‘I made the best choice ever' — Eagles newcomers reflect on offseason

Kyzir White has done a bit of reflecting this week.

As the 26-year-old linebacker prepares for his first healthy playoff run, he’s feeling pretty vindicated about his decision to come to Philly in free agency.

“I’m feeling great, man,” White said by his locker on Thursday. “I made the best choice ever. I was just choosing between a few teams. I really didn’t know which way to go. I just prayed on it and my gut feeling just told me to come to Philly. Look how it’s paying off for me. It’s definitely a blessing.”

Howie Roseman built this 14-3 Eagles team with a combination of draft picks, trades and free agents.

But the four biggest free agent signings of 2022 — White, Haason Reddick, James Bradberry and Zach Pascal — are all feeling pretty good about their decisions now that the Eagles are about to enter the playoffs as the No. 1 seed.

They might have felt good about it anyway.

Reddick has said plenty of times that the biggest reason he signed with the Eagles was to play for his hometown team. But the Camden, N.J. native agreed that all the team and personal success has been a nice bonus.

“Whether we was in this position or not, I still would have felt like I made the right decision,” Reddick said. “Am I happy that the team is having success? Hell yeah. F—ing right. But when I first made that decision, it was always a dream of mine. That was a dream come true for me.”

It wasn’t much of a surprise when Pascal signed with the Eagles given his connection to head coach Nick Sirianni, who coached him in Indianapolis and has called Pascal one of his favorite players.

Pascal eventually ended up as the Eagles’ fourth receiver behind A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Quez Watkins. As a result, this has been the worst statistical season of Pascal’s career. He has just 15 catches on 19 targets for 150 yards and a touchdown.

But even Pascal has zero regrets.

“God does amazing things and he led me here for a reason,” Pascal said. “The fact that we’re this close to reaching our goal as an organization, I’m just blessed and happy to be here to help accomplish these goals. I ain’t going to lie, I’m excited. In the offseason, you’re kind of worried about what’s the best fit for you, best team, best situation. I’m happy I came here.”

Those three signed in March not too long after free agency began but Bradberry was a late signing. He wasn’t released by the Giants until May so most teams had already spent big money in free agency.

That’s when the Eagles swooped in and got Bradberry.

Bradberry said that once he made his decision was made he felt good about it. And even if it didn’t work out, he was ready to live with that decision.

But it didn’t take long for Bradberry to realize this group had special potential.

“I knew when I signed here,” he said. “I saw the players on the roster, I knew what we were capable of. I knew we had great potential. But you still gotta go out there and prove it. You gotta go out there and build that chemistry, study week in and week out and be prepared. So it takes more than just looking at the roster.”

When asked what signs he saw in this team that made him think it could be special, Bradberry started listing off the roster. He saw what a headache Jalen Hurts would be for opposing defense. The receiver trio of A.J. Brown, Devonta Smith and Quez Watkins was tough. The D-line was going to get after it. And he knew he was going to be lining up opposite Darius Slay.

The roster was stacked.

“We had all the pieces,” Bradberry said. “It’s just about going out there and doing it.”

So far, the Eagles have been doing it. They earned the No. 1 seed in the NFC and set a franchise record with 14 wins.

White said he’s been reflecting this week because the only other time his team made the playoffs was with the Chargers back in his rookie season in 2018. But White was on IR for that run.

That’s why this is so special for him.

“It’s a good feeling knowing you’re going to be playing in a playoff game,” White said. “It’s like a dream come true. Obviously the job’s not finished, it’s not close to finished. We’re trying to go out there and win and keep winning. But it’s definitely hitting for sure.”

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