Eagles Early Roster Moves Staying True To Form

The Eagles have started informing some players that they are being released.

Veteran OT Max Scharping will be released by the Eagles. / John McMullen/Eagles on SI

PHILADELPHIA - The meatier decisions for Eagles GM Howie Roseman with the initial 53-man roster will be pushed back to Tuesday. Still, the trimming started today with some of the more obvious roster moves being leaked after the players were informed they were either being waived or released.

The most notable of the early names is veteran offensive lineman Max Scharping, who has started 38 NFL games, including five postseason starts with Houston and Cincinnati, during his career. 

Scharping, 28, was second of a trio of veteran OL with starting experience brought in by the Eagles this season as insurance up front. 

Scharping arrived after Matt Hennessy and before Nick Gates. Of that group, Gates seems the most likely to have a chance at the 53 with Hennessy’s work uninspiring before a back injury slowed things even further. 

Scharping showed versatility by playing guard, some center, and left tackle over the summer. According to Pro Football Focus, he played very well in the preseason finale against Minnesota, where he was the Eagles’ top-graded player.

Scharping is a vested veteran who will immediately become a free agent and can sign with any team. The thought is that the Green Bay native will take his time to shop around and see if any other teams are interested in experienced depth with versatility before considering the Eagles’ practice squad.

Others who will reportedly be waived include receivers Austin Watkins and Griffin Hebert, as well as edge rusher Tarron Jackson, undrafted rookie free agent safety Andre Sam’, and tight end Kein Foelsch.

Watkins was among a group of futures free agents signed at WR where the Eagles stressed size and measurables. 

At 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, Watkins, the cousin for former NFL players Sammy Watkins and Jaylen Watkins, the latter being an Eagles’ draft pick in 2014, would occasionally flash in practice but the consistency never followed for a run up the depth chart.

Watkins, 26, spent the majority of the 2023 season on Cleveland’s practice squad and has also spent some time with San Francisco and Tampa Bay, as well as the CFL and USFL.

Hebert, 25, an undersized (6-1, 231) college tight end at Louisiana Tech was originally brought in by the Eagles late last season to the practice squad and has bounced in and out of the organization.

He signed a futures deal on Jan. 22 and was waived on April 30 before attending the Eagles’ rookie camp as a tryout player. Hebert was then brought back on July 25 at the start of training camp. While not a candidate for the practice squad immediately, don’t be surprised if his name pops up down the line when it comes to populating the PS after the attrition of the season begins.

Jackson is what one personnel source described as a 4A player, a baseball analogy meaning too good for Triple-A but not gifted enough to excel in the show.

Originally, a sixth-round pick by the Eagles out of Coastal Carolina in 2021, Jackson played all 18 games (including one postseason encounter) as a rookie and played in four more games during the team’s run to Super Bowl LVII. 

At least seven and arguably eight edge rushers were in front of Jackson on the depth chart (Bryce Huff, Josh Sweat, Brandon Graham, Nolan Smith, Jalyx Hunt, Patrick Johnson, Julian Okwara, and perhaps Terrell Lewis) so the numbers game was untenable.

Sam, an older COVID-era undrafted rookie at 25, played six seasons in college – the first four at McNeese State before Year 5 at Marshall and finally finishing things in the SEC with powerhouse LSU where he excelled with 85 tackles and three interceptions.

Sam is undersized at 5-10 and 194 but held his own in camp and is a player the Eagles want to keep working with. 

Foelsch was a late addition claimed off waivers from the New York Jets on Aug. 3 after undrafted rookie TE McCallan Castles suffered a leg injury during a public practice at Lincoln Financial Field which sent him to injured reserve.

The Eagles have depth issues at tight end after Dallas Goedert and Grant Calcaterra and could look outside the organization for help at the position in the coming days

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