Two Eagles starters have played in a preseason finale, and didn’t much care for it | Early Birds

Thursday night, the Eagles’ preseason draws to a close, leaving all of us misty-eyed with nostalgia. The Eagles travel up the New Jersey Turnpike for their annual pre-Labor Day Weekend get-together with the New York Jets.

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The Eagles’ annual preseason finale against the Jets almost never includes prominent players. In fact, many of the guys getting extensive playing time Thursday night at MetLife Stadium will be carrying their belongings to their cars by Saturday at 4 p.m., when NFL rosters must be cut from 90 to 53.

Established veterans have the luxury of watching this game from the bench amid a week spent planning ahead for the Sept. 8 regular-season opener against Washington. But this has not always been the case for everyone. Two prominent Eagles starters, defensive end Brandon Graham and right tackle Lane Johnson, recall having to play in the game, exactly five years ago, on Aug. 28, 2014.

Graham was a rotational player then, not a starter, and perhaps not a favorite of then-Eagles coach Chip Kelly. Kelly sent Graham out for 21 defensive snaps and seven more on special teams in a 37-7 Eagles victory over the Jets. No doubt the particulars are burned into your memory five years later — Henry Josey ran for 121 yards on 22 carries.

Johnson was about to start his second NFL season with a four-game suspension for ingesting a banned substance. So Kelly decided Johnson could play all 83 offensive snaps and seven more on special teams.

“I just remembered that I was going against [backups], so if I made a mistake, it was going to look really bad,” Johnson said Tuesday. “I had to go out and do good.”

Graham still has a photo on his phone of him sacking then-Jets quarterback Matt Simms during that game.

“Probably not,” Graham said, when asked if he’d been excited to take the field that evening. “I can’t remember.”

“I’m excited for those boys that are trying to prove themselves,” in this year’s matchup, Graham said. “It’s one last shot to go out there and let ’em know what you’re all about. Even if it’s not here, there’s other teams.”

One Eagle who will be excited to take the field Thursday is Carlton Agudosi, the former Rutgers receiver from Somerset, N.J., which is about a 40-minute drive from MetLife Stadium. Agudosi, 25, is among a group of receivers on the roster bubble, at a strong Eagles position. At 6-foot-6, 220 pounds, he has showed an outstanding ability to go up for the ball, high-pointing it far above defenders. But he has a few drops, and he doesn’t have explosive quickness.

“I’m excited to play there — Jersey guy, going to the Jersey stadium. It’s a great feeling,” Agudosi said Tuesday. “Family and friends are going to be there … I haven’t played there, even at Rutgers.”

Agudosi has three catches for 32 yards in the preseason. He has been involved in three replay challenges, two to confirm catches and one in which he was interfered with and no flag was thrown. The Eagles won each challenge.

“I feel like I’ve improved since I’ve been here, mentally and physically,” Agudosi said. He spent the last two preseasons with the Arizona Cardinals, and was on their practice squad for most of 2017. He spent three weeks on the Cards’ roster that year but was never active.

Agudosi said he thinks the new rule that allows review of non-calls on pass interference helps big receivers.

“I feel like it’s either going to be a catch by me on a deep ball or a fade, or it’s going to be pass interference, because defenders, they panic when the ball’s in the air. That’s a receiver’s dream — ‘Go look at that call, because I know that he grabbed me.’ … It happens a lot, especially to a bigger guy.”

Thanks Robert. Now can you help me convince my wife to spend the extra money?

On your Eagles question, I think odds are against it, for at least a couple of reasons. One is that Nate Sudfeld still has a broken left wrist and can’t practice. This would delay his transition to Frank Reich’s system in Indianapolis, which probably is similar to Doug Pederson’s but certainly not identical, and certainly involves different terminology. Another is that I think Eagles fans are putting a little too much faith in one good preseason performance by rookie Clayton Thorson. Thorson probably is a practice squad QB this year. Without Sudfeld, the Eagles have Carson Wentz; a 40-year-old backup, Josh McCown; and a rookie. I’m not sure they’d be comfortable with that. It might depend on what they could get from the Colts.

The Colts figure they have a good young, healthy starter in Jacoby Brissett. I doubt they are going to expend a whole lot of capital on improving their backup situation.