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Thoughts heading into the season

With the final roster somewhat set and the regular season now within eyesight, here are some thoughts on the moves the Eagles have made over the past few days and what the outlook is for the opener.

On offense, the surprise was the cutting of John Hightower and Travis Fulgham, as well as the decision to keep JJ Arcega Whiteside. But since both guys are on the practice squad, it's almost like the team has seven wide receivers instead of just five. And hopefully someone out of that bunch develops into a decent number 3 option.

In fact, it's almost like we didn't really cut anyone, since the practice squad is almost entirely composed of players who were on our roster bubble. So the team will get an extended look at everyone from camp and will hopefully find some diamonds in the rough.

One really good thing in our favor is that the Eagles will likely be extremely healthy going into the season. With Rodney McLeod back practicing, we have all of our projected starters healthy, and most of our backups. Last year in the season opener, we had five players on offense who played significant snaps for the first time in their careers - Driscoll, Mailata, Reagor, Hightower and Herbig. On defense, we had Maddox playing out of position as an outside corner and Gerry and Riley were overmatched at linebacker. Barnett and Hargrave didn't play as well.

This year, we will likely be playing only three rookies - Smith, Gainwell and Williams - and all three have looked good in the preseason. So they are playing on merit and not because they were the last men standing at their respective positions. The offensive line has plenty of depth. If nothing else, this will be a team that is much more ready for the start of the season.

As far as the offense goes, the decision to keep Zach Ertz is one that I think will really benefit Jalen Hurts. Wide receiver is the biggest question heading into the season, and the fact that we have Ertz and Goedert means than most of the time we will only have two wideouts on the field. At least initially, that seems like a pretty good situation for Hurts.

It should also be a good situation for Nick Sirianni, as the Colts were in 12 personnel roughly 30 percent of the time last year. So running a two tight end offense isn't foreign to him, and Ertz and Goedert are much more talented than the group he had to work with last year.

On defense, we should be really excited compared to last year. We have a strong starting lineup and one of the most respected young minds in the game. I can't wait to see a scheme that actually puts players into a position to succeed, rather than one that seemed to rely on the other team making mistakes.

Overall, I am looking forward to this season. We are healthier than we have been in a long time, and we have a lot of new players who could put us in position to be competitive for years to come, or put us in position to draft their replacements. Either way, it will be nice to have football back.