Eagles veterans and coaches on the hardest week of the preseason
At least 36 players who currently call themselves Eagles will be gone by 4 p.m. Saturday.
Rookie offensive lineman Nate Herbig was laying on the floor in the Eagles locker room taking a little snooze before Monday’s practice. When you’re an undrafted free agent, you take your peace wherever you can get it.
A few feet away, wide receivers Carlton Agudosi and Marken Michel stood chatting by their lockers. “Lockers” is a little generous. Their dressing areas are more like phone booths.
It’s a little crowded at the NovaCare Complex locker room these days, but that’s about to change. The Eagles roster stands at 89. They must get down to 53 by 4 p.m. Saturday. They play the Jets Thursday in the final preseason game.
“When you see how much time guys invest to try to prove themselves every day, to try to show up and be healthy and go compete [you appreciate it],” said safety and team leader Malcolm Jenkins. “But you have to be real about it. We’re going to cut our roster almost in half in a few short days.”
Corey Clement is part of an eight-man running-back depth chart that still needs to sort itself out beyond rookie Miles Sanders and veterans Jordan Howard and Darren Sproles. Clement had a good showing on Thursday that likely solidified his roster spot.
Still, it’s an odd dynamic when you’re fighting for your livelihood against guys you also consider brothers.
“Everybody is always looking to help the next person,” said Clement. “Within our group, we always have each other’s back. We call ourselves ‘the engines of the offense.’ We’ve got to keep it going, protect the quarterback, and be in sync with the O-line.”
» READ MORE: The special relationship between Corey Clement and Anthony Averett
It’s often a numbers game, explained defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. But there’s a human side that shouldn’t be overlooked.
“If you have kids, you root for your own kids in life,” he said. “To see them have successes and failures gives you a better empathy for those guys. My empathy for those guys has certainly increased throughout my career.”