On Thursday we solicited questions for an Eagles mailbag via Twitter or whatever it's called now. Thank you as always for doing half the work for me. This is Part I of a two-part mailbag. Let's just get right to it.

Question from @thehateholiday: Why does Sirianni get no love in the NFL Coach of the Year talk? He lost both coordinators and is still killing it. 

I haven't paid any attention to that, but here are the NFL Coach of the Year odds:

1. Dan Campbell, Lions: +150
2. DeMeco Ryans, Texans: +300
3. Mike McDaniel, Dolphins: +600
4. Kevin O'Connell, Vikings: +1000
5. Mike Tomlin, Steelers: +1600
6. Nick Sirianni, Eagles: +1800

I don't think anyone actually evaluates coaches' decisions or performance during the season. I think they just look at each team's record and compare that with preseason expectations. 

Take O'Connell, for example. Back in Week 3, with 41 seconds left, on a 4th and 5 from the Chargers' 15 and no timeouts, the Vikings converted with a 9-yard pass to T.J. Hockenson. Any sane team would hurry up to the line to spike it, and have plenty of time to take three shots into the end zone. Or maybe if Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson wanted to run some sort of wink wink hurry up fake spike fade route that they've worked on in practice and it only takes an extra three or four seconds to run instead of clocking the ball... fine. 

What did the Vikings do? They stood around leaderless while a couple dozen second ticked off the clock. Watch this video:

The ending of that game should be disqualifying for O'Connell to get Coach of the Year consideration. It was a potential win that disorganization turned into a loss, but there he is at No. 4 on the odds list.

Also, what exactly has Mike McDaniel done this season? The Dolphins haven't beaten any teams with a winning record, and the six teams they have beaten (one of them twice) have a combined record of 15-42 (0.263) with a combined point differential of -459. His résumé in 2023 is little more than, "Oh he is just delightful during his press conferences!"

There is no good argument for O'Connell or McDaniel to be ahead of Sirianni. I can see the arguments for Campbell, Ryans, and Tomlin.

Looking back at that award last year, the Giants went from bad to respectable under Brian Daboll. The Eagles went from respectable to the best team in the NFL (at least during the regular season). The latter is the far higher degree of difficulty. Of course, a year later Daboll's award looks ridiculous as the Giants are the worst team in the NFL.

Question from @Fritz_Tastik: Who's an underrated player quietly having a good season? The Eagles' unsung hero?

I think it's Jordan Mailata. He's not Lane Johnson in that he will give up an occasional sack (3 in 9 games, per PFF), but he has also become one of the best LTs in the league. He has had his best season so far, in my opinion. He hasn't missed a single snap (that durability is so valuable along the offensive line) and he only has three penalties. 

Question from aerelorn: In NFL games, you frequently see the running back get stood up by the defense and then pushed forward by the offensive linemen.  Can you call for these blatant rugby plays to be banned?

Ha, TV announcers always get excited and seem surprised by those plays every time they happen, too. They'll be like, "LOOK AT THIS! HE'S STILL GOING!" as if it isn't a super common thing to see in a football game.

Question from @astorer5: Is Nakobe Dean a significant loss or was Zach Cunningham outplaying him anyway? Are Dean's injuries thus far proving why teams passed on him in the draft?

Dean was durable at Georgia. Once he got on the field as a freshman in 2019, he played in all of Georgia's final 10 games, and he didn't miss any games in 2020 or 2021. He did have a shoulder (labrum) injury that likely concerned some teams when he was coming out, but that never caused him to miss any time, nor has it been a known issue so far in the pros. The injuries he has suffered this season are new. He has now gone on IR twice with foot injuries.

Dean didn't go as early as anticipated because he didn't have ideal measurables. He's short (5'11) and light (229 pounds) with short arms and small hands:

He also wasn't thought to be an elite athlete coming out of Georgia, and was a player who produced on quickness and instincts.

Dean's injuries this season have simply been unfortunate, in my view, and not necessarily predictable. And no, I don't think it's a big loss. Cunningham and Nicholas Morrow have been better players so far.

Question from @40tons70mph: Any chance we see more of Rashaad Penny? I've had the idea they've been holding him out to keep him healthy for the stretch run. Why else keep a RB4 with minimal ST value on the roster?

I do think you need to have four playable running backs, whether all four are on the 53-man roster, or perhaps three on the 53 plus a capable player on the practice squad. It's a position where you're likely to suffer injuries, and only keeping three playable backs is risky. 

In 2021, the RB4 was Jordan Howard, who the Eagles were able to keep on the practice squad for much of the season. In 2022, it was Trey Sermon, who stuck on the 53 all season. This year it's Penny, who has played basically the same role as Sermon on the active 53.

With Boston Scott out due to personal reasons Week 9 against the Cowboys, Penny got to dress for a change, and he even got two carries to start the second half.

I'm surprised we haven't seen more of Penny. His numbers to close the 2021 season: 

Aaaand his numbers to open the 2022 season before he broke his leg.

