In our Eagles chat on Monday, there were some questions that we could not get to in time or other questions we did answer but could use more color. And so, let's do a mailbag post to answer some of the overflow, as well as some commonly asked questions on Twitter and via email.
Question from RKotite: Let's remove the projected starting five of Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Jason Kelce, Isaac Seumalo and Lane Johnson as the starting five. If you had to take what was left and go with it as your starting offensive line, where would that group rank overall? Would that second unit be a serviceable line or better than what some other teams have?
My configuration would be:
| LT | LG | C | RG | RT |
| Andre Dillard | Sua Opeta | Cam Jurgens | Le'Raven Clark | Jack Driscoll |
I think maybe the team would have Clark and Driscoll flip-flopped, but whatever. That wouldn't be a good line, as it shouldn't be, since they're all backups, but I do believe the Eagles have outstanding offensive line depth.
I would take that line over the Bears' starting five.
| LT | LG | C | RG | RT |
| Braxton Jones | Cody Whitehair | Lucas Patrick | Sam Mustipher | Larry Borom |
Justin Fields has no chance this season. I'd probably take the Eagles' backups over the Seahawks' line, too.
| LT | LG | C | RG | RT |
| Charles Corss | Damien Lewis | Austin Blythe | Gabe Jackson | Abraham Lucas |
If that's the Seahawks' lineup, they'll be starting a pair of rookies at OT, some slop along the interior, and God knows who at quarterback. They have underrated No. 1 overall pick potential.
- MORE EAGLES
- Injury and suspension updates around the NFL that could affect the Eagles
- Our entirely way-too-long Eagles punter situation analysis
- Eagles player review: Sua Opeta edition
Question from Norm Snead: Please provide a comparison of Jalen Hurts to Dak Prescott after Prescott started 1-2 full years.
Hurts has started 19 regular season games, and one playoff game. Let's do first 19 starts (plus some extra playing time in non-starts for Hurts) vs. Prescott's first 19 starts:
| QB | Comp-Att (%) | Yards (YPA) | TD-INT | Rating |
| Jalen Hurts | 342-580 (59.0%) | 4205 (7.3) | 22-13 | 84.7 |
| Dak Prescott | 378-566 (66.8%) | 4356 (7.7) | 28-6 | 101.9 |
Hurts has 1138 rushing yards and 13 TDs vs. 346 rushing yards and 7 TDs for Prescott.
They also each played one playoff game. Prescott was 24 of 38 for 302 yards, 3 TDs, and 1 INT, while leading an impressive comeback against the Packers, before Aaron Rodgers eventually put the Cowboys away. Hurts was 23 of 43 for 258 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs in a game in which the Eagles passing attack often didn't look functional.
Prescott had better weapons around him (Hurts will have his chance to shine with a loaded offense in 2022), but it's still pretty clear why Prescott was already viewed at that stage of his career as a long-term answer, while Hurts still has plenty to prove.
I do think it's interesting that Prescott's career has almost sort of plateaued to some degree, at least statistically,
Question from Jack: What is your harshest critique of the Eagles right now? Like the most scathing thing you can come up with? It doesn’t have to be a hot take or anything. It can be a very obvious opinion.
I don't know that I'd call this scathing, but their biggest concerns are their quarterback and defensive coordinator. Hurts has to be much better as a passer than he was a year ago, and the defense can't continue to get completely torn apart by any good opposing quarterback.
Another question from Norm Snead: Which of the pool of CB's the Eagles have could make the switch to safety and contribute?
I think Andre Chachere is pretty much a full-on safety at this point. So he's one. I wondered if UDFA Josh Jobe might play safety in the pros, but he's staying at corner for now. Otherwise, I don't see any obvious crossover fits at safety among the Eagles' many young backup corners.
Question from Brian: Important offseason question - When passing someone on the street or in a hallway, what are the core differences of acknowledging them with a head nod vs. a head lift?
I think that if you kinda/sorta know that person but not so much that you're going to stop and exchange pleasantries, you give the head lift, which to me is the sign language equivalent of, "Sup?"
I think the head nod is for when you accidentally make eye contact with someone you don't know and you feel like you have to do something instead of just breaking eye contact and giving a full-on ignore. So you nod downward.
I believe that both are actions by males only. I would say I average about three head lifts/nods per day. God we're dumb sometimes. Women just smile or say hi, which is far more normal.
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