Philly Front Office

Oh baby, now we get to the fun stuff, breaking down the Eagles roster. The Eagles have been constructed mostly through an absurd draft heater by Howie Roseman, but also through free agency and trades. I will be your Peter Jackson in dividing what could easily be one post into many and making them as long as possible. Let’s dig in.

The draft used to be Howie Roseman’s Achillies heal. He was a whiz with contracts and you better not pick up the phone with him for a trade, but drafting just wasn’t working out. For some reason, he avoided players from the powerhouse college programs and the SEC. It was always big performers from smaller or less successful schools. The 2021 draft marked a change to all that and the roster has been completely transformed. Now the team is loaded with thoroughbreds from Alabama and Georgia. The philosophy goes beyond just getting the highest recruits out of high school too. In college these guys go up against the best competition every day in practice and most have been tested in National Championship games. They come out of college tested and ready. It shows.

OFFENSE

QB1 – Jalen Hurts

What was your initial reaction to Day 2 of the Draft in 2020? Mine was “WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE DOING!!!” Not only was I still pretty mad about how Day 1 went down (Jalen Reagor over…I don’t need to remind you), but we had also just signed Carson Wentz to a huge extension less than a year ago. Still, at number 53 overall, the Philadelphia Eagles selected Jalen Hurts. We had all seen him in college and all knew his story so it wasn’t anything against Hurts, but why are we wasting a 2nd round pick on QB2 when we have so many other needs (Jeremy Chinn was right there!). Only one friend of mine was not apoplectic. His reasoning was twofold: 1. If Hurts plays well in a backup role, then we could easily flip him for multiple firsts, and 2. Even backups get paid and having a solid one on the cheap behind injury prone Wentz was a great investment. Well, Hurts had no interest in being the backup. He apparently came to practice on the first day with the mentality that he would be QB1 and it scared the hell out of Wentz. Jalen would be the starting QB for good after 12 weeks. He has led us to two Super Bowls, would have been the MVP in 2022 had he not gotten hurt in Chicago, and is the handsomest person I have ever seen.

QB3 – Tanner McKee

Who was intently watching Day 3 of the 2023 draft, specifically pick #188? Most teams, like San Francisco, don’t put much stock in QB3. Smart teams, however, use this as a breeding ground for future value. Out of Stanford, McKee is destined to be a solid and incredibly cheap QB2 for the next two seasons and will likely grab us a solid comp pick or trade once a team overpays him. Love it! (Would someone like McKee have beaten the Eagles in 2022? No, but he would have been better than Christian McCaffrey at QB.)

RB2 – Kenny Gainwell

The man with the best name possible for his position was a 5th round pick in 2021 out of Memphis. He was immediately beloved in Philly thanks to a clip of him lighting up Micah Parsons on a block in college. Any time he has touched the ball this season it seems like he has gone for ten yards.

RB3 – Will Shipley

I wouldn’t have included Shipley, a 4th round pick out of Clemson last year, but did you see what he did last week?!?!? He scored his first career touchdown, broke one for 57 yards, and caused a fumble on special teams. It isn’t crazy to say that our #3 running back is better than our #1 from the last Super Bowl.

WR2 – DeVonta Smith

Draft Day 2021 was special. Howie had already traded down from 6 to 12 and was sitting there with the Cowboys at 10 and the Giants at 11. The Cowboys didn’t need a receiver, but EVERYONE knew the Giants did. Smith was their man coming off a Heisman Trophy and an unreal National Championship Game (12 catches, 215 yards, 3 TDs in the first half!). On the clock at #10…the Philadelphia Eagles. Giants fans had an absolute meltdown as their two biggest rivals conspired against them for Smith to land in Philly. The Giants panicked and traded down and out.

TE1 – Dallas Goedert

Goedert has been on the team for a pretty long time now, since the surprisingly productive 2018 draft. After winning the Super Bowl, the Eagles traded out of the #32 spot and eventually picked Goedert at #49. It’s crazy that Lamar Jackson was the guy who ended up being picked in that spot. Jackson was a Heisman winner and a 2 (possibly 3) time MVP but this is Goedert’s second Super Bowl. No one is complaining. Also, we all love the shade of drafting someone out of obscure South Dakota State, rival to Wentz’s North Dakota State.

