Special teams will play big role in Eagles’ roster cutdown decisions | Early Birds
The Eagles have to reduce their roster to 53 players by Saturday afternoon. Don’t discount the input of special teams coordinator Dave Fipp.
Good morning, everyone. Well, the preseason finally is over (hold the applause). Now, the Eagles will get down to the difficult job of trimming their roster to 53 players by Saturday’s league-mandated 4 p.m. deadline. Below, I’ve provided a little insight into one of the important aspects that goes into helping the team make many of its roster decisions — special teams play.
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Fipp’s opinion matters
The Eagles must reduce their roster to 53 players by Saturday at 4 p.m. General manager Howie Roseman and coach Doug Pederson will make the final decisions on who stays and who goes. But don’t discount the input of special teams coordinator Dave Fipp.
“His opinion matters,” Pederson said the other day.
It matters because Pederson and the Eagles place a high value on special teams, and because guys on the lower end of the roster must be able to contribute on special teams to earn their keep. If you’re the fourth safety or running back, or the fifth wide receiver or linebacker, or the fifth or sixth defensive end and you can’t play special teams, you’re going to get cut in favor of somebody who can make a special teams contribution.
“One of the things that’s great here is that it’s a collaborative effort and there is a lot of communication, and that not only helps us down the road, but it helps me in training camp and the preseason prepare and start to get an idea of who you have to work with,” Fipp said. “So then you can start practicing them in the positions they’re going to play.
“I know that sounds crazy, but there have been times in other places where [special teams] coaches are put in a spot where it’s like, all of a sudden, they didn’t realize they weren’t going to have him and him and him. And now they have to get a player ready to play a totally different position before the opening game that they haven’t been practicing at.”
Fipp’s input on the roster doesn’t come down to one meeting on Friday before the Eagles make their cuts. They hold regular staff meetings during training camp and the preseason, and all of the coordinators and position coaches give their two cents on their players.
“At the end of each of those things, I have a chance to interject on each of those players and how they contribute on special teams,” Fipp said. “So, it’s never one day at the very end.
“Ultimately, Howie and Coach [Pederson] and those guys makes all of those [roster] decisions. But I will say I’m fortunate that they do give me a bunch of input and they do listen.”
Fipp, who has been with the Eagles since 2013, is one of the league’s most highly regarded special teams coaches. The Eagles had the league’s top-ranked special teams in 2014 and 2016 and finished fifth in 2015. They’ve been ranked 13th and 14th the last two years.
Fipp said he pretty much knows whom he’ll have on special teams in Week 1 because he’s looking at the projected 46-man game-day roster, which is pretty much set already, rather than the 53-man roster.
“It’s the 46 guys that are going to play” that he’s focused on, Fipp said. “I mean, on game day, you know you’re probably going to have at least four corners, at least four safeties, at least four wide receivers.
“It probably never goes lower than that. So I can start with the worst-case scenarios. I’m probably going to have this number of guys. Assuming I know who those guys are, then I can start building a plan” for the game.
What you need to know about the Eagles
It’s hard to make the final preseason game sound interesting. Unless you’re Les Bowen.
Jeff McLane writes that with the Eagles only expected to keep four running backs, it looks like it’s the end of the road for Josh Adams and Wendell Smallwood.
My five takeaways from Thursday night’s game, including the battle for the fifth — and possibly final — wide receiver spot.
After the way he’s played this summer, is there any way the Eagles could possibly cut DE Daeshon Hall? EJ Smith examines Hall’s strong case for a roster spot.
EJ and Mr. Bowen write that no stinkin’ broken ring finger is going to keep DeSean Jackson from playing against the Redskins.
In what’s been a mostly unremarkable preseason, David Murphy takes a look at Clayton Thorson’s performance and what might be next for him.
From the mailbag
Frank: It’s a little too early to consider Doug Pederson for sainthood or Canton. If he wins a second Super Bowl, that obviously puts him in select company. But George Seifert won two Super Bowl titles and nobody considers him one of the league’s great coaches. Same with Tom Flores. I mean, Barry Switzer managed to win a Super Bowl for crying out loud. So you have to be careful how much weight you give Super Bowl wins. Don’t get me wrong. I think Doug is an excellent coach. One of the league’s top offensive minds. Has the complete respect of the locker room. Winning the Super Bowl in just his second season as an NFL head coach is pretty damn impressive. But I just would prefer to wait a few years before I consider his place in history. Andy Reid probably is going to finish in the top five among coaches in all-time wins behind only Don Shula, George Halas, Bill Belichick, and Tom Landry. But if he doesn’t win a Super Bowl, how will he remembered?
Figuring the Eagles
The Eagles used shotgun a lot more last year than they did in 2017. Last year, 77.8 percent of their plays (807 of 1.037) were out of shotgun. In 2017, just 69.7 percent of their plays (748 of 1,073) were out of shotgun.