Philadelphia Eagles 53-man roster prediction ahead of OTAs
We’ve recently spent time forecasting the Philadelphia Eagles ’ depth chart for the 2026 NFL season. We started with the offense , moved on to the defense , and then finished up with the special teams unit . With OTAs starting up next week , here’s a prediction of who will actually make the final cut down to 53 players. We’ll continue to make updated projections throughout the rest of the offseason to reflect meaningful developments from practices and preseason games. ( For fun, take a look at my 53-man roster projection from this time last year .) QUARTERBACK: Jalen Hurts , Andy Dalton , Cole Payton (3) [3] The Eagles are expecting more from Hurts as a passer this season. It’ll be very interesting to see how he performs and how his future is impacted. The Eagles won’t trade Tanner McKee just to trade him but the guess here is that a team will eventually make a strong enough offer to acquire him. If McKee is gone, Dalton is clearly QB2. It’s been suggested that Payton could have a small role as a rookie ( Taysom Hill packages and/or Tush Push specialist) but he’ll likely be inactive as the emergency third quarterback … at best. It’s entirely possible he doesn’t even make the roster, just like Kyle McCord didn’t last year. RUNNING BACK: Saquon Barkley , Tank Bigsby , Will Shipley (3) [6] Barkley logged 136 fewer touches in 2025 than he took in 2024, so, it stands to reason he’ll be comparatively fresher for 2026. The question of his success is less about him, though, and more about the offensive line improving upon last season’s disappointment. Bigsby was an excellent ball carrier in limited action last season; he logged 5.9 yards per carry! But the Eagles oddly underutilized him and they shouldn’t do that again this year. The coaching staff seems to like Shipley as a dirty work guy (blocking, special teams) who might also contribute in two-minute drill situations. Dameon Pierce could contend for a roster spot but it doesn’t feel necessary to roster a fourth running back when the team could likely keep such a player on the practice squad. WIDE RECEIVER: DeVonta Smith , Makai Lemon, Dontayvion Wicks , Hollywood Brown , Darius Cooper (5) [11] Smitty is more than ready to take over as WR1 with A.J. Brown soon to be traded. I don’t think it’ll take us long to realize if Lemon is equipped to be a serious contributor as a rookie or not. I’m cautiously optimistic; it’ll be nice to see evidence of his talents translating to the NFL. Wicks is an underrated player who could thrive with more opportunity in Philly than he saw with the Packers . Brown’s deep threat ability and general veteran competence makes him worth keeping around. Wicks and Brown have combined for five career special teams snaps, so, they’re probably not going to help out in that category. The Eagles need to keep around a dirty work guy or two and Cooper showed he’s capable of playing that role last year while also flashing offensive potential. Johnny Wilson was a tough cut here; he was showing promise before suffering a season-ending injury in August. Would like to see him back on the field first before assuming he’ll pick up where he left off. Elijah Moore has never really been a special teams guy and there are too many players ahead of him on offense, so, he’s more realistically looking at a practice squad spot unless there are injury issues. The Eagles could try to have Britain Covey begin the season on the practice squad, which they’ve done in the past, and use up his temporary elevations early on to be their punt returner. Doing so would buy them time to open up a spot for him if they want him to stay around for the rest of the season. TIGHT END: Dallas Goedert , Eli Stowers , Johnny Mundt , Cameron Latu (4) [15] Goedert is still more than a capable pass-catcher but it remains to be seen what the Eagles will get out of him as a blocker. Stowers might have a smaller role than expected as a rookie; his college coaching staff only trusted him as a part-time p [... truncated ...]