February 28, 2024
In the wake of the 2023 NFL Draft, pundits heaped praise on Howie Roseman and the Philadelphia Eagles for their draft haul. The Mel Kipers of the world gave the Eagles straight A's, and in many cases, A+'s.
However, during the season, only one of their rookie draft picks, Jalen Carter, had a prominent role. None of their rookie draft picks, including Carter, played 50 percent of more of the offensive or defensive snaps. The rookie snap counts looked like so:
| Round | Player | Snaps | % of O/D snaps played |
| 1 | DT Jalen Carter | 600 | 48.7% |
| 1 | EDGE Nolan Smith | 204 | 16.6% |
| 3 | OL Tyler Steen | 71 | 5.9% |
| 3 | S Sydney Brown | 335 | 27.2% |
| 4 | CB Kelee Ringo | 234 | 19.0% |
| 6 | QB Tanner McKee | 0 | 0% |
| 7 | DT Moro Ojomo | 68 | 5.5% |
| UDFA | CB Eli Ricks | 316 | 25.6% |
| UDFA | LB Ben VanSumeren | 50 | 4.1% |
| UDFA | S Mekhi Garner | 27 | 2.2% |
There are good arguments to be made that Smith, Steen, Brown, and Ringo all should have played more than they did in 2023, and that it would have also made sense for Nakobe Dean to be mixed in on occasion in 2022.
Smith averaged just 11.3 snaps per game as a rookie. He was behind established veterans like Haason Reddick, Josh Sweat, and Brandon Graham, so his lack of playing time was understandable to some degree, but there were still plenty of wasted opportunities for Smith to get on the field.
For example, there was a four-game stretch from Weeks 8-12 against the Commanders, Cowboys, Chiefs, and Bills during which Josh Sweat played 272 snaps, or 68 snaps per game, and Reddick played 270 snaps. Both Reddick and Sweat played more than 80 (!) snaps against the Bills Week 12.
During that four-game stretch, Smith only played 29 snaps, or 7.3 snaps per game. The Eagles could've played Smith more if for no other reason than to help keep Reddick and Sweat fresh for the stretch run. Ultimately, there's strong evidence to suggest that Reddick and Sweat were physically spent at the end of the season, seeing as they combined for 0 sacks over the team's final four games.
Steen had extended action in just one game, against the Cowboys Week 9, at RG in relief of Cam Jurgens and Sua Opeta, who were both injured. He struggled, as any rookie almost certainly would trying to block Micah Parsons one-on-one.
Otherwise, Opeta, a career backup who isn't in the team's long-term plans, at least as a potential starter, started six games for the Eagles. He played reasonably well in his first three starts against the Commanders, Rams, and Jets, but not so much in his other action the rest of the season.
Having an experienced player like Opeta fill in mid-game for fallen starters makes sense, but starting him over a lineman drafted 65th overall? The Eagles seemed to feel more content knowing they would get a certain "floor" performance out of Opeta, rather than exploring what Steen could do, and how some early playing time might benefit them in the long run.
Brown was a core special teamer as a rookie who only played 335 snaps in the regular defense, despite the team suffering quite a few injuries at safety. To begin the season, Brown was buried on the depth chart behind Band-Aids like Justin Evans and Terrell Edmunds.
He played just 16 snaps the first three weeks of the season before missing three games with a hamstring injury. When he got extended action in games later in the season, it was typically out of position at slot corner, where he was filling in for Avonte Maddox and Bradley Roby, after guys like Mario Goodrich and Josiah Scott proved to be ineffective.
Despite being used mostly outside of his comfort zone, Brown showed promise. It's fair to wonder what Brown might have developed into late in the season if the team had let him play his normal position from Week 1.
Through the first 12 games of the season, Ringo played 1 snap in the regular defense, despite the team suffering a long list of injuries in the defensive backfield. He eventually got playing time in the final six games of the season out of necessity, and the defensive staff went out of their way to give him relatively easy coverage assignments.
Had he gotten some playing time during the ample opportunities that presented themselves during the first half of the season, Ringo might have been better equipped to play in starting role down the stretch.
And finally there's Dean, who the Eagles entrusted to be their No. 1 linebacker in 2023 in a three-down role. Despite knowing that Dean would likely have a major role in 2023, the defensive staff only played him 43 (!) snaps in the regular defense in 2022, even though the Eagles had no shortage of blowout wins.
Was Kyzir White so irreplaceable in the lineup that Dean couldn't get a series here and there?
Well, it depends on who you ask. Roseman appears to be all for it.
"I think when we look back, and Coach and I talk about it a little bit, it's okay to play some young players," Roseman said. "It's okay for them to get experience and kind of see what you have. Based on where some of our guys were, they had the ability to sit back and learn a little bit because of the situations that we were in. I think going forward it's going to be harder to do that. Obviously just as you look at our team and who is making a lot of money, and we had a little bit of extra picks over the last couple years. So, I think that for us to play our young players, to develop them, I think that's something that Coach and I have talked about to not be afraid of. That's why you draft them. That's why you sign them.
"So, you have that, and you'll have a depth chart where they'll be a little bit uncomfortable about this guy necessarily hasn't shown it, but we believe in this player. I think that will be an area for us to kind of maybe grow on, and I don't want to say improve because we have good players at those positions, but it's exciting, I think, in a lot of ways."
Nick Sirianni? Not so much.
"My philosophy has always been play the guys that are going to help you win the game every week," Sirianni said. "Regardless of whether you talk about scheme, whether you talk about players, you're trying to do whatever you can to win the game, because that's the bottom line, is to win football games.
"So, whoever gives us the best chance to win a football game, that's what we'll do. Young, old, middle, it doesn't matter. We're going to do what we need to do. I owe that to our team and our coaches and our players and our fans to play the best player that's going to help us win that week. So, we don't care who that is."
And that's how snaps get wasted on guys like Justin Evans.
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