If you were one of the poor souls who, like me, braved 3hrs of soft zone coverage on defense and 1 yard bubble screens on offense this afternoon, my condolences. That’s time you won’t be getting back in your life and there’s nothing you or I can do about it.
That being said, if you prefer to take the “glass half full” approach there were positives to take away from the 2021 Eagles season. If you took a look at the Birds roster pre-season and someone told you this team would: make the playoffs, have 3 top 20 draft picks, the Dallas Cowboys would lose their 1st round playoff matchup in truly spectacular fashion, and all you had to do was sit through a Tom Brady fueled beatdown one Sunday in January you’d have taken that deal in a heartbeat.
Frankly given how head coach Nick Sirianni’s opening press conference went, the fact that the team even found the correct stadium in the early going this season is a miracle in and of itself. The point is, this Eagles roster was a flawed one to begin with. With Carson Wentz’s NFL record $33.8M dead cap hit still on the books for 2021, Philadelphia was never supposed to compete this year, so them making the playoffs at all should be viewed as a pleasant surprise.
The good news is that gargantuan cap hit comes off the books in 2022 (thanks Indy), and the Eagles front office won’t be handcuffed with 18.5% of their payroll going to a player no longer on their roster. The bad news is Philly has some major question marks on both sides of the ball they need to address this offseason.
So without further ado, let’s break down the 5 biggest areas Philadelphia needs to address between now and opening day 2022.
Fire Howie Roseman
When you take a front office or coaching position in sports you do so with the knowledge that you’ve got a limited shelf life in that role. In this case, Howie’s tenure in Philadelphia has fully run its course.
Promoted to GM in 2010, Roseman has overseen virtually every aspect of the Eagles’ roster construction for the past decade. While some of his moves paid off (we’ll always have Super Bowl LII), since 2018 Roseman has whiffed on more than his fair share of decisions.
Perhaps the biggest thing that stood out Sunday was the Philadelphia receivers inability to create separation against the Bucs. Tampa was able to key in on Goedert and Smith and essentially neutralized the Eagles passing attack from the opening kickoff until they took their foot off the gas in the 4th quarter.
The Eagles WR room is in a sorry state right now. Outside of Smith you’re looking at options of Quez Watkins, Jalen Reagor, Greg Ward, J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, and KeeSean Johnson, names fans have all heard before but when you put them sequentially one after another it’s a rather shocking sight to see.
And there’s no one that needs to take ownership over this collection more than Howie. He was the one who took JJAW over D.K. Metcalf in 2019, and then in a move so indefensible that it actually made old sourpuss Mike Zimmer burst out laughing, he took Jalen Reagor immediately before Justin Jefferson in 2020.
Which really is a microcosm for a lot of Roseman’s draft picks over the years. He seems to want to get cute with his picks, or try to prove that he’s the smartest person in the room by “seeing” something that others don’t. Even if that means passing up a generational talent who literally fell into your lap and everyone and their grandmother naturally assumed would be in midnight green by night’s end.
And this is the person Philadelphia fans are supposed to trust with the 15th, 16th, and 19th overall selections in a wide open NFL draft? I don’t think so. With Wentz officially coming off the books, it’s time to start fresh in the city of brotherly love. Jeffrey Lurie needs to show Roseman the door before he does something crazy like packaging the picks together to move up to take a QB in a historically weak QB draft class.
Seriously Explore a Calvin Ridley Trade
Know what would really address that WR issue mentioned above? Go out and get a 27 year old stud wideout whose most recent full season saw him haul in 90 catches for 1374yds and 9TDs. According to multiple sources, it’s almost a foregone conclusion in NFL circles that Ridley is done in Atlanta, even though the Falcons seem to not want to believe it themselves.
You’ve got to go back to the early 2000’s to find the last time there was a Philadelphia WR who genuinely inspired fear in opposing DB’s. One could make the argument that the Eagles haven’t had an “elite” wide receiver since Terrell Owens in 2004.
Zach Ertz led the team in receiving yards from 2016-2019, then you’ve got a melange of names like Travis Fulgham, Kevin Curtis, Reggie Brown, and Jordan Matthews sprinkled in there. Jeremy Maclin and DeSean Jackson had some moments as well but neither was ever truly a force on offense.
DeSean’s best season came in 2013 when he posted 1332yds and 9TDs. A fairly impressive total. Until you realize that 670 of those yards and 4TDs came in only 4 games, 2 of which the Eagles lost by 15+ pts and he racked up garbage time stats which didn’t affect the outcome of the game. That same year he also had 5 games where he had 40yds receiving or less, so it was a boom or bust experience with him.
