I know we are all starved for football right now with training camp just starting and the season still an agonizing month away, but don’t let that lower your standards for content by engaging with outlets that do not understand what’s going on with the Eagles. The local media is just dying for something negative to print and even goes so far as to publish practice stats (ESP really is the worst). The national media seems to be stuck on the same idea that Jalen Hurts simply isn’t good enough to take a team to the Super Bowl (despite doing it twice). Either way, you don’t need this nonsense. You already KNOW the Eagles are good. And deep. And young.
The Defense
Do you realize just how good and just how young this defense is?
| Position | Name | Age |
| EDGE1 | Jonathan Greenard | 29 |
| DT1 | Jalen Carter | 25 |
| DT2 | Jordan Davis | 26 |
| EDGE2 | Nolan Smith | 25 |
| EDGE3 | Jalyx Hunt | 25 |
| LB1 | Zack Baun | 29 |
| LB2 | Jihaad Campbell | 22 |
| CB1 | Quinyon Mitchell | 24 |
| S1 | Cooper DeJean | 23 |
| S2 | Andrew Mukuba | 23 |
| CB2 | Riq Woolen | 27 |
| *DT3 | Moro Ojomo | 24 |
There are 4 All Pros on that list, 7 first and second round picks, and 6 guys playing for likely enormous contract extensions. It has the chance to be very special. That’s not even the best part though because the most important person on the defense isn’t even on there!
If Vic Fangio isn’t the #1 Defensive Coordinator in the NFL, he’s on a very short list. Over the last two seasons, he has taken the same talent that fell apart in 2023 and made it into one of the best units in football including an absolutely dominating run to a Super Bowl title. No matter who the Eagles are playing you have nothing but confidence that Vic will be able to diagnose their gameplan, put together a strategy to stop it, and put his players in a position to succeed. It is not only a dependable safety net but a huge advantage.
The stars on the defense are of the megawatt variety. Carter, Quinyon, DeJean, Baun, and maybe even Greenard would each be the best player on most defenses. The Eagles have all of them. We could talk about them all day, but it is the depth that makes this unit truly scary. Moro Ojomo and Jalyx Hunt are names non-Eagles fans have never heard of. We know them as future stars. Riq Woolen is the 3rd best CB on this team and Jeremiah Trotter Jr isn’t even starting. It is really an embarrassment of riches on this end.
All that being said, I can’t get over the youth. While most teams look to vets to fill their holes, the Eagles are leaning on their own drafted and developed prospects at 9 of these 12 spots. Are you kidding me with that? They aren’t just good, they are getting better and probably haven’t hit their ceilings yet. The free agents the Eagles did bring in are top tier talents, not place fillers.
This unit has a chance to be one of the best ever. Every level has game wreckers that offenses will have to plan against. Good luck with that. I’m sure QBs will have enough time to thread a needle between Q and Coop with Carter, Ojomo, Greenard, and Hunt coming after them.
The Offense
Last year the Eagles offense often seemed stuck in the mud. People wanted to blame Jalen Hurts and AJ Brown constantly being a distraction wasn’t helping, but anyone with eyeballs could see that the problem was the offensive coordinator (and to a lesser extent, a head coach who did not have any answers). After the Bears kicked the Eagles ass on Black Friday, former Eagle CJGJ made it clear that his defense knew exactly what was coming. Hell, I’m sure you watching at home knew exactly what was coming at times just by knowing the formation. For those old enough to remember, when the defense knows what’s coming, it’s like picking the right play in Tecmo Bowl. The offense is toast.
Considering Kevin Patullo had literally never called a play or designed an offense before in his life, this was understandable (but incredibly stupid obviously). Now we have Sean Mannion. If he is even competent as a middle of the pack OC, the Eagles are going to do just fine. If he’s actually good at this though, which by all accounts so far he is, then watch out.
Now for the offense itself. The WR room is probably better today without AJ Brown thanks to no one playing football half out the door. The drops Brown had toward the end of the season and in the playoffs were as much out of character as they were unacceptable. The guys left in the room are all football diehards who you do not have to worry about getting distracted, led by football first, last, and only guys DeVonta Smith and rookie Makai Lemon. Dontayvion Wicks, Hollywood Brown, and Darius Cooper round out a receiver room where everyone has a usable NFL skillset and Brown is by far the oldest at 29 (DeVonta is 2nd at 27).
The offensive line struggled last season thanks to health issues for Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens, and Lane Johnson. Dickerson and Jurgens both never recovered from the 2024 season that saw them putting their bodies in harm’s way for the good of the team. They are now both fully recovered. The problem back in 2024 was that we didn’t have the depth to endure their injuries. Now we have quality backups in Markel Bell, Drew Kendall, Micah Morris and others. This is a very deep unit.
Speaking of deep, the Eagles picked up Tank Bigsby last season and the offense had no idea what to do with him. Expect him to be a much more valuable back up to Saquon Barkley this year. Did you know Bigsby and 3rd stringer Will Shipley are both only 23? The same thing is true at Tight End. Dallas Goedert is back, but they finally have a succession plan in place with Eli Stowers. Everyone is up in arms about his camp so far, but he’s incredibly athletic. We just need him to fill in this year.
Then there’s the QB. I had a friend in law school who did everything right and always did all the homework. He went to a legal competition with someone who was a known liar. When they lost, the liar claimed the dependable one didn’t do the work. While he can convince a lot of people of a lot of bullshit, not for a second did I believe him. If this doesn’t remind you of the media attacking Jalen Hurts from every angle, you need to open your eyes. Hurts is a man who never gets distracted, never puts himself first, and is always working hard to improve. When asked, every legendary QB will go out of their way to praise him.
Now let’s see who are the ones who try to take him down? The backup QBs (Chris Simms and Chase Daniel), the loud mouths (Nick Wright and all of WIP), and the publications in need of traffic (The Ringer). Bashing Hurts sells. Him being a flawless human being who is really rather vanilla otherwise does not. They LOVE taking him down. The problem is that their criticisms never hold water. The play style they bash him for wins games while the reckless QBs are never held to the fire for losing. His playoff wins are downplayed while others have their primetime defeats explained away. He has been to the mountain top twice and they try to use this against him and claim he has something to prove. You know what kind of player Hurts is, don’t listen to the nonsense.
One more thing, Friday is his birthday. He’ll only be 28.
The Front Office
For as good as the team is on the field, the front office that assembled them is probably even better. Howie Roseman may be the best GM in sports. It’s a pleasure to write about the Eagles because there is rarely ever second guessing. You know that Howie and his team take every possible advantage and make sure to cover every base. They are more dependable than anything else in my life (besides my wife1).
Despite paying everyone, the Eagles still have salary cap space and will be able to pay everyone they need to in the future (not Ojomo though, he’s going to be too good). Not only that, but the Eagles are set up to continue to supplement through the draft. Most teams with this much talent are leveraged to the hilt. Not us. Not only do we have almost all of our own picks (we lost a 3rd in 2027 but have a 3rd round comp pick), but we have an extra 1st round pick coming in 2028 thanks to AJ Brown and that doesn’t even consider the extra comp picks we’ll have coming.
The Eagles are loaded. If you hear otherwise, keep moving on. You know the truth.
- phew, that was close ↩︎
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