A Big Difference

Andy Reid took over a team that had gone 3-13 and in his second season Big Red had the Eagles at 11-5 and in the playoffs. Doug Pederson took over a 7-9 team and in his second season the Eagles won the Super Bowl.

Can Nick Sirianni get the Eagles turned around and winning big in just two years?

There is a big difference this time around. There is a lack of young talent.

1999

Troy Vincent
Bobby Taylor
Al Harris
Brian Dawkins
Jeremiah Trotter
Hugh Douglas
Tra Thomas
Donovan McNabb
Duce Staley
John Welbourn

2016

Fletcher Cox
Brandon Graham
Jordan Hicks
Vinny Curry
Carson Wentz
Jason Kelce
Lane Johnson
Isaac Seumalo
Zach Ertz

There are multiple Pro Bowl talents in each of those groups.

There is young talent on the current roster, but I just don’t think it comes anywhere close to those groups. These players have potential, but have not proven to be consistently outstanding players.

Jalen Hurts
Miles Sanders
Jalen Reagor
Dallas Goedert
Jordan Mailata
Isaac Seumalo
Travis Fulgham
Derek Barnett
Javon Hargrave
Josh Sweat
Avonte Maddox

Time will tell who in this group develops, but there is no player that has the talent of Troy Vincent or Fletcher Cox. These guys have upside, but they haven’t shown anything like that. To be fair, I did include draft picks in the other lists, but I have the benefit of hindsight and knowing how they worked out. We’ll have to see how the 2021 draft goes.

I do think Sirianni can get the Eagles turned around, but this won’t be easy. He and his staff will need to do a good job of coaching. Howie Roseman and his staff will need to start finding young talent for the roster. This isn’t a one player, one position or one year fix.

The Eagles need a lot of work.

Having a healthy O-line in 2021 will make a big difference, but there are still other issues on offense. As for the defense, the secondary needs a ton of help. LB is a mystery position. The Eagles might be better there than some think. “Might” being the key word.

The focus of this piece is young talent. The Eagles still have guys like Cox, Kelce, Johnson, Graham and Slay, but we have no idea if they’ll be here in 2022. Heck, we have to be open to the idea of some of them being question marks for 2021.

Age matters. The Eagles must focus on young players.

*****

The Eagles have made some moves already, but there is a lot more to do to get under the cap. Brandon Gowton wrote a good piece for BGN on what has happened and what is likely to happen.

BG doesn’t have anything in his piece about what the Eagles need to do to get Deshaun Watson, JJ Watt and Allen Robinson. I assume that’s an oversight that will be fixed.

*****

Jimmy Bama put up a terrific piece on Jalen Hurts. It is so hard to review his play because he was part of such an overall bad offense. You see some good traits, but lots of issues as well.

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