PHILADELPHIA − We all know about the high expectations for the Eagles heading into the 2022 season after an offseason in which general manager Howie Roseman upgraded the defense and added a star wide receiver to the offense.
We just don’t know how that will play out through 17 games, beginning with the first on Sunday against the Lions in Detroit. So many things can sabotage even the best-laid plans, just like so many things can go right to result in a magical Super Bowl season.
Here, then, are 22 bold Eagles’ predictions for 2022:
1. Jalen Hurts will prove that he’s good enough to be the Eagles’ QB both this season and in 2023. Hurts will complete 65% of his passes, an improvement from 61.3% last season. He’ll also threw for more than 4,000 yards, becoming only the second QB in Eagles’ history to surpass that total. Carson Wentz had 4,039 yards in 2019. Hurts will run for another 600 yards or so. That will make the Eagles feel good about using their two first-round picks in the 2023 draft on improving other positions. But that will raise an even bigger question next season as Hurts enters the last season of his rookie contract: Is he good enough for a second contract in the $30 million per year range?
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2. DeVonta Smith will lead the Eagles in receiving yards. But it doesn’t really matter who has the most yards because both will comprise the best wide receiver duo in team history, better than DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin a decade ago, and better than Harold Carmichael and Mike Quick in the early 1980s.
3. Smith and Brown will be the first Eagles’ WR duo to each surpass 1,000 yards receiving in the same season. Think of the Bengals’ duo last season of Ja’Marr Chase (1,459 yards) and Tee Higgins (1,091). Opposing defenses could never focus on just one without the other making them pay. It’s the same thing here.
4. Jordan Davis will play more than Fletcher Cox. That’s not a knock on Cox as much as a statement of how dominant Davis, the Eagles’ first-round pick, will become before the season is over. Playing less will enable Cox to become more effective because he’ll be fresher throughout the game.
5. Nakobe Dean will lead the Eagles in tackles: As the season goes along, Dean will prove that he deserves more playing time, most likely at the expense of Kyzir White..
6. T.J. Edwards will be the first Eagles true linebacker to be named to the Pro Bowl since Jeremiah Trotter in 2006: Edwards had a great summer after proving late last season he deserved to be an every-down linebacker.
7. Jordan Mailata will be selected to the Pro Bowl. The left tackle really should have been selected last season. Mailata and left guard Landon Dickerson combine to weigh more than 700 pounds. They will be an impenetrable wall on the left side of the offensive line.
8. Josh Sweat, not Haason Reddick, will lead the Eagles in sacks. Reddick will still thrive in the Eagles’ “overhang” defense as a pass rushing linebacker. But Sweat is poised for a breakout season. Regardless, the Eagles will greatly surpass their sack total of 29 last season, which ranked 31st in the NFL. Expect them to nearly double that total.
9. Miles Sanders will surpass 1,000 yards rushing. We keep waiting for this to happen as injuries caused Sanders to miss nine games combined in the last two seasons. It wasn’t a good sign that he missed three weeks with a hamstring injury this summer. But in the Eagles’ offense, if Sanders plays 14 games, he should get there. And Sanders is motivated to parlay a big season into a big free agent contract − probably somewhere else.
10. Trey Sermon will finish second among Eagles’ running backs in rushing yards. It’s hard to believe the 49ers would waive their third-round pick from last season. Sermon, at 6-foot-1, 215 pounds, is much bigger than Boston Scott. And the Eagles don’t seem ready to give Kenny Gainwell a bigger role.
11. Chauncey Gardner-Johnson will lead the Eagles in interceptions. That’s not really a bold prediction considering that Gardner-Johnson had 3 INTs last season with the Saints. But he is playing catchup in a new system after the Eagles traded for him last week. Then again, defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon said “it’s not rocket science.”
12. Dallas Goedert will catch 100 passes. With Brown and Smith clearing out safeties, Goedert will find room to work over the middle and become the safety blanket for Hurts. Goedert won’t challenge Zach Ertz’s record of 116 receptions, but he should get close.
13. Jason Kelce will start all 17 games, and earn another Pro Bowl berth: If Kelce does start every game, he’ll extend his streak to 139 straight starts, longest in the NFL among centers. If this is Kelce’s final season, it’ll be a great way to go out.
14. The Eagles will win both games against the Cowboys by at least a touchdown. The Cowboys’ offensive line is a mess as they had to sign ex-Eagle Jason Peters, who’s 40 years old, to play left tackle. Dak Prescott will show that he isn’t nearly as good without top playmakers around him. Amari Cooper is in Cleveland, Michael Gallup is still working back from a torn ACL, and Ezekiel Elliott isn’t the running back he used to be. CeeDee Lamb is a force, however. But it’s not enough.
15. The Eagles will be 5-1 heading into their bye week. A start like that will put them in good position to win the NFC East with tough games still to come against Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Green Bay and a Christmas Eve game in Dallas.
16. Lane Johnson will firmly establish himself as the best right tackle in the NFL, and make the Pro Bowl for the first time since 2019. When Johnson plays, the Eagles are 59-42-1. When he doesn’t, they’re 12-20. He’ll play.
17. Howie Roseman will make a major trade at the deadline at the end of October. If the Eagles are in fact off to a good start heading into the midway point of the season, Roseman will fortify the defensive line by trading for another pass rusher to complement Brandon Graham, Josh Sweat and Derek Barnett. Graham and Barnett are in the last year of their contracts, so Roseman will go after someone signed beyond this season.
18. Zech McPhearson will have the biggest role on defense among the second teamers. He is the first backup to cornerbacks Darius Slay and James Bradberry. But it’s likely that one of them won’t make it through the season without an injury. McPhearson will have to step up, and the fourth-round pick in 2020 will do just that.
19. Doug Pederson and Carson Wentz will not have triumphant returns to Philadelphia: Pederson returns with the Jacksonville Jaguars on Oct. 2, but his defense won’t be able to stop the Eagles’ firepower on offense. Wentz returns with the Washington Commanders on Nov. 14. With the Eagles’ pass rush, Wentz won’t be able to escape like he used to in 2017, before he tore his ACL. The Eagles will win both games handily.
20. Devon Allen will return a kick for a touchdown. The Olympic hurdler will get his chance toward the end of the season, and he’ll show his blazing speed by bursting through the defense, then hurdling the final defender on his way to the end zone.
21. Darius Slay will once again have a Pro Bowl season. Slay is a technician who was tested often in the preseason by Brown and Smith. That will translate on to the field as he travels with the opponent’s top receiver.
22. The Eagles will reach the NFC Championship game. In the regular season, the Eagles will finish 11-6, beat the Vikings in the first round at home, then the 49ers in the second round in San Francisco. They’ll lose to the Buccaneers in Tampa and fall short of a Super Bowl trip.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
