The Philadelphia Eagles have lost a lot of key players so far this offseason, and among those guys were six starters. Luckily, Howie Roseman and the gang have done an awesome job drafting, which means there are going to be some good young guys that fill those spots nicely.
Unfortunately, not every spot is going to have a top-tier replacement, and some of the guys they draft this year are going to have a real opportunity to play a whole bunch of important snaps in 2025.
Get ready for the same offense and a super young defense
For context, it feels important to bring up the playing time of rookies, specifically the Eagles' first and second-round picks. If there’s a rookie who’s going to play, the earlier they are drafted, the better their chance of getting the starting job (duh). Here’s what the Eagles' past 10 first-round draft picks have had, snap count percentage-wise (these numbers are coming from Pro Football Reference).
Player | % off snap counts |
|---|---|
Quinyon Mitchell | 96% |
Jalen Carter | 51% |
Nolan Smith | 16% |
Jordan Davis | 26% |
DeVonta Smith | 82% |
Jalen Reagor | 67% |
Andre Dillard | 29% |
Derek Barnett | 44% |
Carson Wentz | 100% |
Nelson Agholor | 73% |
And this is what it is for the last 10 second-round picks:
Player | % of snap counts |
|---|---|
Cooper DeJean | 63% |
Cam Jurgens | 3% |
Landon Dickerson | 95% |
Jalen Hurts | 32% |
Miles Sanders | 53% |
Dallas Goedert | 48% |
Sidney Jones | 43% |
Eric Rowe | 42% |
Jordan Matthews | 65% |
Zach Ertz | 41% |
There’s not a whole lot that’s super consistent between the players and their positions. Guys like Cam Jurgens, Jalen Hurts, Dallas Goedert, and Zach Ertz were players in waiting or splitting time with someone else. Guys like Quinyon Mitchell, Landon Dickerson, DeVonta Smith, and Carson Wentz were drafted to be starters or were just amazing. Guys like Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter played at a rotatable position. Guys like Andre Dillard were just horrible.
Different situations went into different players' playing time. We’re talking about rookies who can come in and take a starting job in positions that don’t split time and don’t rotate.
The Eagles will be returning 10 of their 11 offensive starters, which is awesome compared to what’s going on with the defense.
Position | Starter | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
Quarterback | Jalen Hurts | Tanner McKee | D.T.R. |
Running Back | Saquon Barkley | Will Shipley | A.J. Dillon |
Left Tackle | Jordan Mailata | Laekin Vakalahi | |
Left Guard | Landon Dickerson | Matt Pryor | Trevort Keegan |
Center | Cam Jurgens | Brett Toth | |
Right Guard | Tyler Steen | Kenyon Green | |
Right Tackle | Lane Johnson | Darian Kinnard | |
Tight End | Dallas Goedert | Grant Calcaterra | Kylen Granson |
Wide Receiver | A.J. Brown | Johnny Wilson | Anaias Smith |
Wide Receiver | DeVonta Smith | Jahan Dotson | Elijah Cooks |
With Mekhi Becton gone, it means that the Eagles only need to replace their right guard. Luckily, they have Tyler Steen, who they drafted in the third round of the 2023 draft, and Kenyon Green, the former first-round pick from the Texans.
The tough part here is that neither of these guys is great. Steen had an opportunity to win the starting guard spot over Becton in training camp last season but didn’t. Green has just been straight-up awful for the first three seasons of his career.
Jeff Stoutland is the world’s best offensive line coach, and everyone who goes to Stoutland University becomes a better player, but that doesn’t mean they’re capable of starting for the NFL’s perennial best offensive line.
Steen and Green (note to self: that rhymes—keep it in mind for training camp) aren’t necessarily shoo-ins for the starting role. If the Eagles draft Lane Johnson’s replacement this year, and he can play guard for the time being, there's a chance we’ll see a rookie on the offensive line.
