Philly Front Office

The last 24 hours in Eagles doom scrolling has been ridiculous:

“The Eagles have lost half their defense!”

“Are we even trying to compete next year?”

“What are we doing!”

Granted most of it is clickbait designed for a response, but don’t let that negativity seep into your Super Bowl hangover. The Eagles are still the class of the NFL and they have a plan. If you see any of the following complaints, take a breath, and know that the Eagles know what they are doing…

Complaint #1: We are losing too many players in free agency

So far in free agency we have lost Milton Williams, Josh Sweat, Isaiah Rodgers, and Kenny Gainwell. Mekhi Becton will surely be gone as well. Yes, three of those five were starters, but NONE OF THEM are considered our best players at their positions.

• Williams was our second-best player at a position which is probably our deepest, Defensive Tackle. Not only was Moro Ojomo incredibly productive in his not-as-limited-as-you-think action, but we will almost certainly draft another replacement.
• Sweat was almost cut last year before he reworked his contract. Nolan Smith became far and away our best EDGE rusher and, before he was hurt, Brandon Graham was probably second. By the end of the season, Jalyx Hunt was right behind Sweat and will be stepping into that role this season in only his second year. Expect the Eagles to not only draft this position but sign some specialists in the next few days as well.
• Becton was our 5th best lineman! And even he was in a camp battle with Tyler Steen who happens to still be here. This is a position that has become a revolving door that Jeff Stoutland keeps sending bodies through. Next up is Kenyon Green. From the …well it’s not Birds With Friends anymore…podcast, the scouting report on Green is that he has all the tools and none of the technique. Could there be a better enrollee in Stoutland U?

None of those five were considered starters when the season started. Williams was a steady assent up the depth chart, Sweat was almost cut before he restructured his contract, and Becton wasn’t on the team. Just because they were starters doesn’t mean they were stars.

Complaint #2: YOU JUST DELIBERATELY LEFT OUT CJGJ

Calm down, I was getting to him. Will we miss his attitude? Absolutely. I still blame not having him on the team two seasons ago as the reason we fell apart on defense. A lot has changed since then. That season Carter and Smith were rookies and Fletcher Cox was Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon. Now those two are not just older and better, they are meaner too. They get it. Both are now entering what amounts to contract years and are just getting to their primes. They are ascending talents. Zack Baun and Nakobe Dean have becomes leaders as well, leaders that team didn’t have. We needed CJGJ the last two years. We don’t need him anymore. Granted, I would still like to have him, but we don’t need him.

He was probably our 4th or even 5th best DB last season. I do think we need to add a safety, but it’s not like he was doing typical safety things like single coverage. We have Cooper DeJean for that. In this defense DeJean makes CJGJ a luxury, not an essential.

In all sports having an annoying player on your own team is WAY better than having him play for a rival. I HATE Brandon Nimmo and Jesse Winker, but I still love Shane Victorino. So losing CJ Gardner Johnson in that regard isn’t great, but at least he isn’t in Washington. Speaking of which…

Complaint #3: Washington has moved past us

This might be the most infuriating bullshit I’ve heard the last week. Washington is playing this offseason like they were a turnover away from being the best team in the NFC rather than being an overachieving 6th seed that got hot and lucky in the playoffs.

Their defense stinks and it got worse. Jonathan Allen always gave the Eagles problems, and they let him go. They paid almost as much for his replacement Javon Kinlaw who just plain is not very good. They also lost Jeramy Chinn. This is a group that had no answers for our offense at all and didn’t get any better. They acted like the league was in cahoots with the Eagles for Frankie Luvu’s nonsense on the Tush Push in the conference championship. In reality they were a desperate team that was out of answers and decided to cheat repeatedly then complain about it.

On offense they traded for Leramy Tunsil (31) and Deebo Samuel (29), spending a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and a 5th rounder in the process over the next two years. They also spent a 3rd on Marshon Lattimore (29) during the season. Because they have drafted so poorly over the years, they are an old team with a young QB. Signing older free agents while you have cap space is one thing, but selling draft picks for guys who might be washed (Tunsil and Deebo just had their worst seasons by the way) is a bad move. Washington also resigned Bobby Wagner (35) and Zack Ertz (34) while letting Dyami Brown (25) and Jeramy Chinn (27) walk. They are getting older and not necessarily better.

The Eagles on the other hand traded for two 5th rounders and will likely receive a 3rd, 4th, 6th, and possibly another 4th for Becton in compensatory picks next season. We also have an extra 3rd rounder from the Haasan Reddick trade. So, while Washington is hemorrhaging picks on older players, we are stockpiling assets.

