Not even a year removed from making the Super Bowl, the Eagles began their 2023 season with the best record in the league. A second half collapse, though, brought them right back down to earth. Are they ready to get back into contention? Welcome back to another edition of ‘The Super Bowl Race In The Perspective of Chase, and today we will preview the Philadelphia Eagles 2024 season!
2023 Season
The Eagles were widely considered the best team in the NFL going into 2023 after just falling short in the Super Bowl and bringing back a huge part of the core that got them there. And they showed that the hype wasn’t a fluke, starting 5-0 and 10-1 with the best record in the NFL. Though they didn’t look like a strong contender. Philly was barely pulling off wins and in ugly fashion, showing their record may have not represented the type of team they are. That showed very quickly. Philly lost 4 of five games to close out their season including losses against the Cardinals & Giants. So the 11-5 Eagles found themselves without a divisional title, and got manhandled by the Buccaneers in the Wild Card round. Jalen Hurts had a fine season, and A.J. Brown and other playmakers on both sides of the ball played extremely well. But it all fell apart, and at the worst time possible.
Offseason Additions and Losses
The Eagles had a very busy offseason. And it makes sense. This is a team that wants to get back to the big game after a sudden second half collapse that held them back from getting there for a second straight year. First, the Eagles fired their coordinators on both sides of the ball, and added former Chargers OC Kellen Moore to run the offense and hired Vic Fangio to run the defense. Both look like smart, but risky, moves. From a player perspective though, Philly got much better. They let go D’Andre Swift, but added former division rival Saquon Barkley, who should elevate their play significantly as a dual-threat running back next to Jalen Hurts. That wasn’t all they did though. The Eagles traded away an unhappy Haason Reddick to New York, but then stole a younger and just as productive Bryce Huff off their hands. They also brought back Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, re-signed Brandon Graham, and brought in DeVante Parker. But they also improved in the draft, getting both Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean. It appears to be a make-or-break season for Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni, and the front office treated it that way.
X-Factor: Bryce Huff
Not enough people are talking about how lucky the Eagles were to sign Huff instead of extending Reddick. While it wasn’t direct, the Eagles essentially traded Reddick in exchange for Huff, a move that makes the Eagles a much better team. Reddick was wanting an extension to make him one of the highest paid pass rushers in history at close to 30 years old. While he was great in 2022, he had his worst season of his career last year since 2019. Compare that to Huff, who is going to be a massive pickup. Huff is barely 26 years old, and is coming off of a fourth year campaign in which he recorded ten sacks, ten tackles for loss and 21 quarterback hits. He has speed off the outside, isn’t terrible when dropping into coverage, and brings a youthful presence to a D-Line that demands attention from other areas. Expect Huff to have an All-Pro level season this year.
Reason for Concern: Is Hurts ‘The Guy’?
This is not something you expected to be hearing. But a take I had after the Eagles lost Super Bowl 57 to Philadelphia is that Jalen Hurts is a ‘system QB’. And I’m not backing away from that. It’s a term that goes around a lot. My interpretation of it is that the weapons around a player make more of an impact on the QB’s success than what the quarterback can do on his own. I think Hurts may be the best system QB there is. And part of being a system quarterback is being able to manage an offense and a unit to a high level. Hurts does that, and he executes offensively. But when push comes to shove, and the Eagles need a play, Hurts is not in the elite quarterback echelon. And it’s hard to win a Super Bowl without that kind of QB. And it can hold them back from success.
Reason for Promise: They’re Dominance the Last Two Years
Last year’s second half collapse was terrible for Philly. They just weren’t playing at the caliber they could play at. But outside of a bad five game stretch, there hasn’t been a team more dominant than Philadelphia. They went 14-3 in 2022, and it’s not just their record. Defensively, their secondary had three of the best players in the sport, while the line had four different players total double-digit sacks. The pass rush as a whole was one of the greatest in history. And on offense, Jalen Hurts was playing at an MVP level, and A.J. Brown and multiple All-Pro lineman helped Philly dominate. And last year…they were 10-1. Say whatever you want, but that’s incredible. It included wins against Buffalo & Kansas City. This team just had a few hiccups. Despite a bad stretch, Sirianni has done a fine job at making this team one of the best in football. And with the same core intact and some new pieces, Philadelphia can have another dominant season.
Prediction
With that being said, I actually think Philly has some problems early in the season. A new staff of coordinators and running backs for a third consecutive season is not easy to adjust to. But I believe they will win the NFC East, and maybe do some damage come postseason time.
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