Bring your playbook, fellow.

With the meaningful part of the preseason over the Eagles are approaching personnel decision deadlines.

To wit:

August 27 (Monday) - Cutdown to 75 players by 4 p.m. This won't be real difficult. The Eagles likely will release players the Saturday after their preseason game versus the Browns.

August 31 (next Friday) - Cutdown to 53 players by 9 p.m. The more painful decisions must be made at this point, including what to do with defensive tackle Mike Patterson (brain surgery) and offensive tackle Jason Peters (Achilles' tendon surgery), who both are on the non-football injury list. This is the date vested veterans abhor as teams are obligated to guarantee their 2012 base salaries if they're still on the final roster. Releasing vested vets enables teams to bring them back on pro-rated contracts.

September 1 (next Saturday) - Practice squads begin forming at noon.

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