Complaint #4: We are too young

This is the single dumbest complaint I have seen. Yes, being young does not always mean good, but look around…OUR BEST PLAYERS ARE SUPER YOUNG. Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith just finished their second year in the league. Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean were rookies. All four are All Pro caliber players and 24 or younger. They are not even considered in their primes yet which means they are getting better and will continue to do so. This defense is so young that it could very easily be even better next season simply by having more experience. Fun fact, only four people on the roster are older than 29 and two of them are on special teams.

Complaint #5: Can we trust the offense?

This is just trolling at this point. Despite winning Super Bowl MVP, people still want to rag on Jalen Hurts. Simply ignore them. He has proven that he can win every way possible. While every QB is given credit for the supporting cast around them, Hurts has his credit taken away. This is despite the wins and the accolades.

Look around the league (I did) and tell me who you would realistically change places with at QB. Who? Mahomes, sure, he is a no brainer. Anyone else? If you say anyone other than Josh Allen and Joe Burrow, you are going to have to really explain yourself. No one else comes particularly close to the resume that Jalen has. In fact, most don’t even have a single important win let alone a 6-3 playoff record. Some have bigger arms, but no one plays better in big games than Jalen Hurts. If he has not convinced you of that by now, you just don’t want to be convinced.

Complaint #6: Other teams are making moves and we aren’t!

Where would you like the team to make moves? The offense is almost entirely intact from last season. The only position that did not have a succession plan in place was linebacker and we just resigned Zack Baun. That was the move. Everywhere else we were prepared with in-house options. Would you have liked us to sign…who exactly? I can’t even think of an example of someone out there who would have made the team better. Josh Sweat was just paid like a top EDGE rusher in the league. He isn’t. Carlton Davis and Byron Murphy just got paid like CB1s. They aren’t. Would you have preferred to overpay these guys? Do you know what that would mean…

Complaint #7: What are we doing???

Simply, there is a plan in place. I wrote yesterday that you don’t overpay “good” players. The Eagles are ready to pay top dollar for “great” players, but overpaying good players is where you get in trouble. We have been very successful lately at drafting both good and great players, but you can’t depend on always getting the great ones. However, if you believe in your evaluators and your coaches, you should be able to rely on a steady stream of at least good talent being able to step up and then replaced. That’s why you can’t pay the Josh Sweats and Milton Williamses of the world.

On offense, we are already paying a lot of the great players we have drafted like Jalen Hurts, Jordan Mailata, and DeVonta Smith. Next, the defense will need to get theirs. Next year we will look to extend Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith with Mitchell and DeJean up the year after. None of these deals will be cheap. Howie Roseman is a cap wizard, but it will still be a considerable amount of money. If you want to keep Sweat or Williams, which one of these guys are you willing to let walk? That’s what I thought.

Complaint #8: But we don’t have to extend those guys right away, we can do both!

No. Just no. Look at public enemy number…well 2. The Chiefs are probably still number 1 right now, but I mean the Dallas Cowboys. Instead of signing their guys to extensions right away, they wait several years because they do not think the players are being reasonable with their contract demands. Instead of signing them to top of the market deals the first year eligible, they wait for other players to sign first and thus end up paying more. A rising tide lifts all boats. Dak Prescott is the highest paid QB in the league at $60m AAV. For a minute it was Jalen Hurts at $51m. He is only entering the second year of that extension (he still had time on his rookie deal) and will already be out of the top-10 once Brock Purdy re-signs. Dallas is currently doing this with Micah Parsons. Instead of getting him at top of the market value last year, just over Nick Bosa’s 5/$170m ($34m AAV) contract, they now have to deal with Myles Garrett getting 4/$160m. They probably could have signed Parsons for somewhere in between those two contracts last off season, but no. Parsons isn’t going to sign for less than 5/$200m now. Is that what you want the Eagles to do with Carter, and Smith, and Mitchell, and DeJean??? Doing it with any of them would be short sighted.

All you need to know

I am sure there are other complaints out there and I can’t get to them all. Just know this:

• The Eagles have the best front office in sports. Not just football, all of sports. They know what they are doing.
• We did not lose any blue-chip talent. Zack Baun was the only one possibly leaving and he is back.
• None of our rivals got any better (I didn’t go too far into this, but I will next week)
• Our entire roster is either already in or entering its prime, except for still All Pro Lane Johnson
• We didn’t just win the Super Bowl, we kicked the shit out of the “inevitable” Chiefs