Eagles snap counts: Bradley Roby gets first action vs. Rams
Eagles snap counts: Bradley Roby gets first action vs. Rams originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The Eagles officially signed veteran cornerback Bradley Roby to their practice squad on Wednesday.
Four days later, he played 25 snaps in the Eagles’ 23-14 win over the Rams as SoFi Stadium.
Roby, 31, wasn’t with a team for the first four weeks of the season and even though he was with the Saints in training camp, the Eagles wanted to ease him back into action. He didn’t start against the Rams but he did play the most snaps of the nickel cornerbacks and the defense seemed to settle down when he was in there.
Here’s a look at how the snaps broke down for the nickels on Sunday:
Bradley Roby: 25 snaps (45%)
Mario Goodrich: 18 snaps (32%)
Eli Ricks: 13 snaps (23%)
Goodrich got his first NFL start on Monday night but he was rotating with Ricks. It looked like the Eagles wanted Goodrich out there for early downs and Ricks on the field for passing downs. Tough duty for both of them against Cooper Kupp, who had a great first half in his return from a hamstring injury.
Roby still has two elevations left from the practice squad but it was an encouraging Eagles debut. It’s probably not ideal to have three starting cornerbacks over the age of 30 but that’s just the position the Eagles are in after losing Avonte Maddox to a pec tear.
It seems like the Eagles will continue to ramp up Roby’s workload with the goal of making him the full-time starter at the nickel the rest of the way.
Other defensive notes
• The Eagles crushed the Rams in time of possession on Sunday so their defense had to play just 56 snaps. Reed Blankenship, Justin Evans, Nicholas Morrow, Darius Slay and James Bradberry played all 56
• No Fletcher Cox (back) in this game so the rest of the DTs had to take over his snaps. Cox had been playing 70% through four weeks. Here’s the DT rotation from this game: Jalen Carter: 39, Milton Williams 33, Jordan Davis 23, Kentavius Street 16, Moro Ojomo 4.
• The edge rotation: Josh Sweat 40, Haason Reddick 38, Brandon Graham 18, Derek Barnett 13, Nolan Smith 8. That doesn’t seem like much for Smith but it’s a slight bump. He played 14% on Sunday after playing 11% through the first four weeks. DC Sean Desai has talked about getting Smith more snaps.
Offensive notes
• Jalen Hurts and his starting offensive line played all 79 snaps. That includes Sua Opeta, who got the start at right guard for the injured Cam Jurgens. Opeta looked fine.
• Quez Watkins returned from a hamstring injury and heavily out-snapped Olamide Zaccheaus 52-9. That’s a disparity the Eagles might want to take a closer look at over the next few weeks. It would probably make some sense to at least even that out.
• A.J. Brown played 78 of 79 snaps, while DeVonta Smith played 74. Smith had a quiet day with 1 catch for 6 yards but Brown went off again with 8 for 127.
• Dallas Goedert played 75 snaps and finally had his breakthrough performance in the receiving game. He had 8 catches on 9 targets for 117 yards and a touchdown. Jack Stoll played 22 snaps and Grant Calcaterra got 6. It was a heavier 11 personnel day.
• D’Andre Swift led the running backs with 49 snaps, while Kenny Gainwell got 30. Boston Scott did not see the field on offense. Swift had over 100 scrimmage yards in this one and continues to be an effective player.
Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts:
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube
