Recently, I spent some time reading some of our NBC Sports Philadelphia stories from just before training camp last year and, looking back after knowing the Eagles would eventually win the Super Bowl, some of it is pretty funny.
When Doug Pederson compared the 2017 Eagles to his Packers team in the 90s that won the Super Bowl and even said the Eagles were probably more talented, most people thought he was nuts. I thought this comment from a fan summed it up pretty well:
"Even if the team were more talented, their coach is still a moron."
A couple people on the Twittersphere thought I pointed out that comment to shame a reader, but that’s not the case. I thought it represented the thoughts — and really, the fears — of a big portion of the city. Obviously, that line of thinking was way off, but we didn’t know that then.
Heck, we didn’t know a lot of things then.
So with that in mind, let’s look back and laugh about some of the fears we had and the big storylines that consumed us before the 2017 season. Because it turned out, the Eagles were better than a nine- or 10-win season. They actually were ready to finally win a Super Bowl and it’s fun to look back and wish we could have told ourselves to relax.
• So, obviously, Pederson wasn’t a moron, but that was a legitimate fear back then. Plenty of fans and reporters openly wondered if Pederson would hold the team back and if he’d be the head coach when the team finally got good. We all pointed at specific instances from his rookie head coaching season as reasons why he might not be cut out for the job. I don’t think we were wrong to do that; I just think we were wrong. Pederson ended up being one of the main reasons the Eagles won it all.
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• A year ago, Jordan Matthews was still a big part of the Eagles’ offense and Nelson Agholor was still a complete unknown. Eventually, Agholor replaced Matthews and provided the Eagles with an element of explosiveness Matthews never could.
Agholor basically had to wait for Matthews to get traded until he found his role in the offense. The ironic thing is that Matthews was always Agholor’s biggest proponent, but he was ultimately the guy standing in his way.
• Remember, until the trade on Aug. 11 that sent Matthews to Buffalo and brought Ronald Darby to Philly, cornerback was still a huge issue for the Eagles. And Patrick Robinson, who ended up being a hero during his one season with the Eagles, was having a terrible training camp. It was so bad many openly wondered if Robinson was even going to make it out of training camp.
But once Darby arrived and was plugged in as the starter opposite Jalen Mills, Robinson was moved into the nickel corner spot and excelled. That was where he belonged and it wouldn’t have happened without the trade.
• Let’s talk a little bit more about the cornerback position. It’s hard to remember because corner is now such a strength, but that spot was the biggest perceived weakness on the team. The Eagles had Mills, coming off his rookie season, and then not much. Darby was still in Buffalo, Robinson stunk, Ron Brooks was coming off injury and Sidney Jones was far from being healthy. They also had C.J. Smith, Dwayne Gratz and Mitchell White.
That’s why one of the biggest stories of last spring and summer was whether or not Rasul Douglas would be able to go from third-round pick to instant contributor. Eventually, that line of thinking did pan out, because Darby went down in Week 1 and the Eagles needed him.
• Remember when the big question about Nick Foles was whether or not his elbow was going to last? A bunch of us all thought he was destined for a trip to IR, leaving Carson Wentz without an adequate backup. At the time, Nate Sudfeld was still in Washington, so the backup would have been … drumroll … Matt McGloin. Yuck.
• Alshon Jeffery had a shoulder injury in camp (it turned out to be serious, but he didn’t miss time) and a lot of folks — myself included — worried about his rapport with Wentz. I worried they wouldn’t be on the same page. Well, they got on the same page.
• Before the 2017 camp, Isaac Seumalo was handed the left guard position and a lot of people thought it was fine. They went with the younger player and traded Allen Barbre away instead of making the two battle for the job. Eventually, Seumalo lost his job and the Eagles tried to give it to Chance Warmack before Stefen Wisniewski took over and never looked back. Wiz was basically their fourth option and he helped win a Super Bowl.
• When last training camp started, Marcus Smith was still an Eagle.