PALM BEACH, Fla. — The Eagles in 2024 had a bunch of young players in prominent roles throughout the season.
That won’t change in 2025.
With a top-heavy roster and after losing several veteran players this offseason, there will be even more opportunity for younger players to see the field as the Eagles attempt to defend their Super Bowl championship.
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“With some of the new faces that will be starting on our team next year, I’m excited about that,” head coach Nick Sirianni said at the NFL’s annual meetings this week. “When you’re in a program that has been successful what you notice about the guys who have been waiting for their opportunity to play and the new faces that are coming in, getting an opportunity to play on the Philadelphia Eagles, there’s just this hunger.
“I’m excited for the new faces that are going to be able to contribute and get their opportunity to do some things with the loss of some of these guys. It’s really a great challenge and a great opportunity for a lot of these guys to go out there. I know I’ll see hunger and desire and just this, ‘Hey, now it’s my turn to go out there and perform.’”
The Eagles aren’t going to simply hand over starting jobs to young players but they want those young players on rookie contracts to compete for those positions. And it’s not hard to figure out who Sirianni is talking about.
Just follow the exodus of the offseason and what’s waiting on the roster, even before this month’s draft:
NFL
• Josh Sweat left in free agency. Jalyx Hunt showed promise as a rookie.
• Milton Williams left in free agency. Moro Ojomo came on strong in the playoffs.
• Darius Slay and Isaiah Rodgers are gone. Maybe it’s time for Kelee Ringo to step up.
• C.J. Gardner-Johnson was traded to Houston. Sydney Brown was a third-round pick not long ago.
• Mekhi Becton left in free agency. Tyler Steen could finally take that job.
You get the idea. There’s obviously no guarantee any of those players work out and it stands to reason that obviously not all of them will. But the best way to supplement a top-heavy roster with a bunch of big-money contracts is to play guys on rookie deals.
We really started to see that shift, especially on defense, in 2024.
“Anything that that goes on is through competition and is earned,” GM Howie Roseman said, “but I think the difference is that when you're, maybe you have a rookie contract for your quarterback, you can have more spots where you feel like your depth is more veteran, more secure, that you don't have to worry about the growth of the players. You're like, ‘I can deal with that next year.’
“Where we are right now, which is exciting, is that we're OK playing young players. And I thought our coaching staff did an unbelievable job of that. They have done an unbelievable job of that. And that's part of the growth when you're paying these guys. We have to draft and develop. We have to bring talented players in year in and year out. That's our job. That's our role.
“And just because we maybe had a good draft last year, that doesn't guarantee success in this draft. We’ve got to work at it. And just like these players, we have to earn the right to have our draft picks, the players that we bring in here on the field, by them showing what they can do.”
The good news is that the Eagles have been excellent in the draft since 2022. In the last three drafts they have added Jordan Davis, Cam Jurgens, Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean and many more. Roseman’s hit-rate in recent years is undeniable and it no-doubt helped the Eagles win the Super Bowl last season.
If the Eagles are going to continue to contend at that level, it needs to continue. The Eagles are projected to have around 20 combined picks this year and next year.
But it’s not just drafted talented players. It’s about drafting those players and developing them. And then being willing to play them There seemed to be an added emphasis on that last part in 2024 after Roseman mentioned it before the season.
“I think it's a lot of credit in being patient and developing players and a lot of credit to the players themselves being able to work hard and do the right thing,” Roseman said. “It's a credit to our coaches in (being) willing to play young players. So I think it's really a credit to the organization as a whole that we're able to take guys who are coming out of college and get them to play well. I think there's still meat on that bone. I think we still can get those guys to even play at a higher level.
“From a front office perspective, we don't take it for granted that guys have been successful that guarantees success in the future and so I don't know that there's any secret sauce other than we're trying to draft good players and good people. Over the last few years, those guys have done a good job.”