Eagles Putting Together an Impressive Practice Squad

Written By Bob Cunningham On Monday, September 06, 2010

Owens will be the guy called upon in an emergency.


So far, the Eagles have signed five guys to the practice squad, leaving them with three open spots to fill. But, as of now, the practice squad is about as good as anyone could have hoped for.

The five guys signed right now are wide receiver and punt returner Chad Hall, running back Martell Mallet, center A.Q. Shipley, defensive tackle Jeff Owens, and guard Dallas Reynolds.

All of those guys, perhaps with the exception of Reynolds, were in legitimate battles at their respective positions. All of them (again, with perhaps the exception of Reynolds) simply lost out to the numbers crunch. If the team could have kept 57 players, Hall, Mallett, Shipley, and Owens would have definitely made the team.

Having all of those to call on in an emergency situation will be a luxury for the Eagles that most of the other teams around the league won't be able to enjoy.

Reynolds is likely a guy that Andy Reid and Juan Castillo see as a project. He shows flashes here and there, but needs more work on his technique and will certainly get that running with the scout team every week.

One notable exception, however, is tight end Cornelius Ingram. He's a guy the team thought very highly of, but injuries just made him too much of a liability to keep around with so many other positions that needed attention.

But just because they haven't signed him yet doesn't mean they won't. Like I said, they still have three spots to fill and are likely waiting to see if any guys they had their eye on gets dropped.

Another notable absence is a safety. Any safety, as a matter of fact.

I'm a big fan of Kurt Coleman, but should someone get injured the team must have a backup plan and the perfect way to go about that is find a young guy they can stash on the practice squad.

For those of you wondering, Quintin Demps and Macho Harris are not practice squad-eligible players anymore because they have both played in more than nine regular season games. A guy to keep an eye on, however, could be Anthony Scirrotto.

He didn't get a ton of work in the preseason, but he appears to be a guy who at least could have a future as a backup. He showed he's not afraid to play around the line of scrimmage and stick his nose in the middle of things, but like Coleman, he's probably more of a strong safety.

General manager Howie Roseman and Reid are likely combing through all the guys recently released to find out who will make up the remainder of their practice squad, and as we've seen with these guys, it's almost impossible to predict what they might do.

Ingram has too much upside not to at least offer a spot on the practice squad, and Scirrotto or another safety will definitely get added. But what they do with that final spot could be a very interesting look into just how comfortable they are at a certain position.

UPDATE: The Eagles have signed tight end Garrett Mills and wide receiver Jeremy Williams to the practice squad, leaving only one position left open. That final position is still expected to be taken up by a safety, and it appears as though Ingram is not in the team's plans.


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