Howie Roseman and Nick Sirianni spoke about cut day Tuesday evening, covering topics from the Chauncey Gardner-Johnson trade, to the safety position, and a couple of undrafted free agents making the team.

Probably the most interesting stuff was about Jalen Reagor, with both speaking on the topic of the 3rd-year wide receiver, who was a trade candidate coming into camp:

Q. For both of you guys, what did WR Jalen Reagor show you this summer to earn a spot, and for Howie, how much if any did his cap situation play into keeping him?(Reuben Frank)

HOWIE ROSEMAN: I think when you look at Jalen, one of the things that one of our scouts said to me today is he was one of the only guys that practiced every day. The guy brought it every day. He worked on his craft. He had a great attitude, great energy. Obviously, he’s a talented guy. He’s 23 years old.

We’re going to do whatever we think is in the best interest of the team, and we felt like there was no doubt in our mind that he deserved a role on this team.

“The best ability is availability.”

Something like that.

I think there’s actually some truth, though, to what Roseman is saying. Reagor had the one stupid episode on social media, noting that he was bothered by “cap ass shit,” but then we didn’t hear anything from him since then. He wasn’t exactly influential and didn’t flash in the preseason games, but wasn’t terrible either, and when it came down to him, Devon Allen, Deon Cain, etc for the 5th WR spot, Reagor had the most upside and value in case a trade would materialize in the future.


More:

Q. Nick, can you follow up on that from a football standpoint what you saw?(Reuben Frank)

NICK SIRIANNI: I just felt like he made plays this summer, and it started right from the beginning, from day one of training camp, and it continued on throughout the practices that we had. You could definitely see the explosion that — he’s never lost that, right? He’s had this explosion in his body, and he uses it to separate from the defense.

I just thought he had a good camp and he made plays and he was more consistent this year throughout training camp.

Yeah, maybe. The beats seemed to be lukewarm on Reagor, like he wasn’t amazing but he didn’t outright stink either.

I think the topic here really is about Reagor’s ceiling in year three. Say he turns it on and shows you something – that makes him what? WR3 at best? Nobody is getting more snaps and targets than A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, and the Eagles we think will do their share of running and using RPO and zone read. So how many targets do you anticipate for Quez Watkins, Zach Pascal, and Reagor? That’s just the wide receiver group, too. Consider that Dallas Goedert will get ~75 targets and Kenneth Gainwell and Miles Sanders will split about 80 targets, and I just don’t really see what’s left for Reagor, even if he does figure it out.

That’s why the Deon Cain/Devon Allen thing is sort of a nothing burger, because those guys weren’t gonna play much if they did make the team. You’d need an injury or whatever to elevate yourself on the depth chart, and from a general standpoint, roster spots 45-53 aren’t contributing much over the course of a season anyway. You’re looking in that range for guys who can contribute on special teams and give you some flex, or projects that may still have trade value.