Add up the numbers from his last 10 games before signing with the Eagles and you get 149 carries for 1017 yards (6.8 YPC) and 8 TDs. Maybe he's a totally different player now than he was a year ago. I really can't say. I didn't get to see a lot of him in the preseason or during training camp since the Eagles pretty much don't tackle in practice.

But like many of you, I'm surprised we haven't gotten to see what he can do in games, especially since he's a big back who seems built for second half carries to help close out games against tired defenses. It's not as if any of the other backs are killing it and taking them off the field in favor of Penny on occasion would set the offense back.

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Scott is now back with the team, so my guess is that Penny will once again be a healthy scratch until he's needed again due to injury/other.

Question from @rob_aden: What role will Justin Evans have in his return?  Is he able to help in the slot?

Bradley Roby will likely be the starting slot going forward, so no, I don't see Evans playing in that role. I do think that Evans was competent enough when he was a starter that he could have a role (a) when the Eagles are in dime, or (b) when the Eagles play three-safety sets. I guess that all depends on whether or not they like him or Sydney Brown more in those spots. At a minimum, he'll provide better depth.

Question from @PatGabu: What happened to Josiah Scott? I haven’t heard him mentioned as an option in the slot at all. Has he played any snaps?

Scott played 17 defensive snaps against the Dolphins Week 7. He did not play in the regular defense Weeks 8 or 9. If you poach a player off another team's practice squad as the Eagles did with Scott (from the Steelers) you have to pay that player for a minimum of three weeks. Scott has been with the team for three weeks, so his roster spot is now in jeopardy, especially with Roby practicing in full on Thursday.

With Evans and Cam Jurgens highly likely to return from IR this week, the Eagles will need two roster spots to make room for them the 53. They already placed Dean on IR, so that's one spot. My guess is that the other move will be Scott getting released.

Question from @SamMooney4: Will we ever see Kelee Ringo? How’s he developing?

We touched on Ringo's lack of playing time in a previous mailbag, but as long as (a) we're covering a bunch of back of the roster guys here, and (b) a bunch of people have asked about him, here's what we said about Ringo previously.

Question from @YoshkeZoidberg: Eli Ricks has been getting an increased amount of playing time as of late. Also, players like Josh Jobe, Josiah Scott, Bradley Roby, and Mario Goodrich have gotten CB snaps as well. How concerned should we be about Kelee Ringo?

Ricks, Scott, Roby, and Goodrich have all played in the slot. Ringo is an outside corner only, in my opinion. I would have been surprised if they played him inside.

It's worth noting that on the day the Eagles drafted Ringo, Howie Roseman was pretty clear that they were going to develop him over time.

"We felt like this was a 20-year-old kid who was a good kid, tremendous physical tools, and we really had an opportunity to develop him," he said. "He doesn't have to come in here and be a superhero. He can learn. We think we have tremendous veterans at that position who can show the way, and he can come in in a role where he's learning, and there's not a lot of pressure on him, and he can develop. We believe in the player and in the person."

I do think that's a fair concern that Jobe is ahead of him on the depth chart, since Jobe hasn't been super effective when he has played. I also think it's worth noting that, in my opinion, Ringo didn't often stand out in training camp.

He has appealing traits. He's 6'2, 207, and he runs a 4.36, but there's obviously something holding the Eagles back from trusting him in games, for now.

Question from @chasekulp: I know I asked already (in a previous mailbag) but if you could expound a bit on if Albert Okwuegbunam has any chance of popping or if this is another nothing acquisition. Will Grant Calcattera come back after his history of concussions?

Calcaterra practiced in full on Thursday, so he'll very likely be the No. 2 TE on Monday night against the Chiefs, with Jack Stoll starting. Okwuegbunam will be the TE3. He'll probably dress, but I doubt you'll see much of him. There's no good reason to play a bunch of 2-TE or 3-TE sets when the TE1 is out. It's likely the Eagles will play a lot of 11 personnel until Dallas Goedert returns to the lineup.

Question from @JonStinnett: Can you shed light on why Nolan Smith, Julio Jones, Rashaad Penny, and Christian Ellis can’t get on the field more, even though we seem to have a need for more pass rush rotation, “big back” snaps, big body TE-like targets, and fresh LB options?

We covered Penny above. The other guys:

• Nolan Smith: Smith played 9 snaps Week 9 against Dallas. That doesn't sound like much (and it isn't), but that matched his highest snap count of the year, and those snaps came in the Eagles' most important game of the season to date. Derek Barnett was a healthy scratch in that game, which I think is a good sign for an increase in Smith's snaps going forward.

• Julio Jones: Jones played 19 snaps (31 percent) against the Cowboys. That was his highest total of the season. With Goedert out for a while, I think we'll see an uptick in Jones' snaps as the team transitions to heavier 11 personnel.

• Christian Elliss: Elliss will continue to play on special teams, but the Eagles' two best linebackers this season have been Cunningham and Morrow, as noted above. Unless one of those guys gets hurt, there's no good reason to shoehorn Elliss onto the field in the regular defense. 

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