The Eagles were almost the best team in the league last year. They might be the best team in the league this year. One thing we know for sure is that they wonât catch anyone by surprise.
Most NFL franchises say they embrace taking risks, but only a handful of teams such as the Eagles truly do. And because of those risks this offseason, the Eagles should be the favorite to win Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas, writes @GregBishopSIhttps://t.co/lnPIkmC2Le
I picked the Eagles to win the Super Bowl before last season because they had the best roster. This group is better now, so I’ll probably do it again.
Peter King put the Eagles atop his power rankings.
I think it is safe to say the team is expected to do well this year.
You might wonder if such high expectations will bring a burden that could negatively affect the team. I think Howie Roseman and Nick Sirianni would tell you as long as they have a loaded roster, theyâll happily deal with the expectations.
The Eagles did lose a lot from last Âyearâs team, but they have talented replacements in almost all of the areas. College football has taught us time and again that the best teams reload rather than rebuild. Obviously that is a bit different than the NFL, but the point is the same. If you have a good core of players, good coaches and good culture, it makes a world of difference when plugging in a new starter or key role player.
The Eagles will have quite a few new guys to mix in this year. There wonât be a drop-off in talent, just experience.
OUT
Gardner Minshew
Miles Sanders
Zach Pascal
Isaac Seumalo
Andre Dillard
Javon Hargrave
Linval Jospeh
Ndamukong Suh
TJ Edwards
Kyzir White
Chauncey Gardner-Johnson
Marcus Epps
IN
Marcus Mariota
Rashaad Penny
DâAndre Swift
Olamide Zaccheaus
Cam Jurgens (2nd yr)
Tyler Steen
Jordan Davis (2nd yr)
Jalen Carter
Derek Barnett
Nolan Smith
Marlon Tuipulotu (3rd yr)
Kentavius Street
Moro Ojomo
Nakobe Dean (2nd yr)
Nick Morrow
Reed Blankenship (2nd yr)
Terrell Edmunds
Justin Evans
Sydney Brown
Kelee Ringo
With the salary cap and a star QB with a huge deal, the Eagles have to be able to find young, cheap replacement players. On paper, it looks like they’ve done a great job. Some of these players have a ton of potential.
The veterans will help the new and young Eagles to fit in and learn the systems. The coaches will focus on teaching them the details needed to thrive in the NFL.
There is uncertainty, but there should also be excitement. If the Eagles can keep Penny healthy, he could have a big year in this offense. He’ll benefit from a great OL and the RPO game. Swift could be outstanding as well.
I think we’re all excited for the Georgia Guys (Davis, Carter, Dean and Smith). Their potential is through the roof. If they pan out as hoped, they could be the foundation of the defense for a while.
I’m sure more than a few people are fired up to see what Blankenship and Brown can do. They are young, but you have to love their athleticism and physicality. Both guys would run through a brick wall to get to the ball.
The Eagles haven’t had to force rookies into action. They have been able to mix them in. That should still be the case this season. Jordan Davis is more important than Jalen Carter right now. Nakobe Dean is more important than Nolan Smith. The second year players have to deliver. The rookies will be given a chance to play, but they won’t be expected to be starters or impact role players. The roster is deep enough that they’ll have to earn spots.
Nick Sirianni and his staff have shown that they will play rookies if the players are ready. DeVonta Smith started right away. Landon Dickerson started 13 games. Milton Williams started a pair of games and was a key role player. Kenny Gainwell was also a key role player as a rookie. I left off Williams and Gainwell off the list above because they’ve shown enough that we know they can produce in the NFL. The only question with them is if they can become impact players.
If the Eagles young talent lives up to expectations, the team has a good chance to meet the lofty preseason expectations, and that would mean another trip to the Super Bowl.
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The NFL approved the use of a gameday roster spot on an emergency third QB.
That QB can enter the game if 2 QBs are injured/disqualified. If an injured QB is cleared to return, the emergency QB must be removed.
Remember when Carson Wentz got speared in the playoffs, left with a concussion, and then Josh McCown subsequently tore his hamstring, stayed in the game, couldn't do anything, the Eagles lost, didn't bitch about it for the next 5 months, and the NFL didn't change any rules?
Posted May 21st, 2023 | Comments Off on Careful Icarus
The Eagles went to a pair of Super Bowls in six seasons, winning in 2017 and falling just short in February. They’ve got a star QB and a loaded roster. They’ve had several strong drafts (on paper), manage the salary cap at a high level and pull off an impressive trade or two every year. Life is good for Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman.
Lurie and Roseman are drawing a ton of praise for what they’ve done.
This piece from SI talks about Lurie and Roseman and how they have been smart with taking risks.
One question, in two separate interviews that stretched for more than an hour, momentarily stopped Lurie. What actually scares you? He paused, leaned back, considered. âIâve never been asked that,â he said after 10 seconds or so, buying time. Then he said, âThe thing that would scare me the most is: to do the expected. Doing the âtraditional thingâ would scare me. Realizing weâve morphed into that approach, whether in player personnel or picking coaches or offensive strategy. Thatâs a fear of mine. Iâm always on the lookout for that. Are we getting too conservative in some way?â
When you see Lurie and Roseman answer questions about their philosophy, you can tell they love it. They are proud of their success. And they should be. The Lions have never been to a Super Bowl. They played in the NFC title game in 1991. The Commanders have been a mess for decades. The Giants have two winning seasons in the past decade. Good ownership makes a difference. A good GM makes a huge difference.
