By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor 
Although it was first reported a few days ago that the Birds were planning to release guard Nate Herbig, the team made the move official on Wednesday.
Roster Move: Eagles have waived C/G Nate Herbig. pic.twitter.com/QzaD4296bf
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) May 4, 2022
It is a bit of a shock to see the transaction officially his as a simple waiver. Often times a report such as this precedes a player with value getting traded for something because some team wants to make sure they aren’t outbid or the player doesn’t choose another franchise, but unfortunately that is not the case here.
It was previously reported that no trade materialized during the draft, but with that event now in the past, it’s a shock a team without the players they wanted didn’t give up a future lower pick or the Birds didn’t wait until camp when injuries begin to pile up around the league to pounce on a team in need of reinforcements.
In the end, the move is doing right by Nate Herbig, whose agent had requested the release. He won’t be on the street for long and figures to be much higher up the depth chart considering he’s better than at least half the reserves around the league.
Herbig appeared in 33 games for Philadelphia with 17 starts. They had actually tendered him a contract which he signed earlier this offseason to keep him around, but the drafting of a center in the second round seriously muddled the depth chart.
With Kelce back at center, his two formerly touted replacements (Isaac Seumalo and Landon Dickerson) currently figure to start at the guard position beside him. Perhaps Cam Jurgens figures into the conversation there, too. Jack Anderson, Kayode Awosika and Sua Opeta remain in contention for reps at guard, as well. Then there’s Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata starting at tackle with Jack Driscoll, Brett Toth, Andre Dillard and Le’Raven Clark contending for spots at the backup there. Driscoll and Toth could also play guard, giving them the positional versatility that Herbig unfortunately doesn’t necessarily do with four natural centers already on the roster.
In all, with Herbig, the Eagles were in line to have 14 real candidates for what is going to be 11 roster spots at most (typically the Eagles carry 9-10). Even after Herbig’s release, the Eagles are likely to have a bit more depth than they can keep and will either need to hope to sneak players through waivers or look to trade some of their depth in camp.
Herbig originally joined the Eagles as an undrafted free agent out of Stanford and now he figures to find himself as someone who will receive offers from multiple teams that will guarantee him a solid amount of money.