Ridley is under contract for one more year at a cap hit of $11.1M, meaning Atlanta may try to recoup some value prior to the draft before rolling the dice on him simply walking in free agency. The Falcons will obviously be looking for one of the Eagles 1st rounders in return, but teams are also fully aware that Atlanta may not have much leverage in this situation. While I’m not opposed to parting with a 1st rounder on the basis that he signs an extension, I’m also not convinced that a 2nd rounder plus another mid to late round pick doesn’t also get it done.
Ridley has built in chemistry with Jalen Hurts whom he played with at Alabama, and even DeVonta Smith was a bright eyed Freshman with the Crimson Tide in 2017 while Ridley was the big man on campus. Whomever is at the helm of the Eagles front office this offseason needs to have this high on their priority list.
Re-sign Alex Singleton
Singleton led the Eagles in tackles in 2021, and was voted a defensive captain by his teammates. He briefly lost his starting spot on defense this year, but regained it in week 12 after an injury to Davion Taylor and never looked back.
Singleton is seemingly in on every single play, and is a steadying force at a position of weakness for the Eagles defense. While linebacker is something the Birds will be looking to address on draft day, this isn’t the time to reach for someone when there’s glaring positional needs elsewhere as well. Barring something truly shocking happening whereby Georgia’s Nakobe Dean somehow falls to Philadelphia at 15, there’s going to be snaps on defense that need to be filled, and Singleton is more than capable of playing a role in that rotation.
There’s a chance Philadelphia could get enamoured with Utah LB Devin Lloyd, but having a veteran presence for that positional group isn’t a bad thing. While Singleton is in line for a pay raise (he made only $850K in 2021), his new contract shouldn’t break the bank as a RFA player.
3rd rounder Davion Taylor is under contract for another two seasons at cap hits of $1.1M and $1.3M respectively. So Philly can afford to try to sign him to a team friendly longer term deal or just extend him for two years and hope Taylor is ready to assume full time duties by then. Either way, Singleton deserves to be back next season.
Heal Past Wounds
This is more of a personal preference than a burning need for Philly, but the organization needs to move on from JJAW and Reagor. With every DK touchdown, and Jefferson highlight reel catch, it’s just a subtle twist of the knife in the back of Eagles fans.
Arcega-Whiteside is essentially non-existent to begin with (he has 16 NFL catches in 3 years since being drafted), and has never factored into the Eagles offense at any point. He’s under contract for 2022 at a price tag of $1.5M, or carries a dead cap of $405K, so I would be shocked if he was actually brought back for another year. He becomes especially expendable should the Eagles add another WR via trade, free agency or the draft.
Reagor meanwhile is just a nightmare to watch. Putting aside the Jefferson debacle for a moment, there’s no distinct skill set he brings to the Eagles. He isn’t a big body target in the red zone (he’s listed at a generous 5’11”), he isn’t particularly sure handed, and the speed element he was supposed to bring to the offense out of TCU never materialized.
Reagor is the perfect case study of how you can develop a reputation for being “fast” in college by running in a straight line and beating a lesser opponent. However when you get to the NFL, you need to be able to run routes at that speed, and that’s something Eagles fans haven’t seen in the two years of watching him play. The former 1st round pick is constantly blanketed in coverage by the opposing team’s 3rd or 4th best Corner every weekend.
Then there’s his special teams play. Sunday against the Bucs was a train wreck. He routinely was out of position, lost a fumble, didn’t fair catch balls when he should have, and time and again caused his team to be pinned deep in their own end. This would be fine if this was an anomaly, everybody has a bad day, but he’s been doing this all season!
We’re not in the locker room so who knows, maybe he’s the world’s nicest guy. But a lack of production on offense, and continual special teams miscues mean the organization is quickly running out of roles to try Reagor out at. Not helping matters is his body language while on the sidelines, and general lack of hustle when he’s on the field, something that broadcasters picked up on today.
The only difference between Sunday and say a game in November is that today had a national audience watching a fairly obvious lack of effort unfold before them. And it wasn’t just viewers who picked up on it, fellow wide receiver DeVonta Smith was none too pleased with Reagor on the sideline either:
Does it make financial sense to cut him this offseason? No. Reagor carries a painful $3.6M cap hit in 2022, but this figure would jump to $7.8M in dead cap if they were to move on from him. However Philadelphia at a minimum needs to decline his 5th year option, and see if they can find a willing trade partner this summer. The issue there is that other NFL execs have inevitably noticed the same things the casual viewer has so he won’t exactly be a hot commodity as trade bait.
Reagor’s $4.22M cap and dead cap hits are identical in 2023, so if the former Horned Frog doesn’t get things sorted out in short order this might be his last season in a winged helmet.
Hit on Their Draft Picks
Whether Philadelphia takes the next step in 2022 or regresses back to the basement of the NFC East is directly tied to this year’s draft. This isn’t the year to break convention and try to galaxy brain some sleeper pick into existence. And it’s also the reason why Howie Roseman shouldn’t be at the helm of this year’s draft.
The NFL is a results based business, and Howie isn’t dumb. He’s heard the chatter, and how more than a few sports radio callers have been clamouring for him to be relieved of his duties recently. So his concern isn’t to leave the organization in good shape for his successor, his concern is keeping his job. And when you’re making decisions to save your own butt, that’s usually when mistakes get made, some of which take years to fix.
The Eagles absolutely need to hit on this year’s draft. And whoever it is that makes the final decision needs to address the organizations biggest needs: secondary help, pass rush, and wide receiver.
Regardless of where you fall on the Jalen Hurts belief scale, this is NOT the year to try to make a QB change. There are no franchise altering QBs in this year’s NFL draft (though there will be teams who talk themselves into believing that one of Pickett, Corral, Willis or Howell is the solution under centre), and the list of free agent QBs in 2022 is an absolute wasteland as seen below.
So like it or not, Hurts will be the guy once more next season. I’m personally reserving judgment on Hurts’ future as a top flight NFL quarterback until I see him surrounded with a somewhat competent supporting cast on offense.
While it would be nice if Nakobe Dean, Kyle Hamilton, or Kayvon Thibodeaux miraculously fell into Philadelphia’s laps, don’t hold your breath. Instead, an ideal, somewhat realistic scenario which could help address the Eagles biggest needs on both sides of the ball could look like this:
Pick No. 15: David Ojabo, EDGE, Michigan (6’5” 250lbs)
Let me be perfectly clear. If Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner is available here, the Eagles absolutely take him at 15. He would be a perfect shutdown corner they could build around for years to come. Unfortunately I have him going in the 8-12 range so the Birds just miss out.
Instead they take Aidan Hutchinson’s Wolverine teammate and get one of the better pass rushers in this year’s draft class. The Eagles ranked 2nd last in the league in team sacks this year with 29, beating only the Atlanta Falcons. For a team that’s hung its hat on defensive line play for the past few decades, that’s simply unacceptable. Fletcher Cox is on the back 9 of his career, Barnett will be a free agent, and Brandon Graham will be 34 and coming off an Achilles injury. It’s time to get a difference maker upfront and Ojabo is the guy.
Pick No. 16: Andrew Booth Jr, CB, Clemson (6’0” 200lbs)
With a pass rusher off the board, the Eagles turn to their needs in the secondary. Kyle Hamilton is likely long gone at this point, as is the aforementioned Gardner, so Philly goes with the Clemson standout as the heir apparent to Slay.
Booth has good size and athleticism, and has a nose for the ball. Philadelphia only managed 12 INTs on the year, which put them 21st in the league in that regard. By comparison, most Eagles fans are likely sick of hearing how Cowboys CB Trevon Diggs had 11 picks on the year, and would welcome a ball hawk of their own to brag incessantly about.
Pick No. 19: Drake London, WR, USC (6’5” 210lbs)
Pass rush, check. Secondary help, check. Now let’s shore up that offense and give Hurts a true red zone threat. London is built like Mike Evans, he plays like Mike Evans, he has great hands and an absurd catch radius. In short, he’s the perfect big body complement to DeVonta Smith’s crisp route running and speed game.
London was the PAC 12 Offensive Player of the Year, and a First Team All Pac 12 selection this year posting 88 catches for 1084yds and 7TDs in only 8 games. It’s hard to say who will still be on the board by the time this pick rolls around as this is one of the most unpredictable drafts in recent history, but if the Eagles walk away with Ojabo, Booth and London, then Philly fans should be doing backflips.
Like we said off the top, this team was never expected to make the playoffs this year. Hell, midway through the season it looked like Philly, Indy, and Miami’s picks might all be in the top 15. So anything beyond game number 17 was an added bonus. But if the Eagles are able to tick off a few of the items on the list above, then they’ll be well positioned to compete in the NFC for years to come.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner