The Eagles are well into their spring workouts and will officially start their OTAs on Tuesday.
This year the Eagles will have just six OTA practices and no mandatory minicamp before the long layoff leading to training camp later in the summer.
But the dust has settled after free agency and the draft so it’s time to take stock of the roster. We’ve excluded quarterback from these rankings because it really just comes down to one player and Jalen Hurts was an MVP runner-up in 2022.
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Here’s a ranking of the rest of the Eagles’ position groups on offense and defense in 2023:
1. Offensive line
The Eagles lost their starting right guard and their top backup offensive tackle but this is still somehow the strength of the roster. That probably shouldn’t be too much of a surprise because the Eagles still have an offensive line that includes Lane Johnson, Jason Kelce, Landon Dickerson and Jordan Mailata. Now they’ll probably just plug in Cam Jurgens (or third-round rookie Tyler Steen) and keep on chugging along. The Eagles drafted Steen in the third round as they continue to replenish the position they think is the most important on the team and it’s hard to argue. The Eagles had the No. 3 offense in the NFL last season and as good as their skill guys were, it all starts up front.
The starting five of (from left to right) Mailata, Dickerson, Kelce, Jurgens/Steen and Johnson is still arguably the best in the NFL. And these guys are still coached by living legend Jeff Stoutland. Sure, they lost some depth from last season but they still have Steen, Driscoll, Sua Opeta and Brett Toth coming off the bench. And if the starters stay healthy again, this will probably be the best unit in the NFL.
2. Edge
This season the Eagles bring back three edge rushers who had double digit sacks last season: Haason Redddick (16), Josh Sweat (11) and Brandon Graham (11). And they added a first-round pick to the mix when they drafted Nolan Smith at No. 30. That’s a really dangerous four-man rotation. And if the Eagles want to run five deep, they still have former first-round pick Derek Barnett on the roster. Barnett hasn’t lived up to his draft status but he’s at least an average edge rusher in the NFL and having him as the fifth option shows how deep this unit is. The starters will be Reddick and Sweat with a second wave of Graham and Smith. That’s dangerous.
Will the Eagles have three edge rushers with 10+ again in 2023? It’s hard to imagine that happening; just like it’s hard to imagine them having 70 sacks as a defense. But sacks aren’t the ultimate indicator of success and this unit has the potential to be great this season.
3. Cornerback
After an unusual offseason where it seemed like a foregone conclusion that the Eagles would lose one of their starting corners … both are back. The Eagles signed both Darius Slay and James Bradberry to three-year contracts through the 2025 season. Howie Roseman figured out a way to keep one of the best cornerback duos in the NFL intact as the Eagles try to get back to the Super Bowl. Slay was a Pro Bowler in 2022 and Bradberry was a second-teamer on the All-Pro team. Then you add in Avonte Maddox as the nickel cornerback — he’s one of the better ones in the NFL — and this becomes a really dynamic trio.
The one concerning aspect of the cornerback position is the potential for injury. Both Bradberry and Slay will be over 30 when the season begins and cornerback is a position where we typically see a pretty steep drop-off. And Maddox has dealt with injuries in his career and missed considerable time in 2022. But the good news is that the Eagles have some more depth at the CB position entering 2023. Not only do they bring back their top backups from last year in Zech McPhearson and Josiah Scott, but they drafted Kelee Ringo in the fourth round and added Greedy Williams in free agency. Ringo was a fourth-rounder but the Eagles traded up a future third-rounder to get him, which means it’s probably fair to have higher expectations for him than most players drafted in his slot. So even if the Eagles do suffer an injury at CB in 2023, they seem like they’re in a better position to deal with it.
4. Defensive tackle
It’s pretty amazing that the Eagles lost Javon Hargrave, who is one of the best interior pass rushers in the NFL, in free agency and they’re still really good in the middle. In addition to losing Hargrave, older veterans Linval Joseph and Ndamukong Suh are also off the roster. But the Eagles found a way to re-sign Fletcher Cox and then drafted Jalen Carter out of Georgia with the No. 9 overall pick. While Carter comes with some concerns, he was widely considered one of the best overall players in this draft. He should be a plug-and-play starter as a rookie with a legitimate Pro Bowl, All-Pro ceiling in the NFL. Then you add in Jordan Davis and Milton Williams and it’s a really strong rotation. The last spot or spots on the roster are up for competition between Marlon Tuipuloto, Kentavius Street and Noah Elliss.
There’s no question the Eagles will miss Hargrave in 2023. He had been great the last two years and you don’t get 11 sacks by accident. A lot of this group’s success will come down to Cox not dropping off too much and to the Georgia duo of Davis and Carter living up to expectations. If that happens, then this unit could be very good again this season.
