from and guys that have been working all offseason and training camp catching punts. So we feel good about our options there.”

The Eagles carried six edge rushers on the initial roster, including veteran Derek Barnett. Barnett was given permission to seek a trade earlier this week, according to a league source confirming an ESPN report, because the 2017 first-round pick was unhappy with the limited role he’s expected to have in the team’s edge-rusher rotation.

On Tuesday, Roseman said having depth at edge rusher was important for them given how depleted they were last year when Barnett was lost with a torn ACL early in the season. The Eagles traded for veteran rusher Robert Quinn before last year’s trade deadline, but Quinn didn’t make much of an impact for the team.

“That’s a position for us, which you see with the 53-man roster, it’s a priority,” Roseman said. “We’re going to keep as many of those guys as we possibly can. Last year we got into a little bit of a bind and had to give up a pick and had to sign guys in the middle of the year. So for us, having those guys lets us sleep a little bit better at night, and Derek is certainly one of those guys.”

When asked if there were any worry about Barnett being unhappy with a limited role behind Haason Reddick, Josh Sweat, and Brandon Graham, Sirianni said he wasn’t concerned.

“No, because we’ve had discussions with him,” he said. “We’ll keep those discussions that we have with our players private.”