Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Eagles Notebook

Posted June 22nd, 2026 | 1 Comment »

One of the big questions in the Eagles world right now is when will the team sign DT Jalen Carter to an extension. Carter is a special talent and was a big part of them winning the Super Bowl in 2024. The new deal would seem to be a no-brainer from that perspective.

But Carter didn’t have a great 2025 season. There was the spitting incident that cost him the entire season opener. Do you want to hand that guy $30m a year? He had shoulder injuries that cost him several games last year and affected his performance when he did play. As good as he is, he needs to mature and be more professional on a consistent basis.

So do you pay this guy?

Heck yes.

In just 11 starts last year Carter still had 3 sacks, 5 TFLs, 12 QB hits and 7 PDs. He is a difference-maker. And he plays a key position. Interior pressure is critical in today’s game. QBs can often deal with edge pressure, but they hate when guys get free up the middle.

We don’t know if the two sides are negotiating a deal now or if talks haven’t really gotten underway. The Eagles like to keep things quiet. I do understand that this will be a tough situation. Carter is young and very talented. He will want big bucks. The Eagles love the talent, but want to be careful not to just hand him a blank check because of the issues we’ve already discussed. They want to reward the player, but make sure to protect themselves as well. That’s a fine line to balance, especially since the market just changed.

The price tag won’t get any cheaper so the two sides should be working on this.

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Zack Baun is my favorite Eagle so I get excited when he says things like this.

Aside from the changes to personnel and development of the younger players in the locker room, a large reason for Baun’s excitement lies in Fangio and his system.

“I feel he’s taking things to the next level this year,” Baun said about his defensive coordinator. “Even with his own scheme, he continues to develop and tweak and change.”

Baun, having grown into his role under Fangio, now leads one of the youngest defensive rosters in the league.

“He’s a hard-nosed, old school football coach, Baun said. “If you’re willing to learn and listen to what he has to say, it could be really good for you and I think it’s been really good for this defense.”

If Fangio is getting more creative and his players are buying in, the defense could be really good. They should be better at Edge and CB2 just in terms of pure talent so it will be interesting to see how good the overall unit is this season.

It feels so good to have good LBs. That was such an issue for a long time.

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Do you need cheering up today for some reason? This will do it.

Brilliant, as expected. Mr Bama does great work on this series. Looking forward to the rest of the week, but Dallas is usually his finest work.

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In case you needed a reminder of how good Lane Johnson is…

If he stays healthy this year, that will be a huge boost to the OL.

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Louis is right. Changes or not, the expectation is for the Eagles to win. That remains the same, as it should.

Dallas hopes to win.

The Eagles expect to win.

There is a big difference.

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One quick note on the site…the PayPal button should be working now.

Thank you to the people who pointed out the issue.

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What If…Trent Dilfer

Posted June 21st, 2026 | 2 Comments »

There weren’t any compelling sporting events going on Saturday night so I decided to do some cleaning in my office. I went through my old football notebooks and stumbled across a story I had completely forgotten about. Trent Dilfer was almost an Eagles draft pick.

The story came from Gordon Forbes, who was a key NFL writer for the USA Today back in the 1990’s. I clipped the article and filed it away in one of my notebooks. They are filled with all kinds of goodies from the old days. So let’s go ahead and get into the story.

Jeffrey Lurie was in the process of buying the Eagles in the spring of 1994. He didn’t technically finish the transaction until May so he didn’t have the power to force things until that point. That doesn’t mean he didn’t try to share his ideas and vision for the future.

Lurie had been a Pats fan his whole life. He saw them go 2-14 in 1992 and then draft franchise QB Drew Bledsoe in 1993. The Pats went 5-11 that year and were much more competitive. Bledsoe gave the franchise a future. The Dallas Cowboys were coming off consecutive Super Bowl wins. The fate of that franchise changed with the drafting of QB Troy Aikman in 1989. Lurie saw that you needed a franchise QB and wanted one for his new team.

The Eagles had Randall Cunningham and Bubby Brister as their QBs at that point. Cunningham, who had just turned 31, was still a great talent, but had season ending injuries in 1991 and 1993 so durability was a major concern. He had been inconsistent when he did play in 1992 and 1993. And he had only one playoff win at that point, a wild card victory over the Saints. Brister was a solid backup, nothing more.

Lurie saw this and decided the Eagles needed to be bold. They needed a young franchise QB to build around. The Rams held the fifth pick in the draft. The Eagles had the 14th and 29th picks in the first round. Lurie had John Wooten, the team’s key personnel guy, call the Rams and propose a trade. The Rams would get Cunningham and both first round picks. The Eagles would get the fifth pick and were going to draft Trent Dilfer.

That obviously didn’t happen. The Rams traded the pick to the Colts, who then drafted Trev Alberts. That led to this famous exchange.

Dilfer went to Tampa with the sixth pick. The Eagles drafted OT Bernard Williams at 14 and traded pick 29 to Cleveland. They moved down and took DT Bruce Walker. I covered Williams and Walker in a recent post. Williams played one season at LT before getting suspended for drugs. Walker was cut in August, never playing a real down for the Eagles.

Dilfer played for Tampa from 1994-1999. He went 38-38, throwing 70 TDs and 80’s INTs. The Bucs were dysfunctional when he got there, but improved over time. Dilfer won the Super Bowl in 2000, but that was largely due to having an all-time great defense on his side, the 2000 Ravens. Dilfer was 7-1 that year, with 12 TDs and 11 picks. He never became the true franchise QB that anyone envisioned, but he wasn’t a bust like Heath Shuler, who was drafted three spots ahead of him.

What would have happened if Dilfer came to Philly?

He would have played for Rich Kotite in 1994. He would have had a better supporting cast than what he had with the Bucs as a rookie. The Eagles had Fred Barnett and Calvin Williams at receiver. They had Herschel Walker and Charlie Garner at RB. The OL was competent, but nothing special. Dilfer sat behind Craig Erickson for most of his rookie year. He did start two games, going 0-2 with a TD and 6 picks.

1995 is when things would have gotten interesting. Dilfer would have played for OC Jon Gruden. He’d have had Ricky Watters and an improved OL to play behind. Garner, Williams and Barnett were still around. That offense could have been interesting. With top coaching, Dilfer might have had a very different career. Gruden, for all his faults, is a terrific OC and can coach QBs.

The Eagles were in QB purgatory from 1994-1998. Cunningham started 1-3 in 1995 and lost his job. Rodney Peete replaced him and won games, but it wasn’t pretty. Ty Detmer came to Philly in 1996 and played when Peete got hurt. Ty showed real promise at times, but had physical limitations. Then came Bobby Hoying and Koy Detmer. Lurie didn’t get his franchise QB until 1999 and the drafting of Donovan McNabb.

It is interesting to wonder how different things might have been if they got Dilfer and he did become a franchise QB. There are no guarantees that would have happened, but he would have had a better chance in Philly with Gruden than he did in Tampa, which skewed toward defense and running the ball. They were highly conservative under Tony Dungy.

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Here is a good video for you to enjoy.

Happy Father’s Day to everyone, even Jimmy Bama.

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