Philadelphia Eagles Season Preview for 2025

The Philadelphia Eagles are the defending Super Bowl Champions heading into the 2025 NFL season, so there is plenty of talk about a repeat. But is it justified? Let’s take a look, shall we.

(Disclaimer: If you are one of those blindly loyal, delusional fans who thinks the Eagles are going to win every game and win the Super Bowl every year, then just move along. Maybe go read “Spuds” on the Eagles website. This is an objective analysis of the current Eagles roster.)

Let’s start with the fact that this is not the same team that just won Super Bowl LIX. They lost a lot of good players to free-agency and trades, due to GM Howie Roseman’s salary cap machinations finally catching up with him. Gone are five starters on defense (DEs Josh Sweat and Brandon Graham, DT Milton Williams, CB Darius Slay and Safety Chauncey Gardner Johnson) and one starter on offense (RG Makhi Becton), along with key backups CB Isaiah Rodgers and RB Kenny Gainwell. That’s a lot to replace. It just is.

The offense returns virtually intact and led by Super Bowl LIX MVP Jalen Hurts. That’s great, but I’m not so sure that Hurts is actually great. Elite QBs throw for 5,000 yards. Great QBs throw for 4,000 yards. Hurts only threw for 2,903 yards and 18 TDs last season, so let’s pump the brakes on “best player in the NFL” talk because he’s a “winner”. Trent Dilfer won a Super Bowl too, but that doesn’t make him a better QB than Dan Marino (Google those names youngsters). And it was the Eagles players who went to Roseman last year and said they need to run the ball more, so even they don’t think Hurts is elite. The good news is that the “Tush Push” is still a legal play and Hurts had 14 rushing TDs last season. Hurts is capable of leading the team to wins, but he can’t carry the offense. Big difference.

Luckily for the Eagles, they have the player who should have been the NFL MVP last season, Saquan Barkley. Barkley became only the 9^th player in NFL history to rush for over 2,000 yards (2,005) in 2024 and could have set the all-time rushing mark if he didn’t sit out the final game. He did set the mark for most rushing yards in a season and playoffs (2,504) though. Going into this season, the Eagles need to straddle the line between riding Barkley and trying to keep him healthy. He has a long history of injuries but stayed healthy last season. Will Shipley and A.J. Dillon are his backups, but if either has to play any significant snaps during the year, the Eagles season could be in jeopardy.

The Eagles have an impressive stable of receiving options at their disposal in WRs A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Johan Dotson and TE Dallas Goedert. The question is whether the Eagles will need to use them more this season than they did last season, when they led the NFL in rushing attempts and were second in rushing yards. My guess is that teams will try to stop the Eagles from running the ball first, but not to the extreme that the Kansas City Chiefs did in the Super Bowl. Brown and Smith are going to beat most CBs on a regular basis, so any time defenses stack the box against the run, I expect the Eagles will be able to make them pay.

The Eagles still have one of the best, if not the best offensive line in the NFL. They return 4 of 5 starters, LT Jordan Mailata, LG Landon Dickerson, C Cam Jurgens and RT Lane Johnson. Tyler Steen takes over at RG, but he has been on the roster the last 3 years and played in all 17 regular season games and 4 playoff games last season. He’s obviously the weak link on the line, but playing next to future first-ballot Hall of Famer Johnson will certainly protect him. The other issue is Dickerson had knee surgery and a back issue in training camp, after a long history of injuries in college. He needs to be healthy because the O-line depth isn’t what it used to be. Still, expect this line to dominate in the running game and keep Hurts well-protected in the pocket. It’s what they do consistently. (Side Note: Ben Johnson winning Assistant Coach of the Year over Jeff Stoutland last season was a joke)

Somebody is going to have to tell me where the Eagles pass rush is going to come from this season. I mean, I know that the starting pass rushers are now Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt, but I have questions about each of them. Sure, Smith had 4 sacks in the playoffs last year, but he only had 6.5 during the entire regular season. Hunt had all of 1.5 sacks in the regular season and 1.5 in the postseason. That doesn’t scream Reggie and Clyde to me. Know what I’m saying? The Eagles signed Josh Uche and Azeez Ojulari as free agents, but neither one of them are better than average players. Inside, Jalen Carter is one of the best D-linemen in the league and will command double teams on every single snap. NT Jordan Davis is nothing but a run-stuffer and draft bust (They could have had All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton at that spot, dammit). And Moro Ojomo hasn’t proven anything in the NFL yet. This group is Carter and a bunch of question marks. If nobody can get to the QB, it’s going to be a long year for this defense.

