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The Philadelphia Eagles retooled their roster this offseason with the goal of getting young and faster at the skill positions.
Howie Roseman went about the business of drafting three wide receivers, a star safety, and added several big names via free agency. Now with the coronavirus pandemic altering the NFL landscape, the Eagles and all 32 NFL teams will have to adjust.
One adjustment will be the loss of all four preseason games as the league and teams work to keep players as safe as possible. Preseason games have always been valuable for rookies, undrafted free agents and veteran players looking to make a name for themselves.
With the Eagles losing 4 opportunities to get the younger guys more work, head coach Doug Pederson suggested the Birds may have more intrasquad scrimmages to get those young guys more reps.
“That’s something that, as I alluded to earlier, just coming up with creative ways, whether I do more scrimmage situations — I do a couple live practices during camp anyway,” Pederson said via transcription from NFL.com. “I’ve got to do maybe some more scrimmages and put our young players, put the guys we need answers on in those situations. I’ve got to come up with ways of having game-like situations in practice because we are missing the preseason games. It can definitely be done. We’ll be creative about it as a staff and we’ll eventually have the answers we need at the end of camp.”
The Eagles know what they have at certain integral positions, but with a bevy of undrafted free agents on the roster and the ability to now carry 16 players on the practice squad, Pederson and his staff will use every chance to evaluate talent.
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