By Lenn Robbins
You’ve got to give Eagles coach Nick Sirianni some Philly cheesesteak-sized credit. In his rookie season in Philadelphia, a city that can be brutal on coaches who are perceived as incompetent and players who considered inept, Sirianni stole a page from Frank Sinatra and did it his way:
He ran the ball. That’s right, in a pass-crazy NFL headlined by star quarterbacks and sensational wide receivers, Sirianni ran the ball. And ran the ball. And ran the ball.
All the way to the playoffs.
That’s right. An unsung hire, Sirianni stayed, well grounded, when the Eagles got off to a 2-5 start. Those City of Brotherly Love Fans were howling for Sirianni to quit and wondering if Jalen Hurts was the best the team could do at quarterback.
Sirianni allowed Hurts to develop, limiting him from attempting 30 or more passes only once in the final eight games. The Eagles won five of their last six by leading the NFL in rushing (159.7 yards per game) and made the playoffs.
Maybe this rookie coach and second-year QB can reinvigorate a franchise that won the 2017 Super Bowl and then came crashing back to earth? Hurts finished the season with 3,144 yards passing and 16 touchdowns (nine picks) and an additional 784 yards and 10 touchdowns rushing.
Eagles fans aren’t ready to embrace Sirianni and Hurts just yet. The team snuck into the expanded playoffs with a 9-8 record. Hurts ended the season by throwing two picks and fumbling once in a playoff loss to the Bucs.
But if this unlikely duo can build on last season, Philadelphia might be poised to take the NFL East from the Cowboys. It would be enough to make a Philly fan cheer.
Major Moves: It doesn’t get much more major than this. The Eagles acquired star receiver A.J. Brown from the Titans for the 18th pick and a third rounder. Philly then locked up Brown, a close friend of Hurts, with a four-year deal worth $100 million.
Free Agents: The Eagles stayed mostly in-house in free agency with two key exceptions. 1. Signing LB Haasan Reddick to a three-year, $45 million deal. The Eagles were 31st in sacks last season. Reddick has had 23.5 sacks over the last two seasons. 2. Signing cornerback James Bradberry to a one-year, $10 million deal giving the Eagles a perfect complement to Darius Slay.
Draft: Leave it to Eagles GM Howie Roseman and Saints GM Mickey Loomis to shake up the draft. Sound familiar? The two orchestrated a trade in which the Eagles received a 2022 first-round pick (No. 18), a 2023 first-round pick, a 2024 second-round pick, plus a 2022 third-round (No. 101) and a 2022 seventh-round pick (No. 237) while the Saints received two 2022 first-round picks (No. 16 and No. 19) and a 2022 sixth-round pick (No. 194).
The Eagles also traded the No.15 pick to the Texans for the No.13 pick and took Georgia DT Jordan Davis, a 6-foot-6, 340-pound mountain of a man. Second-round pick Cam Jurgens, from Nebraska, will eventually replace Jason Kelce, arguably the best center in the NFL. And then the Eagles got the steal of the draft, taking LB Nakobe Dean from Georgia in the third round. Roseman crushed this draft and set up the Eagles for the future.
Warning: Lane Johnson, 32, is considered one of the best tackles in the game but he’s missed 13 games over the last two seasons. If the Eagles lose him for an extended period it could derail Hurts’ growth and the run game.
Key Early Game: OK, it’s not early but it’s not late. The Eagles host the Cowboys in Week 6. We’ll wager the winner takes over first place in the NFL East.
Record: 11-6: Meet this year’s NFC East champ (it changes every year).
Fantasy: With Brown and DeVonta Smith the Eagles now have as good a duo of young receivers as there is in the NFL. Hurts had 26 total touchdowns last season. That number goes up. Meet your fantasy QB sleeper.
BetBasics.com Bite: After trading for Brown and drafting Davis, the Eagles’ odds to win the Super Bowl improved from 50-1 to 40-1 at Caesars and from 20-1 to 18-1 to win the NFC and is at +325 to win the NFC East.