There were waves made over the weekend in Philadelphia from the Eagles' ugly 22-13 loss to the Cleveland Browns to Howie Roseman's latest trade in acquiring wide receiver John Metchie III.
Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo answered questions for the first time since Metchie was acquired from the Houston Texans on Sunday. Patullo showed excitement to having a new piece to the offense.
"Anytime you can add player like him to the room to bring more competition to the room is a really great thing. Howie does a really good job adding depth and options to work with throughout the season. As you know you need as many bodies as you can. We are excited to have him."
A question later in the press conference was asked to Patullo regarding the message it sends to the players who are fighting for a roster spot in the wide receiver room. Patullo was honest that the guys know they are fighting for more than a spot on the Eagles.
"I mean that's part of the business side. We all know that, but I think really when a guy comes in late like we have now in this situation is those other guys need to understand like, 'I still have another week to prove myself. I got to continue to work through this and do the best that I can,' and then from there, the decision comes to Howie and Nick and everyone upstairs. I think ultimately, the guys understand it's all a competitive thing and when you look at a backend roster guy, you're not only competing for our roster, but you're competing for other rosters at all times. Most guys start to understand that and those guys are in Year 1 or 2, so I think they pretty much understand where they are at with that."
Offensive Coordinator Kevin Patullo speaks with the media. #FlyEaglesFly https://t.co/zU8OxyrpNO
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) August 19, 2025
Who could Metchie take a roster spot from after the move?
It feels certain that Metchie is going to be a lock for the roster. A team doesn't trade for a player with one preseason game remaining just to release them a week later unless something bad happened.
The number one guy who is on the bubble that Eagles fans will defend to the death to keep on the team is Darius Cooper. While he didn't do much against the Browns, Cooper was the leading receiver in the Bengals' preseason win after he had six receptions for 82 yards and one touchdown. He's been a standout at training camp and is starting to build some chemistry with Jalen Hurts.
Other receivers who have had good camps who might be out is Terrace Marshall Jr. and Elijah Cooks. Both are very capable of playing and have had great training camps, but both got hurt and missed time which opened the door for Cooper to overtake them.
Another interesting group to look at is the second-year receivers, Johnny Wilson and Ainias Smith. Wilson went from being a potential cut to now being a lock with a great last two weeks of training camp. Smith's return skills on special teams and two touchdowns in the preseason could be enough to secure his spot on the roster still.
Read more: Eagles rookie is one step closer to taking starting job at training camp
No matter what happens, there are going to be good wide receivers that will be gone from the Eagles for other teams to pick up. This is a good problem to have, but it's an important decision the franchise has to make and hope they don't regret.