The Philadelphia Eagles’ 2025 season has been in the rear view mirror for a couple of weeks now, so let’s take some questions for a mailbag post, shall we? This is Part II of a two-part mailbag. Part I here.
Question from @phillyguy62: Besides drafting Lane Johnson’s eventual replacement, is there anything else you would do to “fix” the offensive line? Or was it just a bad year with injuries? Cam Jurgens looked outmatched at times and Landon Dickerson wasn’t himself at all.
It was a bad year because of injuries. Lane was still an elite player when he played, but he missed eight games, while Jurgens and Dickerson did not play to their standard because they weren’t healthy.
This is a semi-unanswerable question for me, because I don’t know how threatening Dickerson’s and Jurgens’ injuries are, long-term.
Is there a chance that after a long offseason that they will regroup and recover and once again be the players they were in 2024? Sure.
But the Eagles also probably need to have a contingency plan in place in case they’re just never the same players again. I would probably be more concerned about Dickerson than Jurgens, as Dickerson had a long list of serious injuries before he even entered the NFL:
• November 2016: Torn ACL, right knee.
• October 2017: Right ankle surgery ended his season.
• 2018: Nagging/recurring left ankle injury caused him to miss most of the season.
• December 2020: Torn ACL, left knee.
Dickerson has avoided serious, season-ending injuries throughout his pro career. However, we have all seen on a week-to-week basis that his body has taken a pounding, and there are no doubt a bunch of injuries that he has played through that we don’t even know about.
The Eagles selected Drew Kendall in the fifth round of the 2025 draft, and the team had him training at center and guard during the season. So that’s maybe one player who has a reasonable chance to develop into a contributor, but they probably need to add more players to that pipeline, certainly at OT to eventually succeed Lane, and probably also on the interior.
Question from @ZachSiskind (via Bluesky): Assuming A.J. Brown is gone which do you think the Eagles would prefer: (1) Maximum draft value even if it’s conditional and a year or two out (similar to Wentz), (2) Guaranteed draft capital this year, (3) Player for player trade for disgruntled WR.
I think that one of the things the Eagles have done a good job of exploiting in recent years is the weird outside perception that draft picks in the current year are substantially more valuable than draft picks in future years. By that I mean, you’ll often hear people say that a draft pick in the current year is a full round more valuable than a pick in the following year’s draft, which is obviously idiotic.
Each team values future draft picks differently. The Eagles rightfully value future picks similarly to current picks, because big picture they typically view the draft as their primary long-term roster building tool. One big reason they’re able to do that is because Howie Roseman very clearly has long-term job security. He knows that if he trades for a pick a year or two down the road, he will still get full use of that pick, instead of having it get used by some other new GM.
Other teams around the league have decision makers who are not in that position, and are willing to give up more value in future years for immediate gratification.
So, I would say as a general rule of thumb, Howie is always going to opt for maximum draft value over all else.
Question from @TheSmartyJones: If A.J. is gone, is it more likely he’s replaced via draft pick, free agent, or trade?
The Eagles are going to need multiple receivers this offseason whether they trade A.J. or not.
If they trade him, they’re likely to select a receiver with a high pick, and/or trade for a good receiver on a rookie contract, which would also cost a high pick.
They could also dip into the free agent market, but probably only for bargain vets on cheap one-year deals.
It’s not just A.J. that they may have to replace. Jahan Dotson is also a free agent, and I can’t imagine that he’ll be a player they’ll seek to keep.
Question from @7he_reason (via Threads): Will the Eagles keep Jaelan Phillips and Nolan Smith and hope they don’t get injured? Or does one have to go?
Based on snap counts, Jaelan Phillips was Vic Fangio’s top edge defender after the Eagles acquired him at the trade deadline. The edges’ snap counts per game, from Week 10 on (omitting the Week 18 “resting starters” game against the Commanders):
- Jaelan Phillips: 52.1
- Jalyx Hunt: 37.8
- Nolan Smith: 33.8
- Brandon Graham: 12.0
Phillips is also bigger than Hunt and Smith.
• Jaelan Phillips: 6’5, 266
• Jalyx Hunt: 6’3, 252
• Nolan Smith: 6’2, 238
He brings a bit of a power element to the Eagles’ edge rush, whereas Hunt and Smith rely more on their speed. If Phillips leaves in free agency, the Eagles won’t really have anyone long-term with decent size on the edge.
Add in that Phillips called his trade to the Eagles the best day of his life, and that the Eagles gave up a third-round pick to get him, and it feels like he will be a priority re-signing for the Eagles this offseason.
As for Smith, the only decision they have to make on him this offseason is whether or not to exercise his fifth-year option in 2027, which they very likely will.
Question from @TheCreativeJC: On a scale of 1-10, how likely is it that Phillips returns, given his age/position/Vic’s affinity for him?
Oh, I have to put this in 1-10 form, too?
Alright, 8.2.
Question from @goldmine848: If the Eagles didn’t pay Josh Sweat last year, why would it be suggested that they will pay Phillips this year?
If you’ll recall, Sweat took a pay cut in 2024. He probably didn’t love that, and rightfully so. I do know that he couldn’t wait to test his value on the open market and cash in on a phenomenal Super Bowl performance. And, well, he did (good for him!). Conversely, Phillips has made clear that he wants to be in Philly.
So, that’s the answer.
But also…
• Phillips is 26 years old. He has only played five NFL seasons. Sweat had played in seven when he left in free agency last offseason.
• Last offseason, the Eagles had a lot of noteworthy free agents, like Zack Baun, Milton Williams, Mekhi Becton, Isaiah Rodgers, and Sweat. Their top priority was to retain Baun. This year, the priority is probably Phillips, for the reasons noted in the question about him above. He’s pretty clearly the player worth keeping, compared with Dallas Goedert and Nakobe Dean, right?
Question from @MichaelPlank: Let’s define athleticism as some combination of speed, agility, balance, strength, explosiveness, etc. Isn’t Sydney Brown [athletic]? And yet, he can’t get on the field. It’s not like the Eagles are starting prime Ronnie Lott. What gives?
To begin, thank you for the tutorial on the key components of athleticism. 😂
I kid, I kid.
Yeah, Sydney Brown is a hell of an athlete.
But, he plays out of control, he does not have good instincts, and he is very often out of position.
The best player in NFL history was a terrible athlete coming out of college:
You have to have a base level of athleticism to even compete, and certainly, having great testing numbers is appealing. But when it comes to being a great football player, it’s not always about that. You also have to know how to play.
Compare a couple of recent linebackers the Eagles selected in the third round of the draft, in Davion Taylor and Nakobe Dean. Taylor was a better athlete than Dean is, but Dean is a much better player because he knows how to play.
Question from @yackowarner (via Bluesky): Have you developed any draft crushes yet?
Yeah, during the season, some of my favorite players I profiled in our prospects series are as follows (at varying projected rounds of the draft):
- D’Angelo Ponds, CB, Indiana
- Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, S, Toledo
- David Bailey, EDGE, Texas Tech
- Germie Bernard, WR, Alabama
- Bryce Lance, WR, North Dakota State
- Olaivavega Ioane, iOL, Penn State
- Will Kacmarek, TE, Ohio State
- Riley Nowakowski, TE, Indiana
Like, when I do mock draft simulations at PFF or wherever else, those guys will very commonly be among my selections.
Question from @ACViking41: Is there anyone who’s been producing better Eagles material since Bush II than Tommy Lawlor?
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