It’s easy to get carried away with the Eagles’ offseason, with games still more than three months away.
The Eagles filled just about every one of their offseason needs.
They got a big-time wide receiver in A.J. Brown to pair with DeVonta Smith. They got a star pass rusher in Haason Reddick, a bona-fide starter at linebacker in Kyzir White, and most recently, a star cornerback in James Bradberry.
They drafted a defensive tackle to eventually replace Fletcher Cox, an interior lineman to eventually replace Jason Kelce, and a linebacker in Nakobe Dean who will likely start from Day 1.
All that’s missing is the statue of general manager Howie Roseman to go next to the one of Nick Foles and Doug Pederson.
Yes, Roseman appears to have had that kind of offseason.
It certainly didn’t seem that way in late March when the Eagles had only signed Reddick and White. There was still a big hole at wide receiver and cornerback while Roseman and head coach Nick Sirianni talked about someone like Zech McPhearson, Tay Gowan or Kary Vincent starting opposite of Slay.
As if.
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All the while, the top wide receivers (Tyreek Hill, Davante Adams, Allen Robinson), safeties (Marcus Williams, Tyrann Mathieu) and cornerbacks were either signing or getting traded to other teams.
And then the Eagles didn’t select a corner or safety in the draft.
But as Roseman has often said, the player-acquisition period doesn’t end after the first few weeks of free agency, or even after the draft.
This is often when Roseman does his best work.
That’s what makes the Eagles’ offseason eerily reminiscent of 2017. The players the Eagles acquired then, from the start of free agency all the way to the trade deadline in late October, spurred the Super Bowl run.
Back then, the Eagles were coming off a 7-9 season under a first-year head coach in Doug Pederson. They had a quarterback who just completed his first full season as a starter in Carson Wentz.
This Eagles team is coming off a 9-8 season under first-year head coach Nick Sirianni, with quarterback Jalen Hurts going through his first full season as a starter.
OK, the Eagles don’t have Foles, who signed Monday as a backup in Indianapolis, although the Eagles reportedly looked into bringing him back for a third time. But they do have Gardner Minshew, who led the Eagles to two wins in place of Hurts last season.
Back in 2017, the Eagles desperately needed wide receivers, so they made a splash at the start of free agency by signing Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith. That helped Nelson Agholor have the best season of his career.
Compare that to the present day. The Eagles added Brown in a draft-day trade and drafted DeVonta Smith in 2021. There’s a good chance that Quez Watkins or Jalen Reagor (like Agholor, a disappointing first-round pick) will benefit.
Let’s go on.
In 2017, the Eagles added two contributors at guard in Stefen Wisniewski and Chance Warmack. Wisniewski became a starter that season. The Eagles did that in the 2021 draft with Landon Dickerson, who’s already established himself as a starter, and in second-round pick Cam Jurgens, who will likely back up Kelce and both guard positions.
On the defensive line, the Eagles signed Chris Long as a free agent and drafted Derek Barnett in the first round. Say what you will about Barnett’s disappointing 2021 season, but as a rookie, Barnett’s strip-sack turned around the NFC Championship game. He also recovered the fumble forced by Brandon Graham in the final minutes of the Super Bowl.
Here, again, the Eagles followed the pattern by signing Reddick and drafting defensive tackle Jordan Davis.
The Eagles didn’t add a linebacker in 2017, but they did the year before in Nigel Bradham to go along with Mychal Kendricks. White and Dean can be comparable, with veteran T.J. Edwards a solid contributor as well.
Roseman’s offseason work in the secondary is perhaps the most comparable between the two offseasons.
In 2017, the Eagles had holes at both cornerback and safety. But the Eagles didn’t spend lavishly in free agency. They signed Patrick Robinson as a nickel corner, then drafted Sidney Jones and Rasul Douglas. Jones, of course, wasn’t expected to play that season because he had torn his Achilles tendon.
So the Eagles went into the summer knowing they needed a bona-fide starter at cornerback, along with depth at safety behind starters Malcolm Jenkins and Rodney McLeod.
In early August, they signed veteran safety Corey Graham to back up Malcolm Jenkins and Rodney McLeod. A few weeks later, Roseman traded wide receiver Jordan Matthews to Buffalo in return for cornerback Ronald Darby.
Again, the Eagles just added Bradberry, who made the Pro Bowl in 2020, after the Giants had to release him for salary cap reasons. And there is still plenty of time to add a safety for depth behind starters Anthony Harris and Marcus Epps.
But Roseman likely isn’t done. In 2017, Roseman traded for running back Jay Ajayi at the deadline that October.
Here’s something else to consider: When the Eagles left for their break in June 2017, Pederson said his team – mind you, coming off a 7-9 season – had more talent than the 1996 Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers, for whom Pederson was a backup QB.
Sirianni never played for or coached a Super Bowl team. So he doesn’t have the frame of reference that Pederson had.
But Sirianni does have a better team than he had last year, and the heightened expectations that go along with it. And if everything breaks just right …
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
