Philly Front Office

I admit it, for most of my Eagles fandom I have placed extreme focus on hating the Cowboys, Giants, and one miscellaneous hatred du jour…but it is never reserved for Washington. Even when they are kind of good, they are still kind of hopeless. That all changed last week when I saw those stupid teeth of Josh Harris, bringing his ownership to the forefront of my constantly angry fan mind. The new Washington owner just happens to also be the owner of the New Jersey Devils, Crystal Palace FC, and the Phila-fucking-delphia 76ers. Not that it needs reminding, but this a-hole just took the whole city for a spin on his downtown arena roller coaster, exposing a lot of people to unwarranted grief and anxiety in the process, only to say, “never mind” when he got what he wanted. Without saying a word, he makes me cringe. So, for Sunday and the future, congratulations Josh Harris, you finally showed me how to properly hate my division rival (…and my favorite basketball team, but that’s another matter).

Last week I wrote about how the Rams were built. We laughed, we cried, we won the game…so let’s do it again.

Draft

The big one here is obviously Jayden Daniels. While the whole league was focused for years on Caleb Williams going #1, Daniels at #2 has been the best early return from the whole draft. Somehow, drafting him has completely changed the whole franchise. Let’s face it, their drafting the last few years has been objectively TERRIBLE, especially in the first round:

• 2023 – Emmanuel Forbes: AJ Brown only metaphorically ended him 4 weeks into his career…it wasn’t until this season that he was actually released.
• 2022 – Jahan Dotson: Currently on the Eagles. Granted, we did overpay for him, but he never did very much for Washington.
• 2021 – Jamin Davis: Davis could barely crack the lineup as a rookie and didn’t do very much after that. He was released mid way through this past year and bounced around a few practice squads.
• 2020 – Chase Young: Granted everyone was all over Young coming out of Ohio State, but he was always a little small, over-hyped, and hurt. Washington passed on Tua, Justin Herbert, and a slew of receivers and offensive tackles. Man I bet they wished they had done anything but drafted Young. (BTW, this is one of the most interesting drafts ever league wide…I think I smell a deep dive coming in the future)
• 2019 – Dewayne Haskins: This was a weird and bad draft. Kyler Murray was over-drafted at #1, Daniel Jones was over-drafted at #6 and, not to speak ill of the deceased, Haskins was over-drafted at #15 for Washington. Hell, Drew Lock was over-drafted at #42 by Denver. Haskins never worked out in Washington and absolutely no one was surprised. Montez Sweat WAS a good pick, but they eventually traded him to Chicago because they didn’t want to pay him.

This isn’t to say they have been terrible drafting, just terrible at the easier things. From the looks of it, they were routinely drafting for fit rather than talent and making bad choices. In the later rounds, they went for talent and had relative success. On offense the team boasts 5 starters drafted by the team, including: Daniels, RB Brian Robinson Jr. (3rd), WR Terry McLaurin (3rd), WR Dyami Brown (3rd), and rookie LT Brandon Coleman (3rd). RG Sam Cosmi was drafted by Washington in the 2nd round in 2021, but he was knocked out for the rest of the season last week against Detroit.

On defense we see the strong homegrown DT duo of Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen. Both were first round picks out of Alabama and have been with the team for years. Allen missed both Eagles games this season and, I’m not going to lie, I am not looking forward to seeing him on Sunday. Washington is 8-2 when he plays this year. Aside from those two, only CB Benjamin St. Juste (3rd) and Quan Martin (2nd) are drafted starters.

Free Agency

Almost everyone else on the team was signed via free agency (one exception) including 2 former Eagles on offense. I get legitimately sad any time I see Ertz in another uniform, especially this one. He is on a 1 year, $3m contract. We couldn’t have given him that??? Damn. Olamide Zaccheaus is not only a former Eagle but uses all 5 vowels in his name. He also is somehow a decently dynamic part of this offense. I don’t think anyone disliked him last year, but he seemed rather stagnant. It is genuinely strange to see him out there catching the ball and running with it. I know that’s a weird thing to say of a WR, but you all saw him last year!!!

On offense, 4 out of the 5 starters on the offensive line came via free agency. RG Trent Scott is basically on a minimum contract along with LG Nick Allegretti. Center Tyler Biadasz and RT Andrew Wylie both received some real money to come to Washington to fortify this unit. The contrast between what the Eagles and WFT have invested in their offensive lines is staggering. While the Eagles have drafted 4 out of their 5 starters, Washington only has 1 (really 2 because Cosmi would be in there). Whereas 4 out of 5 Eagles starters were drafted in the first or second round, no one on Washington was drafted higher than the third round (ironically, it is the 7th rounder from Australia who is the best of all of them).

The defense features no former Eagles unless you count former future Eagle Jeremy Chinn. We wanted him instead of Hurts in the draft, wanted to trade for him for years, and then wanted to sign him in free agency. He went to Carolina and now Washington respectively. Alas, it was never meant to be. The rest of the defense is a similar hodgepodge of castaway former talents with something to prove from around the league:

• Clelin Ferrel: DE originally drafted highly by the Raiders and they moved on. He has been barely clinging on to relevance in the league but may have found something in Washington.
• Dorance Armstrong: DE with solid production in Dallas before coming over with Dan Quinn. Signed to the biggest free agent contract of the bunch.
• Frankie Luvu: LB who endured some lean years with the Jets and Panthers before breaking out and signing a solid LB contract with Washington. He was second team all-pro this season.
• Bobby Wagner: Simply the best MLB in the world for a decade (11 straight first or second team All-Pro teams) while with Seattle, then LA, back to Seattle and now with Washington. They got him on the cheap too, $6m. WOULDN’T HAVE MINDED HIM OVER DEVIN WHITE
• Dante Fowler: The former Gator bust for Jacksonville has been bouncing around the league, always getting just enough sacks to get another contract. Washington got his 10.5 sacks this season on the cheap too, $3m.

Trade

In early November, Washington swung pretty big by trading for New Orleans CB Marshon Lattimore. Lattimore had been on the Eagles radar for years, always hoping to shake him free from the regularly cap-strapped Saints. Ironically, he was traded for basically the 3rd round pick the Eagles sent them for Jahan Dotson. Lattimore has helped stabilize a Washington secondary that has been lacking for years.

His season against the Eagles has been an odd one. In week 3, the Saints played the Birds in the Superdome. This was the Dallas Goedert game. AJ Brown didn’t play in that one and the Saints only gave up 15 points, but DeVonta Smith had 7 catches for 79 yards. I don’t have the numbers, but the Eagles were able to move the ball effectively that day despite shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly. He missed the first Washington/Philly tilt but was there for the Washington win later in the season. Again, I don’t have his coverage numbers, but both Brown and Smith had big days with 14 catches, 150 yards, and a TD between them. This was mostly with Kenny Pickett at the helm too. So how much is Lattimore helping them? I don’t know, but he is at least MUCH better than Emmanuel Forbes.

Conclusion

It would be way too easy for me to say that the Eagles are more talented than Washington just by looking at where they were drafted and how they were acquired. It doesn’t work like that. Dan Quinn has a defensive unit that causes turnovers and a QB who the team believes in. Those are very powerful intangibles that can change the tide of playoff games. The Eagles are the better team, but we split the regular season series. That wasn’t an accident even if some of that game seemed fluky. Washington can win by doing what Washington does and riding Daniels. We just can’t let that a-hole Harris win.