THERE ARE 53 players on an NFL regular-season roster, but only 46 can be activated on game day.
Last season, 23 Eagles players were inactive for at least one game, many because of injury. Only one player spent the entire season as a game-day inactive. That was rookie defensive end Taylor Hart.
He didn't play a snap. Didn't make a tackle. Didn't even get a chance to run out of the tunnel at the Linc to the roar of the crowd.
"It was tough," acknowledged Hart, a 2014 fifth-round pick from Oregon. "You just have to stay mentally strong.