No team does a better job using every avenue for player acquisition, balancing current needs with the future. The Jalen Hurts pick in 2020 was a great example of forward thinking that changed the course of the franchise. The top three picks in last year’s draft class (Jordan Davis, Cam Jurgens and Nakobe Dean) mostly had what amounted to redshirt rookie seasons, but players selected in the class before (DeVonta Smith and Landon Dickerson) helped the team nearly win a title in 2022.
The Eagles are great at self-scouting and spend a premium on line play (Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata and Josh Sweat) while finding ways to keep their productive longtime veterans like Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham. Most importantly, Roseman has nailed bringing in players just about to hit their prime, such as A.J. Brown, Haason Reddick and Javon Hargrave (the latter of whom left for San Francisco this offseason). They recognize value, whether that means scooping up James Bradberry late last offseason or finding a way to keep him and Darius Slay this time around. Hurts’ looming big contract will test Roseman’s flexibility, but this is a front office that finds answers.
Lurie is one of the senior owners in the league now, having had the Eagles for 29 years. He’s also considered one of the best.
While Lurie and Roseman should be proud of what they’ve done and how they’ve done it, there is danger in patting yourself on the back too much. The Eagles get a ton of credit for moving on from Carson Wentz following the 2020 season. That wasn’t as black and white as it appears in hindsight. The report was that the relationship between Wentz and Doug Pederson was “fractured beyond repair”. The Eagles ended up firing Pederson and hiring Nick Sirianni. Wentz still wanted out and pushed for a trade.
If Wentz hadn’t pushed for the trade, who knows what happens. Jalen Hurts was on the roster, but his four-game performance in late 2020 was hardly enough to make you think he was the long term answer with any certainty. If Wentz and Hurts competed for the job in 2021, Wentz might have won the starting role and history could be very different.
The Eagles might not have that Super Bowl ring from 2017 if not for the Giants. The Eagles were very interested in hiring Ben McAdoo as their coach back in 2016. Before they could set up a second interview, the Giants hired him. The Eagles settled for Doug Pederson, who wasn’t on anyone else’s radar. That turned out to be great luck. McAdoo struggled in NY and Pederson brought the Lombardi to Broad Street.
The Eagles just pulled off the rare feat of playing in the Super Bowl and then getting the most talented prospect in the draft. The Saints made a highly questionable trade last year that gave the Eagles their first round pick this year. The Saints delusionally thought they would be a playoff team this year and that pick would be in the mid-20s. Instead, they were bad and the pick ended up 10th overall.
That still wouldn’t have helped them land Jalen Carter unless he didn’t have major issues in the pre-draft process. Once again, the Eagles got lucky. We’ll have to wait and see if Carter pans out. If he does, the Eagles might have a stud DT as a foundational piece for the defense for years to come.
Nakobe Dean and Nolan Smith both fell in the draft. We’ll find out if the Eagles got lucky with a couple of major steals or if the rest of the league was smart to pass on them.
My point here isn’t to insult Roseman and Lurie, but rather just to serve as a reminder that luck is crucial in NFL success. You need good players more than anything. Bill Belichick is arguably the best coach in NFL history. He’s 25-25 since losing Tom Brady.
Don’t ever think you’ve got all the answers. Don’t ever think you’ve got things figured out.
The NFL is constantly changing. The ideas that worked last year may not work next year. You have to constantly be learning and adapting. This is true in terms of strategy on and off the field.
It can be easy to buy into the hype when you’re constantly getting praised.
Eagles News: PFF says Philadelphia "had another outstanding offseason" https://t.co/SRboj67nhO
— Bleeding Green Nation (@BleedingGreen) May 19, 2023
We could go on and on with the praise for Roseman and the Eagles. The media loves the Eagles right now. They win and score points. They make plays on defense. They do interesting things (QB sneaks). The media wants to see good football and they want compelling stories to cover. The Eagles check both boxes.
The praise for Lurie and Roseman will keep coming until there are some bumps in the road. For now, life is good. Enjoy it. Just remember to heed the advice of Nick Saban. He refers to external comments and outside noise as “rat poison” and preaches to his team to avoid it.
If you listen to the praise and hype, you can lose your edge.
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If you want a much funnier use of “Careful Icarus”, check out this segment from Craig Ferguson’s show.
He was nuts and incredibly funny. I miss him being a part of late night TV.
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I missed this from earlier in the week. Jimmy did a good review of D’Andrew Swift.
Really interested to see what he does in the Eagles offense.
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Jim Brown passed away on Friday.
Greatest RB of all time.
Greatest football player of all time.
Brown was a phenomenal athlete. He was tough and physical. He was also smart. Never missed a game. That’s hard to believe for a workhorse RB from that era of football. One thing to always keep in mind when watching him is that every defense he faced was geared to stop him. Teams made offseason moves with Brown in mind. They made schematic changes with Brown in mind. Some slowed him down, but nobody stopped him.
Here is a great piece on Brown by Tim Layden.
Jim Brown lived life at the intersection of important things: Football, Hollywood, race, and yes, domestic violence. I met him at his home in 2015 and talked about all of them — Before I left SI in '19, I pre-wrote this obituary. https://t.co/ZbhGxog6vj