4 former Eagles who will fail with their new teams in 2025

Every single offseason, we see players leave the Philadelphia Eagles to chase the bag. Who can blame them? They only get this career one time, and they should make as much money as possible. 

What stinks for them is that a lot of times, they go to their new team and realize the grass isn’t always greener. Then, maybe they go from that team to a new team, always chasing the bag and chasing the dragon of success and the good locker room that they had with the Eagles. Predictably, they never catch that dragon. 

Some Eagles you can still root for, some you will actively root against

In a perfect world, former Eagles don’t go somewhere in the NFC East. In a tolerable world, they would go to the Giants or the Commanders. In a bad world, they go to the Cowboys. Miles Sanders jumped headfirst into the bad world. 

Miles Sanders, now in Dallas

In the second round of the 2019 draft, the Eagles pick Miles Sanders, the running back out of Penn State. In his first four years in the league, he was hit-or-miss. In his first three seasons, he always had around 800 rushing yards, which isn’t good or bad; it was just fine.

He left the Eagles after the 2022 season and went to the Carolina Panthers on a four-year, $25.4 million contract. In 2022, he rushed for 1,269 yards and 11 touchdowns on 259 carries. In his two seasons with the Panthers, he rushed for 637 yards and three touchdowns on 184 carries. He’s pretty much the exact opposite of Saquon Barkley.

When Barkley was with the Giants, the thought was, ‘This guy is super sick, but how sick could he be if he played in a real offense?’ With Sanders, it was, ‘This guy is pretty good behind a real offensive line. He better hope he doesn’t go to a team without a real offense.’

…And then he went to a team without a real offense, and it went just about as poorly as it could’ve gone. He didn’t play very well, got hurt, and then got released after two years of his deal. 

In the first week of this year’s free agency, the Cowboys signed him to a one-year, $1.1 million deal. Now, instead of playing behind the Panthers’ terrible offensive line, he gets to play behind the Cowboys’ terrible offensive line. *Fart noise*

He’s a Cowboy now. That’s reality. And because he’s a Cowboy, he’s opened himself up to a level of criticism that he probably wishes wasn’t there. For example, remember when he had a 74-yard run against the Ravens, but then he fumbled, and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside got his second (and last) touchdown?

Not great. It feels like we’re rooting against an ex where you had a mutual breakup because they left and joined Greenpeace for two years. Then they came back, and now they’re dating that nerd who thinks they’re better than everyone because they won a spelling bee in 1996.

Milton Williams, now in New England

I’m sure Milton Williams is going to be good with the Patriots. He was a really good player during his four years with the Eagles, and he was spectacular in the Super Bowl, but this is just more about how he probably won’t live up to his leviathan paycheck. 

The Patriots are paying him $26 million per year. That’s a whole lot of money, but the salary cap gets higher and higher every season. That means the best way to think about a player’s value to a team is by looking at what percentage of the salary cap their contract takes up. Per Spotrac, his contract is 9.31 percent of the Patriots' cap.

Interior defensive linemen who are around that number are Chris Jones (12.43%), Christian Wilkins (10.77%), Quinnen Williams (10.68%), Dexter Lawrence (9.73%), and DeForest Bucker (9.01%). Those are some names that Milton Williams is going to be compared to. 

When you’re spending that kind of resources on a guy, especially on the defensive line, you would hope that he’d be able to draw double teams and be successful. With the Eagles, he was a beneficiary of the double teams on Jalen Carter. 

He still did really well with his one-on-ones, and he probably still will. But the Patriots paid elite player money to a guy who might not play up to the value.

Avonte Maddox, now in Detroit

The Eagles drafted Avonte Maddox in the fourth round of the 2018 draft, and he had himself a journey during his seven years in Philadelphia. 

He started off hot for a couple of seasons, then had a relative dud or two, played well in 2021, got hurt in 2022 and 2023, then was a liability for 99 percent of his snaps in 2024. Fortunately, he ended his Eagles career with a studly highlight. 

The Eagles were up 27-0 over the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, and it was a fourth and four with 2:50 left in the third quarter. Patrick Mahomes threw an out route to DeAndre Hopkins just past the stick, and Maddox flew in for an amazing pass breakup. The play immediately after that was ‘The Dagger.’

It’s hard to think of a better send-off for a guy who had a really fun playstyle. He was always a guy who played super physically, which ended up being to his detriment because his body just couldn’t hold up. 

On March 21st, the 29-year-old signed a one-year deal with the Detroit Lions. They’re a team that was snake-bitten by injuries last season. If that kind of thing happens again (and if Maddox makes the 53-man roster, you have to imagine Avonte is going to get some real playing time, and if he does, it’ll probably be closer to what we saw against the Buccaneers than what we saw against the Chiefs.

Dishonorable mention: Jalen Reagor, still in Los Angeles (Chargers)

The Eagles drafted Jalen Reagor in the first round of the 2020 draft, one spot before Justin Jefferson. It didn’t make sense then, it doesn’t make sense now, and it won’t make sense in 50 years. 

He was only in Philadelphia for two years, which is great because he was always unavailable, not giving effort, and dropping balls. Remember when he came into training camp overweight? I do. 

This one doesn’t count, but it still kind of counts: Jalen Reagor was with the Chargers last season and then signed a one-year contract with them in free agency. 

I’m guessing the thought is that Justin Herbert needs a warm body to throw the ball to, and that's just what Reagor offers. Right now, the Chargers' wide receiver room is Ladd McConkey, Mike Williams, Quentin Johnston, and Reagor. 

He stinks. Wherever he goes, he’ll keep stinking. It’ll be fun when the Cowboys pick him up in two years.