December 08, 2023
After agreeing to terms with linebacker Shaq Leonard on Monday, the Philadelphia Eagles made a number of other roster moves later in the week. Let's briefly review each of them.
• They waived LB Christian Elliss: This was a surprise move. The Eagles have the No. 1 ranked special teams units in the NFL, and Elliss led the team in special teams snaps, with 238.
| Eagls special teams | Snaps |
| LB Christian Elliss | 238 |
| CB Kelee Ringo | 225 |
| CB Josh Jobe | 212 |
| LB Patrick Johnson | 189 |
| EDGE Nolan Smith | 166 |
Six (!) teams put in waiver claims for Elliss:
New Patriots LB Christian Elliss was an extremely popular player on waivers, as six teams put in a claim on him, per source:
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) December 7, 2023
Patriots
Cardinals
Titans
Falcons
Broncos
Dolphins
Elliss had played in all 12 games for Philly and started this past Sunday against the 49ers. https://t.co/Jj0gQ4p4wn
He was awarded to the Patriots.
With the return of Dallas Goedert to the field, Albert Okwuegbunam felt like the easy choice for waivers. Instead, the Eagles lost a good special teams player who was active for every game. Perhaps this is a sign that the Eagles have seen enough development from undrafted rookie Ben VanSumeren that he will move into Elliss' core role on special teams.
The consensus on VanSumeren as a draft prospect was that he was more of an athlete than a football player. The athleticism is certainly appealing, as he ran a 4.45 40 and vertical jumped 42.5" at 231 pounds.
A scouting report from NFL.com's Lance Zierlein from draft season:
VanSumeren’s production and game tape won’t draw draftable grades, but he possesses extremely rare athletic attributes for his position and that might create an opportunity with a team coveting elite traits. He’s not a thumper as a run defender and his football instincts leave much to be desired, but if he can prove himself as a special teams contributor in camp, he could force a team to give him a year on the practice squad for additional development.
The Eagles now have four linebackers on their active 53-man roster: Zach Cunningham, Nicholas Morrow, Leonard, and VanSumeren.
• OL Brett Toth is back: The Panthers poached Toth from the Eagles' practice squad and added him to their 53-man roster in late October. Toth started a game against the Titans, playing both at LG and RG. PFF had him down for 1 sack and 4 pressures allowed, as well as 1 penalty in that game. Earlier this week they waived Toth, who signed back to the Eagles' practice squad after clearing waivers.
• WR Greg Ward got a few days off: The Eagles released Ward from the practice squad last Thursday, and added him back six days later.
• The released OL Ross Pierschbacher and WR Cam Sims from the practice squad.
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