https://insidetheiggles.com/2019/08/...days-numbered/
The last year or so hasn’t been easy for Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman, Stefen Wisniewski. His 2017 effort was highly appreciated, and the team rewarded him for that with a nice post-Super Bowl bonus. However, that was the past. And the Eagles are focused on the present.
In 2019, the Philadelphia Eagles truly have one of the NFL’s better rosters on paper. Seeing as though they’ve done an excellent job of staying relevant within the league over the last two seasons, they most likely know how they’re going to use all of their talents on board.
Over these next two weeks, their focus will be solely on which players are going to be a part of the talent pool for the upcoming season. And out of 90 players, only 53 will be able to contribute. Over the last two years, Wisniewski was a lock to make the roster. This year, that’s not the case.
Something strange behind the scenes happened last year with Wisniewski, his teammates, and the coaching staff.
As he started the year off as a first-string left guard, the team quickly sent him to the bench for Isaac Seumalo. The decision to bench Wisniewski had the veteran guard questioning the Eagles reasons as to why that happened.
While ‘Wiz’ assumed it was locker room politics — the Eagles made it clear it was based on play alone. Whether that’s indeed the case or not, it became clear the Eagles coaching staff did not appreciate Wisniewski as much as we thought — because once the 2019 offseason got started, the team did away with his contract and set him into free agency.
A look at Wisniewski’s second and final chance
Eventually, Wisniewski made his way back to the team on a cheaper, one-year deal but that doesn’t make him a lock to stick around. As right guard Brandon Brooks recovers from a torn Achilles, the Eagles need to ensure they have reliable depth at guard.
Halapoulivaati Vaitai, not Wisniewski would get the second-team reps at guard, and the young lineman is doing a stable job at making a case for the guaranteed second-string position. Meanwhile,
Wisniewski got kicked over to center where he’s been struggling big time.
Throughout training camp, Wisniewski has been struggling with the most critical factor of the center position — snapping the ball. And unfortunately, those training camp struggles transitioned into the preseason games. Over the last two weeks, Wisniewski had the chance the change the narrative about himself in a real game setting. So far, he’s failed to do so.
In about two weeks, the Eagles will have some tough cuts to make, and realistically, Wisniewski might end up being one of them. The fact that he can play two positions could help him in this case, but if he cannot play the position that they need him at the most well right now, then he just becomes less valuable to the roster — and quite frankly, a waste of a spot.
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