5. Wide receiver
The top of the receiver position is elite. A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith last season combined for 183 catches, 2,692 yards and 18 touchdowns. It’s one of the best duos in the entire league and Brown is still just 25 and Smith is still just 24. So they have a chance to build something extremely special with Hurts for a really long time in Philly.
After that? Quez Watkins was a disappointment in 2022. Sure, he had less opportunity after the addition of Brown in the offseason but he didn’t do enough with the opportunity he had. The numbers alone weren’t good — 33/354/3 — but the troubling part was the mistakes. He just had some really costly negative plays last season, including a drop in the Super Bowl. But Watkins did have 647 yards a couple years ago and has legitimate deep threat ability. This offseason, the Eagles lost Zach Pascal in free agency but then added Olamide Zaccheus, who should push Watkins for the No. 3 receiver spot. After them, the top guy is return man Britain Covey. But there are a few others in camp competing. Keep an eye on Charleston Rambo and Joseph Ngata.
6. Running back
The Eagles let Pro Bowler Miles Sanders walk this offseason after Sanders had over 1,200 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2022. But the Eagles don’t like to overpay running backs and Sanders got a four-year, $25 million contract from the Panthers. The Eagles were never going to pay him that kind of money. So this running back room is going to look different in 2023. The Eagles still had Kenny Gainwell and Trey Sermon and then they brought back Boston Scott on a one-year deal. They also signed Rashaad Penny to a one-year contract and traded for D’Andre Swift during the draft. Swift is also on the final year of his contract.
So how will this all shake out? Not sure yet. Penny has been one of the more productive backs in the NFL during his career when healthy but he has missed a ton of time with various injuries so it’s hard to count on him. Swift hasn’t lived up to his draft status as a second-round pick but he has home run potential and catches the ball out of the backfield really well. Gainwell really came on strong at the end of last season, especially in the playoffs and could have earned a bigger role. And Scott is always a solid backup/rotational guy.
The Eagles no longer have a true No. 1 back but they have a bunch of talented players with potential. It’s hard to say exactly how this will work in terms of touches but the Eagles should be fine at running back in 2023.
7. Tight end
Dallas Goedert was well on his way to being a Pro Bowler in 2022 before he suffered a shoulder injury that kept him out for five games. Despite that injury, Goedert still had 55 catches for 702 yards and 3 touchdowns in an offense that also had Brown and Smith. Goedert is one of the best tight ends in the NFL. No question.
After him? There’s a steep drop-off in this position room. The Eagles bring back their No. 2, 3 and 4 tight ends from last season in Jack Stoll, Grant Calcaterra and Tyree Jackson. And they also added veteran Dan Arnold, who has shown ability as a receiving tight end in the NFL.
But the Eagles didn’t really upgrade at tight end and it’s a position where they might have been able to use an upgrade. Stoll is fine in his role, primarily as a blocker and Calcaterra is still entering his second NFL season so he has room to grow. And maybe this is by design. The Eagles had two top-tier tight ends in Goedert and Zach Ertz for a few years and eventually Ertz didn’t get a contract and wanted to be traded out of town.
8. Safety
The Eagles will have two new starting safeties in 2023 after Marcus Epps and C.J. Gardner-Johnson left in free agency. The one that hurt was losing CJGJ, who moved on to Detroit. The Eagles offered him a multi-year deal and after he turned it down, the team moved on. The Eagles have added a few players to the position this offseason, signing Terrell Edmunds and Justin Evans and drafting Sydney Brown in the third round out of Illinois. They also still have Reed Blankenship, who was a nice surprise as an undrafted rookie in 2022, and K’Von Wallace, who gave some good snaps last year.
It seems likely that some combination of Blankenship, Edmunds and Brown will start in 2023. After using a high third-round pick on Brown and after talking him up during the draft, it seems like the Eagles would like Brown to win one of those starting jobs, but that’s not guaranteed. This could be a mix-and-match thing throughout training camp as the Eagles look for the right combination. The Eagles might also utilize some three-safety looks under new DC Sean Desai.
9. Linebacker
Like safety, the Eagles lost both of their starters from the 2022 season as T.J. Edwards left for Chicago and Kyzir White joined Jonathan Gannon in Arizona. One starter is expected to be Nakobe Dean, who basically had a redshirt season as a rookie third-round pick. But Dean was thought to be the steal of last year’s draft and the Eagles still seem pretty high on him … and maybe for good reason.
But after Dean? The Eagles might have added a few players at safety but they didn’t do that at linebacker. The only significant addition was former Bears starter Nicholas Morrow, who has experience but it is worth noting that the Bears made it a point to upgrade this offseason. Right now, Dean and Burrow would likely be the starters. Because after that, the Eagles are left with Shaun Bradley, Christian Elliss, Davion Taylor and undrafted rookie Ben VanSumeren. This is a position where the Eagles might still try to add more talent before the season begins.