January 16, 2024
A collapse that will live in infamy is in the books. The Eagles, after a horrific skid to end the regular season, were blown out in the opening round of the playoffs, as the Buccaneers crushed them 32-9 in Tampa. Change is on the horizon for the Birds and questions will persist throughout the offseason, but, before we get there, here are some thoughts that are rattling around my brain as the franchise moves forward...
• Fresh blood is needed.
Nick Sirianni has won two-thirds of his games as the Eagles' head coach and had the team on the brink of winning the Super Bowl 11 months ago, but the NFL moves fast. The window is never open as long as you assume. Think back to the Doug Pederson-Carson Wentz era and then the assumption that the Eagles would be back to the Big Game again this season. Do you foresee them being favorites to represent the NFC in Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans next February? Of course not. No league has more turnover and a higher degree of parity than the NFL. To maximize the core of this roster in their prime between the offensive big three of Jalen, Hurts, A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, plus trench players like Haason Reddick, Lane Johnson, Josh Sweat and Jordan Mailata, a culture change is needed ASAP. 2023 went down the drain. 2024 can't also be a waste.
A new offensive play-caller, a new leader on defense and, ultimately, a new head coach need to be on their way to the NovaCare Complex this month.
How enticing will the Eagles' job be? They have a win-now roster, but let's look at the coaches who've been let go this century. Andy Reid had taken the Eagles to five NFC Championship Games and departed following a disastrous 2012 season. Pederson won the team's first Super Bowl and only lasted three more seasons in Philly. Sirianni is 34-17 and the writing is on the wall. All those coaching moves were justified, but from the outside, I wonder if potential head coaches are weary of coming into such an environment. Opportunities for coordinators to become head coaches aren't endless and there will be people jumping at this if Sirianni is indeed fired, but I wonder how far down Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman will need to go down their list before finding the next person for the job.
• While Eagles fans have never taken Jason Kelce for granted in the way he's embodied Philadelphia on and off the field, he's been such a linchpin on the offensive line that some fans likely don't even remember what it was like having a pre-Kelce center. The succession plan for Kelce has been in the works for years. Isaac Seumalo was drafted to be the heir apparent all the way back in 2016, but he played through his contract and left in free agency. That's the way Kelce defied expectations for longevity at the position. Landon Dickerson was supposed to be that guy, but has settled in as a two-time Pro Bowl left guard. He's not going anywhere. Cam Jurgens had an up and down season as a first-time starter at right guard, but the assumption at this point in the offseason should be that he's kicking inside to center.
A post-Kelce world is scary for Eagles fans, but the future Hall of Famer has gutted it out for so long and it was an inevitability.
• Even with all the deserved negativity in the city at the moment, the Eagles should, on paper, have an easier schedule in 2024 than they did in 2023. Part of that is the fact that they will play a second-place schedule rather than a first-place. With the Eagles and Cowboys both knocked out of the playoffs the same weekend, it's a positive in the end that the standings played out the way they did.
Instead of drawing the 49ers, Lions and Texans as Dallas did, the Eagles, in turn, will face the Rams, Packers and Jaguars.
That infamous "gauntlet" of this past November and December will likely be missing from the Birds' 2024 schedule.
• It's improbable that an offense that has Smith and Brown lining up outside could be lacking in offensive weapons, but with the way this season went south and the way that injuries can pop up, that was the case for the 2023 Eagles. On obvious passing downs, it was as if the Eagles were playing with just three skill position players in Smith, Brown and Dallas Goedert. A slot receiver isn't going to have a high target share in this offense, but Quez Watkins has certainly worn out his welcome on this team with gaffs in big moments. I've seen enough doomed-from-the-start bubble screens to Watkins for a lifetime.
The Eagles have three picks in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft as of right now and will need reinforcements in the back seven of the defense and along the offensive line, but another pass-catcher for Hurts could make this offense multi-dimensional once again.
• The Eagles have invested minimal resources into the linebacker and safety position during the Roseman era. You can't have stars at every single position, but a baseline level of competence has been sorely lacking. Teams gashed the Eagles in the middle of the field through the air and the defense overall put forth the most pathetic tackling effort I've ever seen in that loss to the Bucs. The Eagles' backbone of roster construction will remain the pass rush, but there has to be a greater balance to their defensive personnel to prevent such an atrocious defensive performance in the future. Switching to Matt Patricia as the go-to defensive leader midseason was an abject disaster, but he's not the guy out there looking clueless when an opposing player has the ball in the open field.
Again, fresh blood is needed on the defensive coaching staff, but there has to be a large amount of turnover at the second and third levels of this team's D.
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