Peeking Ahead

The 2024 season turned out to be pretty special for the Eagles. Next season has the potential to be special as well. The Eagles have a lot of talented players coming back so the future could be a lot of fun.

If the team didn’t make a move this offseason the roster would be in a good place.

OFFENSE

DEFENSE

There are holes to fill and depth is needed, but that is still a very good starting point. 31 other teams would love to be in this position.

The good news is that the Eagles have cap room so they can make some signings and they have 7 draft picks to work with. Plus, trades are also a possibility. Howie Roseman is always looking for ways to boost the roster.

Before you look at adding talent, you should always focus on the current players. Is there still room for them to improve? The Eagles have a lot of young guys so there is still room for growth. Player development is crucial for sustaining success. Think about the progress we saw from Nolan Smith. He was a at one level in September and at a very different place in January. Jalyx Hunt made tremendous strides as a rookie. He was a key contributor in the Super Bowl. Both players should be even better in 2025.

Vic Fangio likes to point out that players improve with reps, in both practice and games. The more you do something, the better you do it. The rookies from last year should take a big step forward. Even standouts like Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean should improve. I’m still interested to see what happens with Bryce Huff. He was an outstanding pass rusher back in 2023. Watch this to remember why the Eagles wanted him.

Bryce Huff was 5th overall in HQ pressures per snap and 8th in HQ sacks per snap among all rushers. Runs under a table using the ghost technique for a HQ sack here. 2024 free agent too! pic.twitter.com/ikLtGbN8D0

— Brandon Thorn (@BrandonThornNFL) January 12, 2024

That talent is still there. If Fangio and Clint Hurtt can get Huff to adjust to this scheme and style of play, he could be a key player in 2025.

It will be interesting to see how Howie approaches the offseason. Does he aggressively pursue Myles Garrett? Or does Howie see the recent success in the draft and decide to keep adding young talent to the core? There isn’t a right answer. Both paths can lead to success. Without adding talent, the Eagles probably still have the best overall roster. The key is understanding how to best enhance the spot the Eagles are in.

I’m curious to see if other players look at Philly as a preferred destination. Call this the Baun-Barkley Effect. Role players saw Zack Baun go from a dude to The Dude. You know there are going to be a lot of guys thinking they have the same potential. Some star players will see how Saquon went from Pro Bowl player to all-time special and wonder if the Eagles can do that for them. This is something to keep an eye on.

Howie and Nick Sirianni did a great job at adding the right kind of people a year ago. Baun and Barkley were great teammates and leaders. They came to Philly to be part of the Eagles. They bought into the culture and it helped bring out the best in them. As much as the front office wants to add talent, they also need to be the right kind of people.

Some people are wondering if the Eagles could be beginning a dynasty of their own. The core pieces are in place for something like that, but sustaining success at the highest level isn’t easy. I do think the Eagles are in a better place than the 2018 team. Josh Adams led that team in rushing and they finished 28th in the league with their ground game. Yikes. The defense struggled to force turnovers. There wasn’t enough young talent in place. That won’t be the case this time around.

2025 should be a fun season. With the right moves, the Eagles could have another great roster set to make a run at another Super Bowl.

*****

I hadn’t seen this angle before. Pretty cool.

Still not over this moment.

Will never be over this moment.pic.twitter.com/picIbLOiE5

— Eagles Fan Central (@PhilaFanCentral) February 22, 2025

Something struck me as I watched that. The Eagles never trailed in the playoffs by more than 3 points. They trailed the Rams 7-6 in the first quarter and then led or were tied the rest of the game. The Eagles trailed the Commanders 3-0 early on and then led the rest of the way.

That truly was a dominant playoff run.

_

Bumps in the Road

After watching the Eagles blow out the Chiefs in the Super Bowl it is pretty easy to think about what a great season 2024 was. It feels like everything went the Eagles way. You know opposing fans certainly feel like that. “Lucky Eagles had it so easy last year.”

That wasn’t exactly the case.

The Eagles did have to overcome some adversity along the way to their second SB title. Go back almost a year. The Eagles signed Devin White to be the veteran off-ball LB. The plan was for Tyler Steen to be the RG. DeVante Parker was going to be the #3 receiver. There were questions about whether Josh Sweat would be cut or traded. Star pass rusher Haason Reddick pushed for a raise and had to be traded. Bryce Huff was signed to be his replacement.

