January 17, 2024
Kate Frese/For PhillyVoice
Eagles GM Howie Roseman from Week 2 against the Vikings on September 14, 2023.
The fate of Nick Sirianni hangs in the balance this week, as the Eagles' head coach will have to face the music and see if he'll be back for a fourth season in Philly.
The youthful coach is in an unusual spot. He is less than a year removed from a Super Bowl appearance and has led his team to playoff berths in all three seasons as head coach.
But he also was at the helm of a team that went from 10-1, to six losses in seven games and an embarrassing early postseason exit.
Was the Eagles team in October, a squad lauded as the best in football, inevitably going to implode? Was the roster destined to break eventually by the front office and Howie Roseman?
Does organizational failure further up the ladder give Sirianni a pass — despite his sins against the offense and locker room?
The Eagles have not used a first-round pick on a linebacker since 1979.
And it was clear that even a high profile pick up of Shaq Leonard midway through the year, pairing him with Zack Cunningham and Nick Morrow was not a winning strategy — especially after second year linebacker Nakobe Dean sustained two injuries and missed 12 games.
Leonard is Pro Football Focus' 57th ranked linebacker this season while Cunningham was 94th. Meanwhile, last year's leading tackler T.J. Edwards looked great with the Bears, and former Eagles linebacker Alex Singleton ranked by PFF as the fourth best rated LB this past season. Roseman might need to rethink this next season.
It wasn't very long into the Eagles 32-9 loss to the Buccaneers that cornerback James Bradberry started trending on Twitter. And for all the wrong reasons. The Eagles entire secondary was either old or inexperienced this season, and that was after the front office decided to allocate tens of millions of dollars on Bradberry, and Darius Slay, both over the age of 30.
Bradberry couldn't tackle, and was noticeably slow. He was ranked in the bottom 10 of nearly 150 cornerbacks rated by PFF this season. Slay was fine, but got injured toward the end of the season when the team needed him the most and also looked like he lost a step.
With Avonte Maddox hurt for most of the year, the Eagles relied on Eli Ricks, Josh Jobe, Keelee Ringo and Mario Goodrich to go up against Ceedee Lamb, Deeboo Samuel and other top wideouts this winter. It seems like forever since the Eagles drafted a player at cornerback who panned out.
There is a defense to be made for Roseman — in that there is a salary cap and only so much you can do. You have to prioritize some positions finically at the expense of others. But handing the keys at safety to Reid Blankenship and Terrell Edmonds while the NFL's interception leader from 2022 walks (C.J. Gardner-Johnson) might not have been the way to go. They also let Marcus Epps go out the door, a safety who also turned out to be good with the Raiders.
It looks as though a midseason trade for All-Pro Kevin Byard and the emergence of hard-hitting youngster Sydney Brown did stop the bleeding, but the position was almost as big a mess as the others we mentioned.
Not high on his list of mistakes, but still worth mentioning is the Eagles lack of depth at wide receiver. They put a lot of faith in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith each staying healthy this season and the duo actually did. Smith missed only one game and Brown started all 17, but was knocked out early in Week 18 and unable to play in the playoffs.
The Eagles were exposed in Tampa, with Smith getting almost all the targets at wide receiver. That's partially because another in-season acquisition in Julio Jones got hurt against the Bucs. Additionally, because the receiving corps was rounded out by Olamide Zaccheaus, Quez Watkins and Britian Covey — three pass catchers wholly unproven in the NFL and who sparingly contributed in 2023.
Having a solid No. 3, who can be relied on if there's an injury and take pressure off the top two should be a priority for the team moving forward.
The Eagles drafted three defensive linemen, and one offensive lineman in the 2023 NFL Draft. Both of their first round picks were pass rushers. They did invest in two defensive backs — but on the whole Roseman likes to draft the best available and for value. Is that the best way to draft when your team is a title contender?
It's yet unclear what role Roseman played in Sirianni's hiring of Brian Johnson and Sean Desai as the Eagles' offensive and defensive coordinators, respectively. It's also unclear whether he had anything to do with the team moving from Desai to Matt Patricia after the 49ers loss. But he doesn't get a free pass as the Eagles general manager for the coaching debacle.
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