The Eagles desperately needed to have a better secondary so Howie Roseman built a better secondary.
It’s as simple as that.
In 2023, while a bunch of things went wrong to lead to a disastrous collapse, the lack of depth in the Eagles’ secondary was right at the top of the list. So after the Eagles trimmed their roster to 53, it was apparent how much this unit has changed.
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“Big offseason priority for us,” the Eagles’ general manager said on Tuesday afternoon. “I feel like I needed to take responsibility for not putting the coaches in a good enough spot in our defensive backfield last year and didn't want to have it happen again.
“Excited about the guys we have. Excited about the opportunities here, certainly in the next 24 hours, to continue to add to that group as well.”
For the second straight year, the Eagles kept 11 defensive backs on their initial 53-man roster. And for the second straight year, the average age of those 11 players was exactly 25.64 years old.
But the construction of the group is much, much different in 2024.
Take a look:
| 2023 | 2024 |
Darius Slay: Age 32 | Darius Slay: Age 33 |
James Bradberry: Age 30 | Quinyon Mitchell: Age 23 |
Avonte Maddox: Age 27 | Isaiah Rodgers: Age 26 |
Josh Jobe: Age 25 | Kelee Ringo: Age 22 |
Mario Goodrich: Age 24 | Cooper DeJean: Age 21 |
Eli Ricks: Age 21 | Eli Ricks: Age 22 |
Kelee Ringo: Age 21 | C.J. Gardner-Johnson: Age 26 |
Reed Blankenship: Age 24 | Reed Blankenship: Age 25 |
Terrell Edmunds: Age 26 | Avonte Maddox: Age 28 |
Justin Evans: Age 29 | James Bradberry: Age 31 |
Sydney Brown: Age 23 | Tristin McCollum: Age 25 |
There are a few big changes from last year’s roster. At cornerback, two of the top players from the 2023 team (James Bradberry and Avonte Maddox) are now backup safeties on the 2024 roster. The Eagles had three major additions at cornerback with Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean in the first two rounds of the draft and Isaiah Rodgers, who returns after a yearlong suspension. The Eagles also bring back Kelee Ringo and Eli Ricks, who had promising rookie seasons and are still very young backups.
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The oldest player of the bunch is Darius Slay. While the history of 33-year-old cornerbacks isn’t great, it’s fair to say that Slay didn’t look like he lost a step this summer. And even if he does fall off a cliff at some point, the Eagles are in a better position to deal with that this year.
At safety, the Eagles no longer have aging journeymen Terrell Edmunds and Justin Evans. Roseman this offseason brought back C.J. Gardner-Johnson on a multi-year deal to play next to Reed Blankenship in the starting lineup.
And the 2024 roster doesn’t even include Sydney Brown, who will begin the year on the Reserve/PUP after suffering an ACL tear late in his rookie season. He’ll miss at least the first four games but is still expected to return this season. A swap of Brown for Bradberry would make the 2024 secondary even younger and more appealing.
In general, the Eagles have a younger roster in 2024. Roseman said that’s because they’re top-heavy from a contract perspective so they needed more players on rookie deals. That’s probably true.
But it’s hard to ignore that the secondary seems younger — at least in key spots — than it was in 2023. While some of the young players are unproven, this secondary looked pretty good in training camp. The goal is for it to hold up to a 17-game season.
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