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The 2015 NFL roster cuts have begun. It's that time of year where training camp is winding down and teams have to decide which players they want to keep for the upcoming regular season.
The Philadelphia Eagles already started cutting some players in advance of Tuesday's deadline to reach the 75-man limit. The Eagles officially waived 12 players to get down to 78. Two more moves expected to be made include placing JaCorey Shepherd on the season-ending injured reserve list and waiving the injured Emmanuel Acho. After that, one more needs to be made. Perhaps the Eagles will decide to cut backup punter/kicker Kip Smith, but Philadelphia might need to keep him around for the team's preseason game against the New York Jets if Cody Parkey is still dealing with a leg tweak.
The cut down to 75 is never all that difficult. The team is typically waiving undrafted rookies and camp bodies who never had a real chance of making the team. The cut down to 53, however, is a little more tricky. The Eagles have some good players who aren't going to make the team this year. Chip Kelly said he thinks the Eagles are more deep than they have been since he's arrived.
"I think we have more depth, so I believe we'll cut some players that will make other rosters," Kelly said late last week. "I'm hoping. That's our goal for all of our players and we tell them that on day one, I want them to play in the NFL. Hopefully it's on our team, if it's not on our team, it's on another team. [...] Definitely more difficult [to make cuts] this year than it was in the last two years."
After the final cut downs, the Eagles will be making a 10-man practice squad. That will be made up mostly of the players they just cut.
The Eagles tend to make cuts quickly after their final preseason game, so expect the team to be fairly active well in advance of Saturday's deadline. As always, stay tuned here to Bleeding Green Nation for the best Eagles coverage around. We'll have live roster cut trackers featuring all the latest updates.
Roster cut dates and times
*All times Eastern
Tuesday, September 1, 4 p.m.: Roster needs to be cut down to 75 players
Thursday, September 3: Final preseason game
Saturday, September 5, 4 p.m.: Roster needs to be cut down to 53 players
Sunday, September 6, 12 p.m.: Practice squads can start to be formed