LB Zack Baun was an All-Pro and finalist for Defensive Player of the Year in his first year with the Eagles and returns as the leader of the defense with a nice big contract. Then Howie did the unthinkable and drafted a LB in the first round, Jihaad Campbell, who will start alongside Baun. Last year’s starter, Nakobe Dean, is on the PUP list to start the season. With apologies to Bill Bergy and Frank LeMaster, this could be the best group of ILBs that the Eagles have ever had if Campbell lives up to his draft pedigree. I know. I’m as shocked as you are. And yes, I’m old. Wait, Seth Joyner and Byron Evans?

The secondary is where I have some serious concerns. Sure Reed Blakenship is a good safety and Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean are studs, but who is the second outside CB and safety. Adoree Jackson has looked cooked the last few years, and he still beat out Kelee Ringo for the second CB spot. The hope is that Jakorian Bennett eventually takes over after he gets more comfortable in the defense. At safety, Sydney Brown has never seemed fast enough in coverage to me and rookie Drew Mukuba is under-sized and hurt already. I’m sorry, but I don’t see how those two glaring holes in the defense won’t cost the Eagles games this season.

Kicker Jake Elliott returns after a sub-par 2024 where he only made one kick over 50 yards. Punter Braden Mann returns and he’s perfectly fine. And Charley Hughlett was signed to be the long-snapper. We won’t know how the return and coverage teams are until we start playing the games.

It’s no secret that I don’t particularly care for Nick Sirianni, but the guy did just win a Super Bowl. He doesn’t call the offense or defense, so he’s just a cheerleader with a headset, but the players seem to like him now that he’s toned down more of his clownish traits. Vic Fangio is nothing short of a genius considering what he accomplished last season. Now he’s really going to have to earn his money after the Eagles lost 5 starters on defense from last year’s team. I assume he’ll figure out how to get the best out of what he has. After all, he’s the guy who took one look at the free-agent OLB/pass rusher/special teams guy that Howie signed and said, no, Zack Baun is an ILB. The problem with the coaching staff might be with the new offensive coordinator. Anybody who doesn’t have doubts about Kevin Patullo obviously doesn’t remember the fiasco that was Brian Johnson (The Eagles’ former OC, not the lead singer of AC/DC). Johnson, like Patullo, had never called plays in the NFL and it was a disaster. Both were internal hires. And both were influenced by Sirianni, who proved that he can’t call plays in the NFL. If Patullo doesn’t just run the ball at least 60% of the time, this could end badly. (You can put down the pom-poms now, Nick. I’m done talking about the coaches)

The NFC East isn’t exactly a powerhouse these days. Yes, the Washington Commanders made it to the NFC Championship Game last season and have the trendy new QB everyone loves, but their defense is simply not going to be good. They’re also one of the oldest teams in the NFL. The NY Giants are rebuilding, in spite of the fact that the GM and head coach are trying to save their jobs by starting Russel Wilson at QB. That won’t end well, but the Giants will have a good defense this season. The Cowboys? Hahahahahaha. Let me just say that, as an Eagles fan, I hope that Jerry Jones somehow lives forever. The NFC has a few other teams like the Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers and LA Rams who could certainly make it challenging for the Eagles to get back to the Super Bowl.

Ultimately, I think that the Eagles will win about 11 games and become the first team to repeat as NFC East Division Champs, since they did it back in 2004. Yeah, it’s somehow been 21 years since there has been a repeat champ in the NFC East. I mean, it was so long ago that Facebook wasn’t even around, you bought albums on CDs, watched the last episode of Friends and Uncle Rico was throwing footballs over those mountains.

Sorry, I got sidetracked there.

I don’t want to disappoint Eagles fans, but I just don’t see this Eagles team having enough to repeat as Super Bowl Champions. They’re the second youngest team in the NFL and Howie simply let too many starters go for this team to repeat. There is no shame in that. I just don’t see the team being completely healthy again, like they were last season, and they don’t have much depth if there are injuries. Plus, I don’t think Hurts is capable of carrying the team if Barkley gets injured or other teams sell-out to stop him on the ground. Yes, I know the Eagles crushed the Chiefs in the Super Bowl when they sold out to stop Barkley, but no other coach is dumb enough to completely abandon the run with backup O-linemen, like Andy Reid did. It’s why the Chiefs had no offense in the game.

I’m not even saying that this couldn’t be the beginning of a great run of Eagles football for years to come. The team has many talented young players, but I just don’t think they’re all ready to help the team repeat as champions this season.