Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Eagles Notebook

Posted June 16th, 2026 | 1 Comment »

I didn’t anticipate any Eagles news coming out, but I was wrong. So we’re back today with current stuff. Let’s get started.

The team added a WR.

If you’re old school, that might remind you of Dameane Douglas. Ezukanma is a good returner as well as covering kicks. He has an uphill battle to make the roster, but being a good STer gives him a chance. Nick Sirianni loves dirty work receivers.

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Why am I mentioning Sorsby? There are more than a few people who think the Eagles could spend a pick on him. I would say no way, but I said that when Michael Vick was released from prison and the Eagles did sign him.

Sorsby is talented. Without the gambling stuff, he had a chance to be a first round pick in the 2027 draft. You can’t ignore the gambling problem, though, and that will hurt his value. There is also the question of whether the NFL will suspend him, even though his issue was in college. Here is Daniel Jeremiah talking about him as a player.

I would be fine with adding a talented QB, but I don’t think Jalen Hurts would be so keen on this, unless Sorsby was taken with a later pick. If you spend a second round pick on him, you’re saying this is the guy of the future. In the fourth or fifth, you’re just adding to the QB room.

Some team will take a chance on him, likely before the Eagles do. There are still teams looking for a long term solution at QB.

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Silver wrote an interesting piece on Sirianni. There isn’t a lot of new info in there, but it shows you he’s been the same guy his whole life. And it does focus on the fact he’s just trying to be himself. Buddy Ryan was over the top and people loved his act. Sirianni doesn’t get the same treatment, but he should based on the success he’s had in Philly.

You know who does love him? Saquon Barkley.

“He doesn’t get enough credit at all, in my opinion,” Barkley says. “I don’t get why he doesn’t. Like, what he’s doing, in real time, is legendary.

“If we’re being honest, no one talks about it enough. Like, we love to talk about me rushing for 2,000 yards, we love to talk about Jalen (Hurts), we love to talk about the Eagles. But he’s like the last one to get brought up, and it doesn’t really make sense.”

Sirianni has a lot of advantages with the Eagles job, but he keeps winning and that absolutely deserves more credit than he gets from some.

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Brooks Kubena and Zach Berman did a good piece wrapping up the Eagles spring for The Athletic.

Kubena: Perhaps more important than the new concepts themselves, which are only just emerging, is a strong sense coming from key players that Mannion’s plans are comprehensive, organized and pragmatic. The same could not be said in 2023 or 2025. Nick Sirianni’s stories about Mannion’s work ethic are appealing.

But it’s more revealing to hear Jalen Hurts say he can see Mannion’s vision, to hear Lane Johnson say they’ll be able to evolve and be more efficient. The Eagles failed to establish an identity in 2025, and it seems one is already surfacing — one that blends both the past and present, as Sirianni insists annually. Johnson said they can leverage their new concepts, which include more wide-zone runs, to wear defenders out by making them cover significant ground, then “really tee off on them” by possibly pivoting to a more power style later in games.

We won’t know if the offense will work until we see it in games, but Brooks offers good thoughts on why we should be encouraged.

Here is Zach on Hurts.

Berman: You nailed it with how receptive Hurts has been to changes to the offense. My sense is Hurts wants to know the “why” behind changes, and from all indications, he likes the answers Mannion is offering. On the field, it’s been hard to read too much into Hurts’ performance given the limited sample of practices and the reality that they’re still in the installation stage, so I’m not ready to say how he’ll fit in the scheme.

He doesn’t appear out of his element, though, and there could be some benefit to a blend between under center and shotgun. The Eagles need him to spread the ball around to different pass catchers, although the connection with DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert and Barkley is a meaningful carryover even with the new offense. I expect a motivated Hurts entering the season after how last season finished and the Brown trade.

A motivated Hurts is a dangerous Hurts. Let’s hope Mannion can bring out the best in him.

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Eagles Draft Stories

Posted June 15th, 2026 | 1 Comment »

We have come to the dead period in the offseason. I will be writing some retrospective pieces and some oddball stuff that hopefully will be entertaining. For today I’ve got some interesting draft nuggets from over the years.

Back in 2001 my favorite prospect was a DE from Ole Miss. His name was Derrick Burgess. I liked his overall game, but there was a 2-play sequence that really sold me on him. Ole Miss and Mississippi State are bitter rivals. They face each other late in the season in a game called the Egg Bowl and it has had some wild stuff happen over the years. The teams genuinely do not like each other and it shows.

