Cutting Clemons?

Could Chris Clemons, the Eagles’ second highest profile free agent acquisition of the off season be cut?

 

It’s looking more and more like a possibility.

 

With Jim Johnson’s  public praise of Dan Klecko it appears that he is poised to make the team as the Eagles’ fourth defensive tackle (along with Bunkley, Patterson, and rookie Laws). Assuming the Eagles keep 9 defensive linemen total, that leaves Trent Cole, Juqua Parker, Darren Howard making the team with the Abiamiri, Clemons, and McDougle left to fill out the last two spots.

 

Abiamiri, of course, won’t be cut but his injury complicates the Eagles’ roster in this area. They could keep him on the active roster and wait the 6-8 weeks till his wrist heals. They could put him on the PUP list, which would preclude them from activating till something like the 8^th or 10^th week of the season. Or they could put him on IR and lose him for the entire season.

 

Whatever the Eagles decide to do will obviously impact the final decisions on Clemons and McDougle. All indications are that McDougle had a very good camp and the coaches are favorably disposed to the former 1^st round and star crossed defensive end.

 

And it is not without precedent that the Eagles wind up cutting one of their more high profile free agents. Remember when Jabar Gaffney was brought in to help shore up the receiving corps, only to be given his walking papers during training camp?

 

Clemons would be a more expensive mistake than Gaffney, as the Eagles would have to eat his $4 million signing bonus. Indeed, at this point that may be the only thing that keeps them from letting him go.

 

My best guess is that they essentially put off any final decisions about which of the 2 out of 3 to keep by placing Abiamiri on the physical unable to perform list, with the opportunity to activate him later this season. That would allow them to keep both Clemons and McDougle to start the season and give them plenty of games to finally see what Clemons looks like during practice and more importantly game conditions.

 

Still, it would not be a total shock to see them bid adieu to Clemons on the final roster cut down, though surely Clemons will land with another team in the very near future. Perhaps the Eagles could trade Clemons – they would still eat the signing bonus but at least they would be able to get some sort of draft pick value out of him. A trade would also keep Clemons out of the NFC East and any possibility of joining the Giants, who are so desperate for defensive end help after Umeniyora was lost for the season that they are actually considering bringing back retired Michael Strahan.