The Hunter vs The Hunted

One of the fun parts of winning the Super Bowl is being the King of the Hill. All 31 teams look at you with envy. They want to be champs. That means the Eagles will have a target on their back. The rest of the league is coming after them.

Think about what the Eagles did. They went 16-1 after a 2-2 start. The only loss came when the starting QB got hurt in the game. The Eagles won the NFC championship by 32 points. They led the Super Bowl 34-0, before having to settle for a final score of 40-22. The Chiefs have 3 SB wins, but had to come from behind in all of those games. The 3 wins were by a total of 17 points. That should offer some perspective on just how dominant the Eagles were last season.

With that in mind, teams have spent the offseason building their rosters to better compete with the Eagles. Most recently, Dallas made a move that felt like it had the Eagles in mind.

Trade Compensation News: I’m told the #Cowboys plan to trade for #Steelers WR George Pickens includes giving Pittsburgh a 2026 3rd-round pick and swapping a 2027 5th-round for Pittsburgh’s 2027 6th. pic.twitter.com/jS2iuk3Qt8

— JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) May 7, 2025

Dallas has a franchise QB. They have a handful of other stars. But the roster also had clear holes. The only way for them to truly compete with the Eagles was to take some chances. Pickens is a very talented receiver. He’s got enormous potential. He also has real issues. Pickens fell out of the first round in the draft because coaches and teammates were critical of him. The Steelers, who don’t have a lot of offensive weapons, were willing to walk away from Pickens for a future pick because they got tired of his act. He’s also in the final year of his contract so Dallas might only have him for a season. Lots of risk.

There is a big reward if he is focused and quits with the nonsense. He just hasn’t done that in a while. Pickens does a really good job of working the sidelines and going downfield. Combine that with CeeDee Lamb working the middle of the field and Dak Prescott could put up some big numbers. Prescott needs protection. Dallas took OG Tyler Booker in the first round. Booker will line up across from Jalen Carter. I don’t think Dallas wanted to put just anyone in that spot.

Washington had a breakout season last year, making it all the way to the NFC title game. They have a great young QB and it felt like the logical thing would have been to build a young nucleus around him. Instead, the Commanders added older players with the idea of catching the Eagles right now. Deebo Samuel has been a game-breaker in the past, but is coming off a disappointing season. He is now 29 and you have to wonder if his best days are behind him. Washington also traded for LT Laremy Tunsil, who will turn 31 this summer. They also added older vets like DB Jonathan Jones, SS Will Harris, and DT Eddie Goldman. They re-signed 35-year old Bobby Wagner. Odd moves.

The Commanders might be better this year, but not necessarily. And it seems like the best teams in recent years have had a lot of young talent. The Commanders have one great young star and some nice pieces, but nothing like the young core the Eagles have in place.

The Giants have been treading water in a sea of mediocrity for a long time. They have some good young pieces in place, but adding Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston felt desperate. The Saquon Barkley debacle and Eagles winning the SB has put a lot of pressure on the coach and GM. They are trying to build for the future, while also competing with the rest of the division. Maybe they can pull it off, but that sure feels tough to do with that roster. It really doesn’t matter who is at QB if the OL doesn’t play better.

Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith and Nakobe Dean accounted for 5-of-8 sacks for the #Eagles defense on Sunday

The former @GeorgiaFootball stars played off each other well in the win over the Giants #DawgsInTheNFL

pic.twitter.com/BhXfsCC5Vw

— Fran Duffy (@FDuffyNFL) October 22, 2024

I honestly can’t figure SF out. The Niners let go of some veterans in the offseason and feel like they are on a bit of a youth movement. But they did keep some older players around for another year or two. They still haven’t given Brock Purdy his extension. We don’t know if Brandon Aiyuk is going to remain with SF. They could still trade him after June 1st. The Niners need to worry about making the postseason, which is no guarantee. If the key guys stay healthy, they could be good, but SF has had injury issues a lot in recent years.

The Chiefs definitely have had the SB on their mind all offseason. They signed OT Jaylon Moore away from SF. They spent their first round pick on LT Josh Simmons from Ohio State. Kingsley Suamataia was drafted last year to be an OT, but he struggled to get on the field. KC will now move him to LG to compete for the spot opened up by the trading of Joe Thuney. The Chiefs used the franchise tag on RG Trey Smith to keep a strong C-RG duo to build around.

KC added another WR to the mix to make sure Patrick Mahomes has better weapons. If their receiving corps stays healthy, they could be vastly improved this season. The Chiefs added a couple of pass rushers in the draft. They didn’t pressure Jalen Hurts too much unless blitzing. They want to do a better job if they run into the Eagles again.

Buffalo was affected by the Eagles indirectly. The Bills lost 32-29 to KC in the AFC title game last year. Mahomes was sacked twice, but generally had time to throw. Buffalo just didn’t have answers for KC’s offense. Buffalo allowed 27 and 42 points to the Chiefs in the previous two postseason meetings. You know watching the Eagles defense dominate had to drive the Bills crazy. So they went and did something about it.

Buffalo added DE Joey Bosa in free agency. They signed Michael Hoecht and Larry Ogunjobi as well. Then they drafted DTs TJ Sanders and Deone Walker. And Buffalo took DE Landon Jackson in the second round. The Bills have 12 DL who have a good chance to make the roster. They are crazy deep. They clearly want competition to help them build the best DL possible. It is also interesting that several of those players are on the bigger side. Forget fastballs. They want hammers. You have to keep Mahomes in the pocket to really slow him down. The best way to do that is with power rushes.

Philadelphia’s pass rush took over the game and they didn’t even need to blitz or get much from Jalen Carter (besides a holding penalty)

– 2.5 sk/8 prs from Josh Sweat, including the pressure that forced Mahomes’ 2nd INT
– Jalyx Hunt out of nowhere was beating Joe Thuney with… pic.twitter.com/c2ZxV6U1Fz

— James Foster (@NoFlagsFilm) February 10, 2025

I don’t think I will ever get tired of watching those highlights. What a magical evening. I am curious to see if Buffalo is able to turn their plans into results. On paper, that DL should be really good. Will it be enough for them to finally beat Mahomes in the playoffs? I sure hope so for their sake.

The 2017 Eagles won the Super Bowl. The 2018 team did not deal well with that pressure, due to injuries, changes and some poor offseason moves. It feels like this Eagles team is much better suited to having everyone come after them. The vast majority of starters are back. There is still plenty of star power. The team is relatively healthy and there weren’t a ton of coaching changes.

It will be interesting to see how all of these offseason strategies work out. Things that look good on paper can turn out poorly in reality. The best laid plans of mice and men…

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