The TE for MSU had a good block on Burgess and let him know about it. Burgess didn’t respond. On the next play he ran over the TE and disrupted the play. Anyone can talk. I preferred him getting revenge in a better way. I was thrilled when the Eagles drafted him. Burgess was talented, but also really intense. I mean really intense.

The veteran DL had a tradition of having rookies bring chicken when the team had a train ride down to DC. Burgess showed up without any chicken and caught some grief for it. He responded to the veteran to “get your own f’in chicken”. He might have been a rookie, but wasn’t going to put up with BS from anybody.

Sadly, injuries limited him to 30 games as an Eagle. His high moment cmae in the 2004 NFC title game when he sacked Michael Vick twice and helped the Eagles get to the Super Bowl, where he had another sack. Burgess went to Oakland as a free agent after that and made a couple of Pro Bowls while racking up 38.5 sacks.

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Back in 1986 the Eagles took LB Alonzo Johnson in the second round and DE Dan McMillen in the fifth round. You probably don’t remember them. They combined to play three very forgettable seasons for the Eagles. It is a good thing that Buddy Ryan double-dipped by going for another LB and DE later in the draft. Seth Joyner was an eighth round pick and Clyde Simmons went in the ninth round. Both became All-Pros and had borderline Hall of Fame careers. You never know which player is going to work out and which one isn’t. A good modern example would be 2011 when Danny Watkins became a first round bust and Jason Kelce was taken in the sixth round and is on his way to Canton.

In 1990 Buddy took WR Mike Bellamy in the second round. I remember watching him at Illinois. He was a terrific college player, but only lasted one season in the NFL. Third rounder Fred Barnett and fifth rounder Calvin Williams combined to be a great receiving tandem through 1995.

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Ray Rhodes was a great motivator and good coach. His personnel moves were very mixed, especially on defense. He had this habit of projecting players to unrealistic levels. In 1995 he traded up for Mike Mamula, hoping he would be a Charles Haley type of pass rusher for the Eagles. Mamula was better than he’s given credit for, but never came close to being Haley, who was dominant. Mamula started 64 games for the Eagles and had 31.5 sacks and 9 FF. Injuries ended his career early. Here is the breakout game for him from his rookie year.

In 1997 Rhodes fell in love with another DE. This one wasn’t a Combine star, but rather a big guy who Ray felt could be the next Too Tall Jones kind of player. I’m talking about Jon Harris who was 6-7, 280. He was a so-so athlete. Rhodes fell in love with his size and length. B-u-s-t. Harris played for the Eagles for two years and then was out of the league. He started 8 games and had 2 sacks and 59 tackles. Most people thought Harris was a third round player. Rhodes took him 25th overall. DE Trevor Pryce went 28th overall. He played 14 years and finished with 91 sacks. And he was 6-5, 290, hardly a Muchkin. Ugh.

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People can talk about the Eagles struggling to find LBs over the years. I actually noticed an interesting trend. If they draft a MLB, do it in the third round and there is a good chance it will work out.

1998 – Jeremiah Trotter
2007 – Stewart Bradley
2015 – Jordan Hicks
2022 – Nakobe Dean

Kinda crazy. Bradley was on his way to being a star when he tore up his knee in the summer of 2009. He was great in 2008.

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The Eagles had a major hole at LT for years. I remember reading Dr. Z’s draft preview in SI in 1994 and he had the team taking Georgia star OT Bernard Williams. I was thrilled at the idea of finally solving LT. The Eagles took him 14th overall and he started all 16 games as a rookie. Life seemed good. There was a small problem, though. Williams had two hobbies. He loved playing basketball and…getting high. Williams failed multiple drug tests over the next couple of years. He never played in the NFL again. What a waste of talent.

Bruce Walker makes Bernard Williams look like a HOFer. Walker was a big DT from UCLA, going 6-3, 326. The Eagles spent a second round pick on him, also in the 1994 draft. Walker was talented, but he was suspended for his senior season due to a criminal issue. Can you imagine taking that guy in the second round? Heck, he was probably off a lot of draft boards completely. He never played a game for the Eagles. They released him in August after drafting him in April. Just insane.

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I feel pretty confident that the 1992 draft is the best name draft in Eagles history. They took punter Pumpy Tudors in the 11th round and LB Ephesians Bartley in the 9th round.

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