Three official roster changes have been announced by the Philadelphia Eagles ahead of their Week 12 road game against the Buffalo Bills. A synopsis
- Quez Watkins was added to the active roster after being taken off of injured reserve.
- Ben VanSumeren, a linebacker, and Noah Togiai, a tight end, were promoted from the practice squad.
Note: Before being forced to be placed on waivers, players from the practice squad may be temporarily promoted to the active roster up to three times in a season. For VanSumeren, this is the third and last elevation; for Togiai, it is the first.
Let’s examine this information player by player.
QUEZ WATKINS
Watkins was limited in practice all week after the Eagles opened his 21-day window to return from injured reserve on Wednesday, so his activation is a bit of a surprise. Perhaps the team would like to give him an opportunity to demonstrate his readiness to play during the pregame warm-ups?
It’s safe to assume that Watkins won’t play his typical WR3 role in this game after returning from a hamstring injury. For the time being, he might play with fewer options. However, we’ll see.
Before getting hurt, Watkins wasn’t exactly setting the world on fire; this season, four of his five targets have resulted in 25 yards (5.3 average) in receptions. This comes after a difficult final stretch in 2022, when he was given more chances as a result of Dallas Goedert’s injury.
Olamide Zaccheaus, Julio Jones, and Watkins are the wide receivers who could split time behind DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown. In terms of snap counts, Jones surpassed OZ to become the third wide receiver last week; however, we’ll see if that changes for this game.
NOAH TOGIAI
Given that the Eagles are without Goedert and Grant Calcaterra, two of their top three tight ends, it was clear that Togiai would rise. For the Bills game, they now have Albert Okwuegbunam, Togiai, and Jack Stoll as their options. They shouldn’t get too excited about this group, but it’s their best option until Goedert comes back.
BEN VANSUMEREN
By promoting BVS, the Eagles not only add depth at off-ball linebacker but also gain another special teams player.
Going forward, it will be interesting to see how the Eagles handle BVS. Now that his elevations are complete, will they try to find him a spot on the roster? Is he going to remain on the practice squad? And partly because, if they can sign Darius Leonard, they won’t need him once he joins the team!? Before Week 13, we’ll see what they do.