Eagles Make Some Saturday Roster Moves

The Eagles announced a couple of roster moves on Saturday before the deadline for Sunday’s game against the New York Jets.

The team has activated linebacker Nakobe Deal from the Injured Reserve. A move in the secondary was expected this weekend — with Darius Slay and Justin Evans both ruled out for Sunday, Mekhi Garner was signed from the practice squad for the game.  The team also placed wide receiver Quez Watkins on the injured list with a hamstring issue. 

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In addition, wide receiver Devon Allen has been activated from the practice squad.

Dean will be an interesting one to keep an eye on, with Nick Morrow and Zach Cunningham playing so well, what kind of role will Dean have in the game on Sunday and moving forward?

"That's a great question," Eagles defensive coordinator Sean Desai said on Tuesday.  "Really at all positions yes, we see roles for everybody. That's how we train our guys; they've all got to be ready. And there's so many different situations and so many different combinations of things that we can get to that the more talent, the better. The more decisions like that that we have to make the better it is for us."

The loss of Slay will be a big one for the secondary.

"We don't anticipate it being a long-term thing," said Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni.

With Slay out, Josh Jobe will likely be moving back into a starting role with James Bradberry on the opposite side.  Veteran Bradley Roby could see more time in the slot this week.

Watkins injury opens the door for Olamide Zaccheaus to get more playing time, but the team losses a deep threat with Watkins off the field.

"Well, he's obviously one of the fastest guys in the NFL," said Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson on Tuesday. "He has some ability to take the top off the middle of the coverage. Again, there's some stuff that Quez does that does not show up on the stat sheet. You look in that second half. There were a couple runs where he made some blocks to make some big runs happen, spring some big runs in the run game, as well. First play of the game he had a catch on a bubble. It was his first game back coming back off injury, but like I said, we have a lot of confidence in everybody we put out there."

Adding Allen from the practice squad gives the team more speed, with Zaccheaus more of a chain mover.