PHILADELPHIA – Milton Williams, Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis…then what?
One of my top storylines entering the Eagles’ training camp was youth and depth at defensive tackle and how it will look this year.
Nobody among the DT group is older than Williams, who is 25. Carter is 23 and Davis 24. Neither coach Nick Sirianni or general manager seemed alarmed by the ages and the depth at that spot when they talked prior to the start of training camp’s first practice on Wednesday.
“We've been very fortunate here where we've really given our young players kind of the ability to kind of develop and not play as much,” said Roseman. “I'm really excited to see the opportunity for those guys going forward because of where we are. Obviously, we have a lot of high-paid players here. There is a great opportunity for young players for us going forward, and I think we have the right players here.
“That's one of the exciting things about this camp, is seeing these young players get an opportunity to carve out a role, how significant that role is.”
Oh, there is opportunity all right. Players like former draft picks Marlon Tuipulotu and Moro Ojomo and inexperienced guys such as Thomas Booker, who has played just 10 games in the NFL and that was two years ago with the Texans, and PJ Mustipher, who made it into four games with the Saints a year ago, and undrafted free agent Gabe Hall.
“You don't really know how they're going to develop and how they're going to play until they get the opportunity,” said Roseman. “And because of the teams we've had in the past couple years, which have obviously been good, some of those young players haven't had as big of a role, so I'm really excited about that and watching that.”
It’s a lot of unknown after the top three.
“We feel good about our depth,” said Sirianni. “I know (defensive coordinator) Vic (Fangio) feels good about it. Looking forward to guys like Marlon and Moro, those guys continuing to develop and play a good role.
“Those guys, particularly those two guys, have shown toughness, they’ve shown their hard work throughout the offseason. They came back in great shape, and I'm looking forward to seeing those guys go out there and practice and have good camps.”
Yes, the Eagles will give them all a good look, and if they don’t like what they see, well, maybe Roseman will hit the streets in search of one or two, sort of like he did early in camp last year when he found and signed linebackers Myles Jack and Zach Cunningham.
Fangio will meet with reporters prior to Thursday's practice, around 9:40 a.m.
