The Eagles appear to be wrapping up a busy free-agency period, with the overriding consensus being the team is better off now than it was one year ago. Of course, that was the prevailing feeling in 2015 as well, when Chip Kelly wound up turning a 10-6 team into a 7-9 debacle.
As we so often see in the NFL, winning in March doesn't necessarily lead to playing football in January.
Concerns over yet another roster overhaul for the Eagles are certainly valid. After all, one of the issues voiced about Kelly's plan last season was the plethora of new faces and how it would take time for the pieces to come together, a criticism that proved accurate. Now in undoing many of Kelly's mistakes, it seems vice president of player personnel Howie Roseman might be going down a similar road as the fired head coach.
Except there's at least one key difference between what the Eagles are doing under Roseman compared to the many changes and departures under Kelly. Roseman has largely replaced or let go of non-essential and role players, as opposed to stars and starters.
Think about it. Kelly was running around dumping Pro Bowlers such as LeSean McCoy, Jeremy Maclin and Evan Mathis in addition to axing numerous starters, including Nick Foles, Todd Herremans, Trent Cole, Cary Williams, Bradley Fletcher and Nate Allen. In essence, Kelly was remaking the very core of the Eagles.
Roseman, on the other hand, hasn't got rid of a single Pro Bowler, and only two clear-cut starters are gone in Byron Maxwell and Walter Thurmond, the latter of whom was playing out of position anyway. Guys like DeMarco Murray and Kiko Alonso were going to be in competition for their jobs, at best. The likes of DeMeco Ryans, Riley Cooper and Mark Sanchez all figured to come in as backups. Of the bunch, only Ryans had a particularly sterling reputation in the locker room and as a leader.
Yes, the Eagles will look a little different in 2016. For the most part, however, the starting lineup has been left intact.
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Not only that, but quite a few of the Eagles' "new additions" this offseason aren't exactly new, at least not to this coaching staff. Chase Daniel played under head coach Doug Pederson in Kansas City. Nigel Bradham, Leodis McKelvin and Ron Brooks were under defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz in Buffalo. These guys may be new to the locker room, but their transitions in the respective schemes should be seamless.
Considering Maxwell is being replaced from within, there are really only two major changes to the Eagles' lineup -- Brandon Brooks at guard and Rodney McLeod at safety. As it turns out, those were the two biggest holes on the depth chart. Something had to be done at those spots, so both moves to bring in young talent from outside the organization make sense.
If the fear is the Eagles have made too many changes and will once again need time to jell, that's probably overstating exactly how much change there's been.
And in the meantime, Roseman notably re-signed and extended numerous Eagles, from Sam Bradford to Zach Ertz and Brent Celek to Vinny Curry to Malcolm Jenkins and Nolan Carroll. Clearly, keeping a core group of players together has been a priority for this front office, something that clearly wasn't the case for the previous regime.
Roseman's offseason blueprint has been all about maintaining a semblance of continuity and building on top of the existing foundation. Some addition by subtraction was required, but nothing even near as substantial as or close to resembling Kelly's roster demolition last year.
Truth be told, the two offseasons are polar opposites. In all likelihood, so too will be be the results.