TE2 – Grant Calcaterra

He had one TD all year and by God it was a big one, the winner against Carolina. A football season is held together by a few moments, moments where it could all fall apart, and this was one of them. You can’t waste a season’s worth of momentum against a last place team. Calcaterra was the 198th pick in the 6th round out of SMU in 2022. As far as backup tight ends go, he does his job whenever called upon.

LT – Jordan Mailata

Best draft pick of all time? For the Eagles, I don’t think it’s even a question. The story of this pick is crazy. The 250th pick in the 2018 draft started with the Eagles, who traded it to Seattle. Seattle traded it to New England. New England traded it back to Seattle who then traded it back to Philadelphia. We traded it along with a 2019 7th rounder back to New England for pick 233. Pick 233 started with Arizona, then went to KC, before going to New England, and finally to the Birds who selected Mailata. Now this 7th rounder out of Australia is the highest rated lineman in the NFL. Bonkers.

LG – Landon Dickerson

Leading up to the 2021 Draft, everyone was talking about the QBs with 5 going in the top 15 picks (none have panned out). In the process, I remember an interview with Mac Jones where this enormous dude was doing cartwheels in the background trying to get Jones to laugh. That was Dickerson. Stories came out about him being a genuinely awesome dude including renting exercise equipment during the pandemic and putting them on his front lawn so the team could still train together. He even has the number 69 (nice…but I unfortunately bought his 51 shirsey immediately and before Matt Pryor was traded allowing Dickerson to swithc numbers). The Eagles were picking 5th on Day 2, and I was praying we would take Dickerson as the center to succeed Jason Kelce. All I could do was count down the picks and hope he would still be there. We got him. That was 2 Alabama guys in the first two rounds, too. Unheard of! Well, Kelce wasn’t ready to retire so we found ourselves one of the best guards in the game.

C – Cam Jurgens

Wait, you are telling me that Jason Kelce hand-picked his replacement who also happens to be the owner and distributer of his own brand of Beef Jerky called Beef Jurgy??? That is all we needed to hear to dismiss the initial skepticism of this second round pick out of Nebraska (personally, I was hoping we would select Nakobe Dean who fell out of the first round due to health concerns. Oh well). If anyone doubted Jurgens, what he did last week is enough to cement his status as an all-timer in the making. He was so banged up that he couldn’t start and was nearly ruled out because of a back injury. Serendipitously, he was proclaimed active only to be used in a “Break in Case of Emergency” situation. Well, there was an emergency. With Dickerson hurt now too, Jurgens played the whole second half and left the field limping with happy tears down his face. Legend.

Swing – Tyler Steen

A third round pick out of Alabama in 2023, Steen has been loosely labeled the backup to everyone on the line. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. With Cam Jurgens moving over to center from RG after Kelce retired, Steen was supposed to start. Unfortunately, he got nicked up in training camp and free agent pick up Mekhi Becton received more reps and seized the starting job all the way to a Pro Bowl nod. Still, Steen has been invaluable as a high-quality backup, even starting the NFC Championship game. We are only as strong as the next guy up and Steen makes sure that is never a weakness.

RT – Lane Johnson

The second longest tenured Eagle has been playing at an elite level for 11 years now. He has 5 All Pro selections and will likely be in the Hall of Fame. But do you remember Draft Day 2013? This was Year 1 of Chip Kelly. Tackles Eric Fisher and Luke Joeckel went off the board #1 and #2 to KC and Jacksonville. We needed line help desperately, but we were all afraid Chip was going to take his Oregon guy Deon Jordan at #4 with Lane going to Miami at #3. GOOD GOD, THAT’S THE RAIDERS MUSIC!!! Oakland traded into the 3rd spot, snagged Jordan, saved Chip from himself, and the best of the 3 tackles was an Eagle at #4. The rest is history.