Eagles 53-man roster predictions: A final guess of what happens at quarterback, with Eli Stowers, Uar Bernard, and Joshua Weru

After training camp’s final practice gave way to the Eagles preseason finale on Friday night, the final hurdle into the regular season comes on cut-down day Sunday evening.

Here’s my best guess at the roster Eagles general manager Howie Roseman will settle on by the 6 p.m. deadline.

Quarterbacks (3): Jalen Hurts, Tanner McKee, Andy Dalton

Practice squad: Cole Payton

The awkward competition between McKee and Dalton for the backup quarterback spot persisted throughout training camp and is now backfiring as the deadline for the initial 53-man roster quickly approaches.

This could go so many ways. My guess is Howie Roseman would like to trade Dalton before Sunday evening, but would be willing to carry both him and McKee on the initial 53 if that’s what it takes to regain leverage in trade talks. If that’s how it plays out, they’ll either carry four quarterbacks to preserve Payton’s rookie deal or make the rookie fifth-round pick collateral damage.

The latter isn’t an outcome I thought possible until we saw Payton barely play in each of the last preseason games. His first action against the Bengals on Friday was as a personal protector on the punt unit, which was just as peculiar as the entire summer has been for this quarterback situation.

Some will argue Payton has performed too well to get cut and that the Eagles drafted him with the intention to develop him, and I agree with both of those sentiments with a few important caveats.

The Eagles cut Kyle McCord last summer and he was selected just three picks later than they took Payton this offseason, though. And even though Payton has played significantly better in practice than McCord did, will other teams really view him much differently? Payton’s played a disappointing total of 21 snaps in the preseason as a result of the lingering No. 2 quarterback competition. For comparison’s sake, McCord played a total of 114 over the same span (!), including 68 in the third game alone. And, for the record, Payton barely played in the joint practices against the Patriots, too.

The Eagles cut McCord and got him through waivers last year. Perhaps I’m overthinking this (totally possible), but my final guess is the Eagles are hoping to do the same with Payton despite him having a much better showing behind the scenes.

Running backs (3): Saquon Barkley, Tank Bigsby, Will Shipley

Practice squad: Carson Steele

This one is far more straightforward than the quarterback spot. Steele gives the team a versatile option on the practice squad should Sean Mannion want to deploy a fullback. Preseason performances aside, I don’t suspect the team needs to stash him on the 53-man roster.

Wide receiver (5): DeVonta Smith, Makai Lemon, Dontayvion Wicks, Darius Cooper, Hollywood Brown

Practice squad: Elijah Moore, Britain Covey

Moore is a prime candidate to be called up from the practice squad for Week 1, especially given Lemon’s shaky preseason debut against the Bengals showing that the first-round rookie still has some rust to knock off post-injury.

The tricky part is Covey may also need to be one of the two permitted call-ups if the Eagles don’t trust their other options at punt returner. Lemon struggled fielding a bouncing ball as a returner on Friday, leaving them without many solid options.

Tight ends (4): Dallas Goedert, Eli Stowers, Johnny Mundt, Cam Latu

Practice squad: EJ Jenkins

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