The Philadelphia Eagles finished the 2023 season with an 11-6 record and made the playoffs for the 6th time in 7 years. It was the definition of an up and down season as the Eagles started out with a 10-1 record through 11 games which included wins over the Cowboys, Chiefs, Bills, Rams, and Dolphins – before falling 42-19 to the 49ers in a week 13 game at the Linc – in what would be a sign of things to come. The Eagles final win during the 2023 season would come on Christmas Day over the Giants – and a few weeks later their season would finally come to an end when they would go on to lose in the wild card round of the playoffs to the Bucs with a score of 32-9. A little while after that future hall of famer Jason Kelce announced his retirement and the end of the 2023 Eagles season is best forgotten. But in the offseason – they hired new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, and veteran defensive coordinator Vic Fangio replacing previous coordinators Brian Johnson and Sean Desai. And per usual – Howie Roseman had himself an offseason as he brought in loads of talent on both sides of the football. And even though the Eagles lost some pieces this offseason like Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox to retirement, and like D’andre Swift in free agency – I think they’re going to be an incredibly fun unit to watch this year. And the Philadelphia Eagles are BACk. But how far can they go this year? Well we’re going to break everything down in today’s video.
And we are starting today’s video by breaking down who the Eagles lost in free agency and who they brought in in free agency. As mentioned during the intro they lost running back D’Andre Swift as he signed a 3 year $24 million dollar deal with the Bears this offseason. Swift had a really solid year for the Birds last year as he ran for over 1,000 yards and had over 1,250 total yards on the season. And despite how good the Eagles offensive line is – replacing Deandre Swift was not going to be easy. But the Eagles signed former Giants running back Saquon Barkley to a 3 year $37 million dollar deal with $26 of it being guaranteed. I liked this signing a lot for the Eagles and we often talk about quarterbacks being set up to succeed – and Jalen Hurts is absolutely set up to succeed with a great offensive line, and 3 great options to throw the football to in AJ Brown, Devonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert. But – Saquon has never really been set up for success during his time as an NFL running back. He was drafted number 2 overall back in 2018 and it was pretty much like look – go figure it out – you were an all American at Penn State and we need you to perform miracles. And you’re not going to win a lot of games like that and you can also make the case – and it’s a completely valid case by the way – that even for as good as Saquon is at times – he should have never been selected number 2 overall – and you’d be right. I’ve said before I’m not a big fan of paying free agent running backs top dollar – especially a top back like Saquon who has nearly 1,500 career touches and a guy who will turn 28 in February. But I liked this signing because even in the worst case – Philly can get out of the contract after next year so it’s not the end of the world. I also think the Eagles are going to put him in favorable situations and that they’re not going to basically say alright buddy – go save our franchise. Now they also signed pass rusher Bryce Huff who previously played for the Jets and this was a signing I liked a lot as well.
Bryce Huff was an undrafted free agent out of Memphis during the 2020 draft process and he’s a guy who went from being a good guy to have in a NASCAR package – to a player who legitimately disrupts football games. And in 2023 alone – he had 67 pressures on just 334 pass rushing snaps along with 10 sacks. He is absolutely worth the 3 year $51 million dollar contract they gave him and again – even if it doesn’t work out – they only gave him 34 of the 51 guaranteed – so the Birds are protected and would be out of the deal at the end of the 2025 season if it worse comes to worst. They also brought back fan favorite CJ Gardner Johnson and Birds fans obviously know all about CJ and from a play style standpoint and a personality standpoint – I think CJ is a very good fit in the city of Philadelphia and he is a player this city and this franchise loves. They also brought in linebacker Devin White and Devin has had some good moments and he has especially had good plays throughout his career. But the player he is on a down to down basis is not great – and there’s a reason the Bucs were willing to part ways and there’s a reason the Eagles gave him an incentive based contract. He had a great 2020 season which was the year they won the super bowl – but Devin routinely takes wrong angles and he misses more tackles than you would like – and is a very frustrating player at times. And that is one concern I have with the 2024 Eagles – is their linebacking play. Well that and their secondary
Now for the rest of the Eagles defense – this was a unit that vastly underperformed last year and a unit that was nowhere close to as bad as the results showed. They allowed 400 or more yards of opposing offense in their final 2 regular season games and in the wild card round against the Bucs and it was a disaster on tape. The Cardinals game in particular was bad as they allowed a team to go into the Linc and put up 35 points and run for over 200 yards. There were countless examples of the Eagles being out of place, and the defense being completely out of sync. And it showed. And there was a reason this team finished 30th in points allowed per game and there was also a reason that despite finishing 11-6 – that they only had a point difference of 5 points despite finishing 5 games above .500. Now will Vic Fangio make everything better overnight and will he turn this unit into the 2000 Ravens? No. But with how much I expect the Eagles to dominate offensively and to be able to control the clock – I can’t imagine this defense isn’t serviceable in 2024. And that’s the big thing – is – this defense does not have to be top 3 or top 5 or whatever – it simply has to be serviceable. And out of the 18 games they played last year – including the playoff game within this of course – they allowed 30 or more points in 7 games. And a lot of that can be attributed to the pass defense as they finished 32nd in passing attempts against, 31st in passing yards allowed, and 31st in passing touchdowns allowed and there was a reason for that – teams knew what they could get away with against this team and they knew the secondary was not good. James Bradberry is a great example of what I mean when I compare corners to running backs in terms of how they age.
James had a really good 2022 season and was a second team all pro. But he entered the 2023 season at 30 years old and his hips didn’t flip the same and he was unable play at the same level he had been playing at just 365 days prior. Teams were eager to test Bradberry in coverage and when you have a corner that’s not playing well and everyone knows it – it’s a long season and there’s only so much the pass rush can do. And this was a big reason why I loved the Quinyon Mitchell selection as much as I did – and even the Cooper DeJean pick after which we’ll break down during the rookie impact part of the video. Darius Slay has been a good player in the NFL for a long time and he too showed some moments during the 2023 season – and I would expect him to regress further in 2024 as he is now a 33 year old corner and because he was born on New Years Day – he will turn 34 towards the end of the season. What all of this means for the Eagles defensive success this year is – they’re going to need a breakout year from Jalen Carter who certainly showed flashes during his rookie year, and they’re going to need Josh Sweat to continue to be the player he has been over the past few years – and of course – the Bryce Huff signing to be worth it. Obviously when you think of the Eagles you probably think of Jalen Hurts, AJ Brown, Smitty, maybe even Nick Sirianni – but Josh Sweat has been a really good player over the past few years and has developed into a player you can’t ignore. He’s had at least 40 pressures in each of the last 3 seasons with a career high 68 in 2023 and getting to the quarterback for this defense is going to be critical because of the concerns I have with this secondary. Now while I think the Eagles defense isn’t as talented as their offense – I don’t think they’re even close to the 3rd worst defense in the NFL. And that’s the bottom line with the 2024 Eagles defense. You don’t have to be top 4 or top 6 or whatever. Just do not – be a net negative. And if they’re not a net negative – then they’re going to win a lot of games and in fact- I’d be surprised if they don’t win the NFC East as long as the defense is serviceable.
