With just one preseason game left for the Philadelphia Eagles, a number of players are still competing for a position on the final 53-man roster.
Among these players is running back Trey Sermon. During Thursday night's 18-18 tie against the Cleveland Browns, Sermon got off to a rocky start with a fumble in the second quarter. However, he redeemed himself with a 33-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
Determining whether the game improved his roster chances is challenging, given his fumble and touchdown. However, when coach Nick Sirianni was questioned about whether the running back's performance helped his roster chances, he expressed his satisfaction with Sermon's outing against the Browns.
"I was really happy with Trey, the fact that he bounced back," Sirianni said. "Fumbled the ball on the screen. A guy made a good play on it, but we weren’t quite right enough with our ball security right there and he played the next play. The worst thing you can do is put your head down and sulk in the play that you didn’t make."
Sirianni also expressed his belief that the early-game fumble served as a valuable learning experience for the 24-year-old.
"All you can do is really play the next one. So that was a great lesson for him and great lesson for our team to keep going. Couple really nice runs that he had, so, yeah, that’s good momentum for Trey. Obviously, he would want to have the fumble back, but good momentum from him to finish out this pre-season with," Sirianni said.
As the Eagles prepare to host the Indianapolis Colts at home on Aug. 24, the upcoming final preseason game will be crucial for Sermon. It will provide him with an opportunity to prove that he deserves a spot on the Eagles' 53-man roster by sustaining the level of play he demonstrated during the second half of Thursday night's game.
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