Facts, figures, trends and stats from the Eagles' 53-man roster

With final cuts out of the way and the roster down to 53, we thought it would be interesting to take a big-picture look at the roster.

How many draft picks did the Eagles cut? 

How many undrafted players made the team?

How many defensive starters from last year are no longer here?

We’ve got all the answers in our annual deep dive into the 53-man roster.

Position by position

The final 53-man roster shows three quarterbacks, three running backs, five wide receivers, two tight ends, nine offensive linemen, six edge rushers, six interior defensive linemen, five off-ball linebackers, five safeties, six cornerbacks and three specialists.

The Eagles went lighter than last year at running back (three instead of four), tight end (two instead of four) and defensive tackle (six instead of seven). They went heavier at receiver (five instead of four), linebacker (five instead of three) and special teams (three instead of two … remember, they didn’t have a punter at final cutdown last year. They released Arryn Siposs, then re-signed him after final cuts, then cut him for good after two games).

Changing roster

Of 19 players who started at least one game on offense last year, eight are gone: Jason Kelce, D’Andre Swift, Jack Stoll, Sua Opeta, Jack Driscoll, Quez Watkins, Julio Jones and Olamide Zaccheaus.

Of 25 players who started at least one game on defense last year, 12 are no longer here: Haason Reddick, Fletcher Cox, Nicholas Morrow, Kevin Byard, Zach Cunningham, Justin Evans, Terrell Edmunds, Shaquille Leonard, Christian Elliss, Bradley Roby, Mario Goodrich and Kentavius Street.

So that’s a total of 21 of 44 starters from last year who are no longer here.

The 53-man roster includes 19 players who weren’t on the roster last year — eight on offense, 11 on defense.  

More undrafted players than 2nd-round picks

The roster includes 12 former 1^st-round picks, including six who weren’t here last year (Saquon Barkley, Devin White, Mekhi Becton, Jahan Dotson, Kenny Pickett, Quinyon Mitchell). There are also eight 2^nd-round picks, five 3^rd-round picks, five 4^th-round picks, five 5^th-round picks, seven 6^th-round picks, three 7^th-round picks and eight undrafted players. 

The undrafted guys 

Some 17 percent of the roster was never drafted. The Eagles didn’t keep any undrafted rookies, but four of the nine undrafted players on the roster — Reed Blankenship, Britain Covey, Eli Ricks and Ben VanSumeren began their careers as undrafted rookies with the Eagles. The other undrafted players — Rick Lovato, Fred Johnson, Bryce Huff and Tristin McCollum — began with other teams: Lovato with the Bears, Johnson the Steelers, Huff the Jets and McCollum the Texans.

How many draft picks got cut?

The roster includes 31 players drafted by the Eagles, including all seven of nine rookie draft picks (Dylan McMahon was released, Ainias Smith is on IR). There’s also one from the 2010 draft, one from 2013, four from 2018, one from 2020, six from 2021, four from 2022 and six from 2023 (with one on PUP).

The highest former Eagles draft pick they released Tuesday is 2021 4^th-round pick Zech McPhearson. The only other former Eagles draft picks they cut were 2021 6^th-round pick Tarron Jackson and McMahon, a rookie 6^th-round pick.

The Eagles released nine players drafted in the first three rounds by other teams: 1^st-rounder John Ross, 2^nd-rounders Parris Campbell and Max Scharping and 3^rd-rounders Oren Burks, Will Grier, Matt Hennessy, Terrell Lewis, Julian Okwara and Tyrion Davis-Price.

The current roster includes 14 players drafted by other teams.

Who’s left from the 2017 Super Bowl roster?

The only players remaining from the 2017 Super Bowl championship team are Brandon Graham, Lane Johnson, Rick Lovato and Jake Elliott. Incredibly, there are only eight position players remaining who played for Doug Pederson. So 42 of the 50 position players have played only under Nick Sirianni. Other than Graham, Johnson, Lovato and Elliott, holdovers from Pederson’s final year are Dallas Goedert, Avonte Maddox, Josh Sweat and Jordan Mailata, who were all drafted in 2018, as well as Jalen Hurts and Darius Slay, who arrived in 2020. 

Young roster

The only players in their 30s are Braderry (31), Lovato (31), Slay (33), Johnson (34) and Graham (36). Only three other players are older than 27 — Avonte Maddox (28), Jake Elliott (29) and Dallas Goedert (29). Which means 45 of the 50 position players on the 53-man roster are 27 or younger. 

Last year, 26 players 27 or older played in at least one game for the Eagles, and 18 of them are gone.

There are 14 players 23 or younger on the roster. Youngest is Cooper DeJean, who turned 21 in February. Jeremiah Trotter Jr. is also 21 and about five weeks older than DeJean. Eli Ricks, Kelee Ringo and Will Shipley are 22, and Jalen Carter, Nakobe Dean, Jalyx Hunt, Trevor Keegan, Quinyon Mitchell, Moro Ojomo, Ainias Smith, Nolan Smith and Johnny Wilson are 23.

Stocking up on draft picks

There are nine players on the roster who were drafted in the first three rounds by other teams, including 1^st-rounders Saquon Barkley, Devin White, Mekhi Becton, Jahan Dotson and Kenny Pickett. All five are new to the roster this year. Second-round picks drafted by other teams are Darius Slay, James Bradberry and A.J. Brown, and the one 3^rd-rounder is Zack Baun. 

Alma maters

Georgia and Alabama have five players each on the 53, and Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Memphis, Michigan, Oklahoma, Penn State, Pitt, Stanford and Texas A&M have two apiece. That leaves 23 schools with one player each.

Super Bowl champion

In addition to the four remaining Eagles from Super Bowl LII — B.G., Johnson, Elliott and Lovato — the only other current Eagle with a Super Bowl ring is Devin White, who was with the Bucs when they beat the Chiefs 31-9 in Super Bowl LV in Tampa.  

Last three drafts

Nineteen of 21 players the Eagles drafted since 2022 are either on the 53-man roster or a reserve list. The only players they’ve selected in the last three drafts who are no longer in the organization are Dylan McMahon and Kyron Johnson, their first of two 6^th-round picks in 2022. Johnson, a linebacker from Kansas, played in 22 games for the Eagles in 2022 and 2023 and was released in October. He joined the Steelers’ practice squad, and the Steelers released him on Tuesday.

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