Edgy Situation On Eagles Initial 53

After filing his roster down, GM Howie Roseman spoke glowingly about his interior defensive line and left a curious description for his edge defenders.

“There's different ways to do it,” Roseman said. “Sometimes you do it with stars, and you go down from that,” perhaps a nod to losing Josh Sweat in free agency and Bradon Graham to retirement.

The belief in Smith, who came on like gangbusters in the final half of his second season, and the emerging Hunt feels real. 

“You talk about Nolan and Jalyx starting there, those guys just really tremendous competitors, tools in their body,” Roseman said. “We saw what they can do in the playoff run last year, really believe in those guys.”

From there, Roseman got a little more tempered.

“We brought in Josh, we brought in Azeez, we brought in “O” and obviously we got Pat [Patrick Johnson] as well here,” said Roseman. “Just again, I think some of these positions we look at, we have solid players across the board.”

Roseman may have slipped there and foreshadowed Johnson, a vested veteran who was released despite having a solid summer, will be back on the practice squad.

Outside of Smith, who has a real shot at being a difference-maker if his body holds up, the group as a whole doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence.

The organizational idea seems to be banking on the interior players like Jalen Carter, Moro Ojomo, and Jordan Davis, to make the edge players better.

“You have to pay attention to those inside guys because the quickest way to the quarterback is a straight line,” said Roseman.

September will be key in Roseman’s assessment of the team as a whole, with an asterisk next to his biggest question mark.

“I think for us, the early part of the season, September, we have to see at we have,” the GM said.

“If we need something, I’ll do whatever I can to help this football team, be aggressive, and (owner) Jeffrey [Lurie] gives me that opportunity to do that. I don’t think that we’re done.

"This is a work in progress.”