The Philadelphia Eagles officially announced two roster moves ahead of the team’s Week 4 game against the Los Angeles Rams. Here’s an overview:
- TE Zach Ertz and TE Josiah Deguara were temporarily elevated from the practice squad.
Note: teams are permitted to temporarily elevate up to two practice squad players per game. A player can be elevated up to three times in the regular season and an unlimited number of times in the postseason.
Let’s sort through this news on a player-by-player basis.
ZACH ERTZ
To no surprise, the Eagles are elevating Ertz for the second week in a row. Against the Chicago
Bears, Ertz played the second-most tight end snaps for the Eagles with 19. That was seven fewer than Johnny Mundt and six more than E.J. Jenkins. We’ll see if it’s a similar distribution in Week 4 or if the Eagles ramp up Ertz’s workload as Dallas Goedert continues to miss time. Ertz’s sole target in Week 3 produced a nine-yard reception.
Ertz has one practice squad elevation remaining. After next week, the Eagles will need to put him on the roster in order for him to play in games.
JOSIAH DEGUARA
Interesting and unexpected to see the Eagles elevate Deguara in addition to Ertz. This means the Eagles will have four tight ends active against the Rams. With DeVonta Smith out, it seems like the Birds might try to lean into more 12 and 13 personnel packages.
As a reminder, Deguara joined the Eagles’ practice squad back in mid-September. Here’s what we wrote at the time:
The 29-year-old Deguara was originally a third-round pick (No. 94 overall) by the Green Bay Packers in the 2020 NFL Draft. He notably overlapped with current Eagles tight ends coach and run game coordinator Ryan Mahaffey on the Packers from 2021-2023.
Making 12 starts in 77 regular season games, Deguara has logged 66 career targets for 53 receptions, 471 receiving yards, and three touchdowns. His most recent NFL stop prior to this was a three-day stint on the New York Giants’ roster back in late August.
NON-MOVES
- The Eagles did not place DeVonta Smith nor any of the five other players ruled out for this game on injured reserve. Good to see the team is not concerned about them missing at least four weeks. Though there’s the case to made they should be slow-playing Smith’s hamstring injury timeline.
- Thought the Eagles might look to temporarily elevate Cole Wisniewski to the roster in order to have more depth at safety. With Marcus Epps ruled out, they have just one full-time safety on the roster: Andrew Mukuba. Michael Carter II has been learning safety after previously playing nickel corner and he’ll likely play in Epps’ place in the Eagles’ nickel defense with Cooper DeJean as the guy next to Makuba in base packages. The Eagles did sign Kenny Moore II to the roster and they’re seemingly having him learn to play safety.
- Thought the Eagles might look to temporarily elevate newcomer Anfernee Orji. With Zack Baun out, the Eagles are entering Week 4 with just three healthy off-ball linebackers: Jihaad Campbell (who spent some time on the injury report this week), Jeremiah Trotter Jr., and Smael Mondon.
RAMS MOVES
The Rams temporarily elevated two practice squad players: cornerback Cam Lampkin and edge rusher Darryl Peterson III. The latter move doesn’t seem like a good sign for Josaiah Stewart’s chances of playing. Stewart, who has been starting in place of an injured Myles Garrett, was added to Friday’s injury report and ruled questionable to play.