The Eagles made depth signings like DB Tyler Hall, OL Matt Hennessy and DL PJ Mustipher. They lost quality depth in free agency, with Sua Opeta, Jack Driscoll and Jack Stoll all signing elsewhere. Avonte Maddox was released.

How did these plans and moves work?

• White never panned out and was released early in the season.
• Steen got hurt in Training Camp and the Eagles put Mekhi Becton in at RG.
• Parker retired in May
• Sweat took a pay cut to stay in Philly.
• Reddick was traded to the Jets.
• Huff had a very disappointing season.
• Hall, Hennessy and Mustipher all got cut.
• Driscoll and Stoll ended up coming back to Philly. Maddox re-signed.

Howie Roseman had one of the greatest offseasons in league history, but plenty of things still went wrong or didn’t work out as planned. The key is that Howie hit several home runs.

• Signing Saquon Barkley
• Signing Mekhi Becton
• Signing Zack Baun
• Bringing back CJGJ
• Drafting Quinyon Mitchell
• Drafting Cooper DeJean
• Drafting Jalyx Hunt

You can miss on a few moves if you come up with ones that work like those did. Barkley was an MVP candidate. Baun was a Defensive Player of the Year candidate. Mitchell was a Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate.

There were injuries that had to be overcome. Key players missed multiple starts.

• Jalen Hurts
• AJ Brown
• Jordan Mailata
• Dallas Goedert
• DeVonta Smith
• Britain Covey
• Ben VanSumeren
• Darius Slay
• Brandon Graham
• Bryce Huff
• Nakobe Dean

A lot of backups came up big this year. Fred Johnson started at LT and RT along the way and did a solid job. Isaiah Rodgers replaced Slay at times and made some key plays. Kenny Pickett and Tanner McKee each started at QB and won a game. Everyone wondered if losing BG for the season would hurt the defense. He made big plays in the win over the Rams before getting hurt. Vic Fangio said he had confidence in Sweat, Smith and Hunt. He said that trio could get the job done. And they did.

The postseason wasn’t smooth sailing either. Dean got hurt in the postseason and Oren Burks had to step in for him. Burks was terrific in the win over Washington with 9 tackles, a sack and a FF. He then added 5 tackles in the SB. The defense didn’t miss a beat. Kudos to Burks and the coaching staff.

Cam Jurgens hurt his back and couldn’t start the NFC title game. Landon Dickerson moved to center and started. He hurt his knee in the first half. Jurgens took over at center in the second half. Neither guy was 100 percent in the Super Bowl. They will both have offseason surgery. And they weren’t alone.

#Eagles LB Nolan Smith is Super tough. The young pass rusher suffered a torn triceps during the Super Bowl win over the #Chiefs and played through it, sources tell me and @RapSheet.

Smith had surgery Wednesday. He’s expected to be ready for the start of the season. pic.twitter.com/Knm8NZOCGm

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) February 21, 2025

Since this is Philly there had to be some drama along the way. Jalen Hurts didn’t say the right thing to the media when asked about Nick Sirianni and that turned into a bunch of talk about whether the two could get along and succeed together. AJ Brown had some critical comments after a game and that led a lot of talk about the passing game.

Nick Sirianni got into it with some fans in the win over the Browns. The team was just 3-2 at the time and the media ran with that situation, turning it into a referendum on whether Sirianni should get fired. That seems utterly ridiculous to say at this point, but was a real thing back in early October.

There was a lot of debate on whether Saquon Barkley should have a chance to break Eric Dickerson’s rushing record. Sirianni chose to sit Saquon and most of the starters to get them rested for the postseason. That worked out pretty well.

2024 seemed like a fairy tale season because of Barkley, Baun and the SB. But when you look back, there were some issues that had to be dealt with. The Eagles had to overcome some adversity. The 2017 team had to deal with adversity as well. Both teams kept their eyes on the prize and didn’t let anything stop them. Those are good lessons for future Eagles teams. Heck that applies to real life as well. Things aren’t always going to be easy. Things don’t always go as planned. Just keep battling.

*****

Kellen Moore hired Brandon Staley to be the Saints defensive coordinator. Staley did a great job with the Rams defense in 2020 so this is a solid hire that could work out well.

Eagles DB coach Christian Parker interviewed for the job, but luckily gets to stay with the Eagles for at least another year. Parker did a great job with the secondary this season. It will be interesting to see if he can get Sydney Brown and Kelee Ringo to become starters or key role players. Both did great on STs last year. It would be good to see them develop as DBs.

_