Other than that, we’re just waiting on Dallas Goedert’s future. The Eagles have Grant Calcaterra and a couple of guys they picked up in free agency who could step in if Goedert gets traded, but if the Eagles draft one of the better tight ends early, there’s a chance that guy gets the TE1 job. We’ll have to wait and see on that because Goedert could (and hopefully will) restructure his deal and come back.
Defense is a whole different beast. Darius Slay, Josh Sweat, C.J. Gardner Johnson, Milton Williams, and Oren Burks all left in free agency. On top of that, Brandon Graham retired, and Nakobe Dean could miss most or all of the 2025 season with his jacked-up knee..
Position | Starter | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
Safety | Reed Blankenship | Lewis Cine | Andre' Sam |
Safety | Tristin McCollum | Sydney Brown | |
Corner | Quinyon Mitchell | ||
Corner | Kelee Ringo | Adoree' Jackson | |
Nickle Corner | Cooper DeJean | Eli Ricks | Tariq Castro-Fields |
Line backer | Zack Baun | Dallas Gant | |
Line backer | Jeremaih Trotter Jr. | Ben VanSumeren | Nakobe Dean* |
Tackle | Jalen Carter | Thomas Booker | |
Tackle | Jordan Davis | Moro Ojomo | Byron Young |
Edge | Nolan Smith | Azeez Ojulari | Bryce Huff |
Edge | Jalyx Hunt | Josh Uche | Patrick Johnson |
That means there are going to be new starters at cornerback, safety, edge rusher, defensive tackle (kind of), and linebacker.
At cornerback, the Eagles do have some options: Kelee Ringo, Adoree’ Jackson, and maybe Eli Ricks. They could even throw Cooper DeJean as the starting outside corner and then move him inside if they go to dime. That being said, if the Eagles do draft a cornerback with a premium pick (which seems highly unlikely), they could give Ringo and Jackson a run for their money.
That’s even more true with Safety. Right now, Tristin McCollum, Sydney Brown, and Lewis Cine are battling for a starting spot in the offseason. If the Eagles draft a safety, which is a position that this draft has a lot of, that draft pick could get the starting spot… especially if it’s one that gets drafted in the first round.
Edge rusher and defensive tackle are more-or-less rotational positions, and it seems like with the Eagles' depth at those two positions, it would be pretty tough for a rookie to break through. It feels like the Eagles are cool with Jordan Davis and/or Moro Ojomo to start alongside Jalen Carter at tackle, and either Azeez Ojulari or Jalyx Hunt to start opposite Nolan Smith at edge.
At linebacker, the only shot a rookie has to start would be if that rookie is specifically Jihaad Campbell, the linebacker from Alabama. Other than that, they’ll be fine with rolling out Zack Baun and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. or some other post-draft/late-offseason free agency pickup.
All in all, it’s not bad. The Eagles still have an insanely solid core of defensive players. We’re still looking at a defense with Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, Zack Baun, and Reed Blankenship. If you ever feel like the defense might be doomed, just say those names to yourself and remember that Vic Fangio is still the brains behind it all.
If Fangio says a rookie is good enough to start on defense, then that’s scripture. There’s absolutely no reason to doubt him.
And then there's special teams...
Position | Starter |
|---|---|
Punter/Holder | Braden Mann |
Kicker | Jake Elliott |
Long Snapper | Charley Hughlett |
I never had any problems with Rick Lovato, but he's not with the Eagles anymore. Charley Hughlett has been in the NFL since 2012, and he's 34 years old, so if the Eagles wanted to use a late-round draft pick on a long snapper, it wouldn't be crazy if a rookie won the starting job.
As far as kicker goes... woof. On the one hand, Jake Elliott has bounced back from terrible seasons before, and he also signed a four-year extension for $24 million in March of 2024. On the other hand, last season was really, really terrible for him.
It'd be financially criminal for the Eagles to get a new kicker, but it'd make sense football-wise to bring in a UDFA or a free agent for a competition. It feels crazy for the team to force themselves into another Jake Elliott year when there's a potential that he doesn't get back on track. Don't make everyone have to go through that again; don't make us hate Jake Elliott.