State of the Buffalo Bills: Heat is on Sean McDermott, Josh Allen to win team's first Lombardi Trophy
State of the Cincinnati Bengals: Can Joe Burrow and Co. get back on Super Bowl track?
State of the Indianapolis Colts: Anthony Richardson poised to take off in Year 2 under Shane Steichen?
State of the Denver Broncos: Sean Payton-Bo Nix pairing poised to alleviate long Super Bowl hangover?
State of the 2024 Washington Commanders: Jayden Daniels must show he has what it takes to succeed
State of the 2024 Chicago Bears: Caleb Williams should lead well-rounded roster to playoffs in Year 1
State of the 2024 Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Can Baker Mayfield lead a deeper playoff run?
State of the 2024 San Francisco 49ers: Super Bowl remains tantalizingly within reach
Where does your squad stand ahead of the 2024 NFL season? Adam Rank sets the table by providing a State of the Franchise look at all 32 teams, zeroing in on the new faces to know, one significant fantasy spin and the stakes at play in the campaign to come.
Members of the Eagles organization, Eagles fans around the world and those who fear the Eagles are about to repeat the end of the Doug Pederson era ...
I’m not sure if it was karma for Nick Sirianni popping off to fans at Arrowhead Stadium after the Eagles beat the Chiefs in a Super Bowl rematch last November, but the season seemed to get away from Philadelphia soon after that game. The 2023 Eagles won 10 of their first 11 games and it looked like they were going to go back to the Super Bowl. Instead, they lost five of their last six games in the regular season, didn’t even win the division and got smoked by the Buccaneers in the playoffs. And not the Tom Brady Bucs, mind you, but the Baker Mayfield Bucs (no disrespect, Bake). What started off as a banner season deteriorated in a flash. It was heartbreaking, like the final days of ECW.
State of the 2024 Washington Commanders: Jayden Daniels must show he has what it takes to succeed
State of the 2024 Dallas Cowboys: Will Dak Prescott, Mike McCarthy shake past playoff failures?
State of the 2024 Philadelphia Eagles: Super Bowl or bust after last season's stunning collapse?
State of the 2024 New York Giants: Brian Daboll, Daniel Jones under pressure to get back to playoffs
2024 brain trust
Roster reshuffling
Below is a rundown of the Eagles' most notable roster developments for the 2024 season, including this year's draft class, as well as key acquisitions and departures via free agency and trade.
New faces to know
I really loved this signing for the Eagles. They needed a little more punch in their lineup. I’ll have more on this in a moment, as I have a scorching-hot fantasy take about Saquon below.
The Cowboys averaged 27.7 points per game during Moore’s stint as the team’s offensive coordinator (2019-2022). I’ll give that more credence than the 2023 Chargers’ average of 20.4 ppg with Moore as OC because, well, a lot of things went bad for the Bolts last season. Look at his time in Dallas. We saw a bunch of toss sweeps, WR runs, and Moore had his quarterback take snaps from under center almost half the time. The Eagles' offense could use more of those things.
I’m a huge fan of Fangio as a coordinator, though it does seem like some Dolphins players decided to take shots at him after his departure from Miami. But Eagles players have had some good things to say about him. So, I guess it’s one of those things where I’ll take the word from the current team rather than that of the jilted ex. There is no doubt Fangio has had a huge impact -- defensively -- in most of his stops.
State of the QB
Jalen Hurts is an elite quarterback. I know I had him downgraded a bit heading into last season for FANTASY REASONS, mainly because I didn’t see him scoring double-digit rushing touchdowns again. He proved me wrong on that one. But I love him as a field general. He struggled with interceptions when throwing from the pocket last year. Heck, he struggled with turnovers in general (20 giveaways, 12 more than he had in 2022). His fourth-quarter passer rating dropped from 104.7 in 2022 (second in the NFL) to 83.6 in 2023. But I’ve seen enough from Hurts over the years to believe he can bounce back this season. Hurts has a 112.8 passer rating on downfield passes (10-plus air yards) since 2022 -- the third-highest mark in the NFL over that span -- which fits nicely with Kellen Moore’s affinity for taking shots. Philly might have to move away from the Brotherly Shove (not entirely), but I’ll get to that in a moment. Overall, I really love Hurts’ chances of bouncing back this season. By the way, the Eagles traded for former first-round pick Kenny Pickett to be the new backup QB, too.
Most important non-QB
Jason Kelce was one of the best to ever play the center position. To go back to the ECW analogy, Kelce was the Tommy Dreamer of the Eagles offense -- the heart and soul of the operation. Jurgens is expected to take over for Kelce at center. Jurgens has started 11 games -- all at right guard last season -- since being selected in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft. He had the worst pass-blocking grade among Philly O-linemen (min. 100 pass-block attempts) and second-worst run-blocking grade among Philly O-linemen (min. 100 run-block snaps) last season, according to PFF.
My HOTTEST Eagles fantasy take:
Saquon Barkley is going to have the best season of his career.
I know a lot of people will make jokes about Barkley’s availability after he missed 18 games from 2020 to 2021 and was sidelined for three contests last year. But people used to make jokes about Christian McCaffrey’s durability, too, and now they look foolish. Barkley has 2,892 scrimmage yards since 2022 (fifth among RBs) and is one of six players in NFL history to average 70-plus rushing yards and 25-plus receiving yards per game over his career (min. 50 games played). Plus, there is no way Jalen Hurts is rushing for 15 touchdowns again. You have Saquon now. Let him cash in those short-yardage runs. You can look at guys like Kyren Williams, Breece Hall and Bijan Robinson, but you can also make a solid case for Barkley as the RB2 behind McCaffrey in your fantasy drafts.
2024 roadmap
Three key dates:
- Week 1 (Friday): The end of last season was tough on the Eagles. Now they have to open the coming campaign in Brazil, against the rising Packers. Welcome to 2024!
- Week 13: at Baltimore Ravens. This figures to be a big test for the Eagles after they struggled down the stretch last year.
- Week 17: vs. Dallas Cowboys. The Eagles close the season with potentially pivotal games against their NFC East rivals (which is the way I thought it was supposed to be). After visiting the Commanders, they’ll face the Cowboys and Giants at home in the final two weeks.
For 2024 to be a success, the Eagles MUST:
A) Win the Super Bowl
B) Make a playoff run
C) Earn a playoff berth
D) Finish above .500
E) Show progress
My answer: A) Win the Super Bowl. I know this seems kind of wild when you consider the way things ended for the Eagles last season. But Philadelphia is still the kind of team you expect to see headlining the main event of WrestleMania. The Eagles have some questions, especially with Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox retiring, and Haason Reddick, the team’s leader in sacks the last two seasons, being shipped to the Jets. Still, Philly wisely addressed a hurting secondary, bringing C.J. Gardner-Johnson back in free agency and then drafting Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean. I feel like the Eagles are loaded for another title run.