The Eagles Are Keeping Three Undrafted Free Agents On Their 53-Man Roster
The Philadelphia Eagles have finalized their 53-man roster. There were some surprise cuts as well as some surprise players the team kept. It is interesting that the Eagles retained three undrafted free agents. Which ones are staying, and will they make an impact for the Eagles this season?
The Eagles keeping three undrafted free agents on the roster is the most since 2016 when they kept four. Tight end Jack Stoll was the only UDFA kept last year, and he is still with the team as a backup.
Josh Jobe: Cornerback
The Eagles came into the 2022 season with the biggest need at cornerback. Despite not taking any cornerbacks in the draft, the team signed several in free agency and had a few returning from last year. James Bradberry was the biggest addition, and he will start opposite of Darius Slay. Avonte Maddox will start in the slot, but the depth behind them was an open competition.
Josh Jobe beat out fellow camp players in Jimmy Moreland, Tay Gowan, Mac McCain, Mario Goodrich, and Josh Blackwell. He missed some practice time early on, but really showed up in the preseason games against the Jets and Browns. Jobe was the leading tackler against the Browns and even broke up a pass that prevented the Browns from taking a halftime lead.
Jobe was a productive player for Alabama, so it was surprising he went undrafted. He did miss time during his senior season due to injury but seems fine. Jobe will likely be the fifth corner on the roster, so expect him to mainly appear on special teams to start the year.
Reed Blankenship: Safety
Another huge need for the Eagles was at safety. Philadelphia brought in veteran Jaquiski Tartt and had last year’s starter Anthony Harris on the roster. Blankenship outplayed them both which allowed Philadelphia to release Tartt and Harris despite their experience.
Blankenship was all over the field during practice and preseason. He had 17 tackles over the three games this summer. Blankenship likely went unnoticed during the draft process due to playing his college ball at a smaller school. He was a five-year starter for Middle Tennessee where he recorded 419 tackles, 19 pass deflections and nine interceptions during his college career.
He will be behind newly added safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, Marcus Epps, and K’Von Wallace on the depth chart. Gardner-Johnson still needs to learn the defense while Epps and Wallace struggled this preseason. Maybe Blankenship could make some appearances this season but should likely contribute on special teams.
Josh Sills: Guard
Josh Sills was probably the biggest surprise to make the roster out of the undrafted free agents. Sills came in as an offensive lineman which is a position group the Eagles are very strong in. He outcompeted second year guard Jack Anderson who was with the Eagles last year. Overall, the Eagles kept ten offensive linemen on the 53-man roster.
Sills had a productive six-year college career. He redshirted his first year before becoming a starter the following year for West Virginia. In 2020, Sills transferred to Oklahoma State where he made All Big-12 honors. He stayed for the additional year of eligibility in 2021 granted to players due to the pandemic. In 2021, Sills was a team captain and received All Big-12 honors again as OSU went on to win the Big-12 Championship and Fiesta Bowl.
In Conclusion
The Eagles have a very talented roster. General Manager Howie Roseman did an outstanding job ever since last season ended by upgrading position groups, making great picks in the draft, and bringing in quality undrafted talent. These three undrafted players really went above and beyond as this was one of the more competitive training camps in recent memory.