January 01, 2025
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Jayden Daniels is special, but the Packers have a better overall roster.
With the Eagles poised to rest starters on Sunday in a meaningless game against the New York Giants, now feels like a good time to answer some questions, solicited from readers on Twitter, Bluesky, and Threads. This will be Part I of a two-part mailbag.
Question from @dcmurphy (via Bluesky): After watching the last 2 weeks, is there any change to who you think is the better first round opponent in round one? Commanders or Packers?
I ranked the Eagles' potential playoff opponents from most to least ideal three weeks ago. Here's how I ranked them then (Seahawks omitted):
Here's how I'd have it now:
As you can see, I'd move the Commanders and Packers closer to each other, but to me the Packers are still the more talented team. The 60,000-foot view tale of the tape:
• Quarterback: Edge to the Commanders, because Jayden Daniels can win games on his own. Jordan Love is good, but not special in the way Daniels is.
• Running back: Packers
• Wide receiver: Packers
• Offensive line: Slight edge Packers
• Defensive line: Packers
• Linebacker: Commanders
• Secondary: Packers
The Commanders have the scarier quarterback, but in my view the Packers clearly have the better overall roster. They also have road playoff experience, blowing out the Cowboys last year and nearly knocking off the 49ers.
Question from @AlexWhiteNoise: What do you think the pick value of the Eagles’ backup quarterbacks are, and what would it take for you to move either?
I'd need a Day 2 pick to part with Tanner McKee. Of course, nobody is giving that up based on his public sample size. I'd take a fourth-round pick for Kenny Pickett. That is doable.
Question from @daveeldreth: Would you rather be the Eagles locked into the 2 seed with essentially a bye week, or Lions-Vikings, who are forced to ball out next week for the 1 seed with the loser getting the 5 seed?
I'm sure if you asked the Lions or Vikings, they'd emphatically answer that they would rather be playing for the 1 seed. That's where I would be, too. (I also wouldn't call it a "bye," because you're not bypassing a round of the playoffs.)
But each of those teams have a lot more downside than the Eagles do. If you're the Vikings or the Lions and you lose that game, you're now almost certainly playing three road games to get to the Super Bowl, which makes your odds of getting there plummet.
Question from @Lepe02: What is your ideal timeslot for the wildcard matchup? I assume the 4/5 game will be the MNF game so at least we don't have to worry about that.
Well, first of all, my guess is that both the Packers and Commanders will play starters to try to avoid playing the Eagles in the first round. Surely, you'd rather play the Rams, Bucs, or Falcons in the wildcard round than the Eagles in Philly.
So assuming the Eagles rest starters and assuming the Packers/Commanders don’t, the Eagles will want their game to be played on Saturday since they’ll be rested and the Commanders/Packers would have to travel into Philly on a short week.
You would then also have an extra day of rest for the divisional round should you advance.
Question from @Tech44: What is Jimmy’s ideal path of least resistance to the Super Bowl? It might be all of the NFC North teams!
Commanders, Falcons, and then the (5 seed) Vikings.
Question from @premoveobserver (via Threads): With a very successful regular season under their belt, how would you rank the top 3 offseason acquisitions? Players and coaches together or separately.
It's close between Saquon Barkley and Vic Fangio for No. 1 and No. 2, but what Barkley did this season was simply special. He has to be No. 1. So my rankings would be:
Side note: I referenced my Eagles free agency grades article from March:
The Eagles had definitive needs at linebacker, safety, running back, wide receiver, and backup quarterback. They addressed every one of those positions.
Notable additions I liked: RB Saquon Barkley, S Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, LB Zack Baun, iOL Matt Hennessy.
Notable additions I didn't like as much: QB Kenny Pickett, WR DeVante Parker, WR Parris Campbell, LB Devin White. (Parker and Campbell come at a very low cost, so to be clear my beef with those signings is if the Eagles don't also add an actually good receiver.)
To be determined: EDGE Bryce Huff. If the Eagles get a good return for Reddick, then great. If they don't they will have replaced him with a lesser player who makes more money.
One big picture thing that I think the Eagles did a good job of this offseason was that they largely added players who could soon be entering their primes. Oren Burks and DeVante Parker aside, all of the players the Eagles added are between the ages of 25 and 27.
Boom, nailed it.
Question from @scottwithrage (via Bluesky): Just how humiliating is Saquon's season for the Giants? Feel like it should cost Joe Schoen his job even though not resigning him was the right move.
It's a disaster, mainly because we got to see how wrong their internal discussions about Barkley were on Hard Knocks. I cut up all the pertinent Saquon Hard Knocks clips back in July if you want to re-live them.
But also, maybe it was the right move for them to just let Saquon go without a fight, in a vacuum, but my issue with the Giants' front office under Joe Schoen is that they let good players walk every offseason. They also let Xavier McKinney walk, and like Barkley, he's going to be an All-Pro this year. McKinney is only 26 years old. That's a good, homegrown player who could've been a foundational piece, and they just let him walk.
In previous offseasons, he let the following players acquired by the previous regime get away with nothing to show for it:
• S Julian Love: Love has become one of the best safeties in the NFL for the Seahawks.
• S Jabrill Peppers: Peppers became a really good player in New England once he got away from the Giants.
• CB James Bradberry: This maybe looks like a bad example at the moment given the bad season Bradberry had in 2023, but he was an All-Pro in 2022 who helped the Eagles get to the Super Bowl.
• TE Evan Engram: Engram had 187 catches for 1729 yards and 8 TDs in two seasons after leaving the Giants to play for the Jaguars.
If you're going to keep letting good players walk, you're going to have fewer good players. #Analysis.
Question from @KP_LO (via Bluesky): What was the moment in your life that you fall in love with the game? I imagine many new fans will forever remember Barkley's 2K performance this season.
I imagine you're right. For me, it was probably Super Bowl XX, Bears vs. Patriots. My parents had a party at the house that day (maybe for my sister's birthday?), and my Uncle Jack (R.I.P.) came up with a few dozen things that could potentially happen in the game, wrote them down, cut them up, folded them up, and put them in a hat. Everyone at the party picked three things. I remember getting "safety," as in there'd be a safety in the game, and my uncle was like, "Welp, good luck with that one." Well, the safety happened. Take THAT, Uncle Jack! Actually, I was the only one at the party who had all three of their picks happen, and I won the pool. I believe someone out there has a similar story and that's their degenerate gambler origin story. Anyway, I just remember really loving watching that game and having my three picks happen. That's probably my earliest NFL memory.
Question from @_weedie21: Is Cam Jurgens playing at an All-Pro level already? And how the hell do you do hot yoga?
Yeah, remember when the transition from Jason Kelce to Jurgens was a concern heading into the season? You don’t really hear that anymore. I won’t pretend to have watched the league’s other centers closely, so I really have no idea if he should get All Pro or Pro Bowl consideration, but he’s been good, both in terms of his actual play, and certainly the line calls don’t seem to have been an issue this season. He’s smart, tough, and athletic, just like his mentor.
As for the yoga question, I guess you heard my WIP radio hit on Saturday, huh? My girlfriend (shoutout Amy T. at Laughing Buddha Hot Yoga) is a yoga teacher, and she got me into it. I'll probably do it for life. I’ve tried a lot of different modes of exercise over the years (lifting, running, biking, surfing, long-ass walks, etc.), and hot yoga is by far the hardest I have ever tried. To any of you who might be thinking of knocking it, try it first, and if you don’t get your ass kicked in the first 20 minutes, then, well, you’re a liar, lol.
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