Eagles first quarter awards: Picking team MVP, ROY, DPOY and more

Whether you like it or not, we’re a quarter of the way through the 2024 NFL season. It’s been mostly gross looking for the Philadelphia Eagles, but they made it through September with a 2-2 record and now they’re going into an early, yet well-timed bye week.

In September, the two things that matter most are that starters get comfortable and that teams avoid season-ending injuries that could derail a season. The Eagles are definitely still getting comfortable, but if you’re looking for something positive, they haven’t had any injuries that will ruin the season. So that’s nice.

Let’s stay positive. Let’s focus on the guys who have been playing well.

Early season superlatives for the Eagles

We’re still learning about all the teams and the players through the NFL. That’s especially true when it comes to the Eagles because there were a lot of changes with personnel, coaches, and overall schemes (more-or-less). 

We learned about four Eagles who are standing out, and they deserve to be acknowledged with super important superlatives that will undoubtedly hold true through the next three and a half months.

Most Valuable Player

There are a couple of players that this award could go to because of what happens when they aren’t playing. With A.J. Brown the Eagles' offense was explosive; they put up 34 points in Week 1. Without him, they’ve scored 21, 12, and 16 points. As for Lane Johnson, we all know his value because of the team’s record without him, and Week 4 was another Lane-less loss. Since 2016, the Eagles' record without him is now 11-23.

All that being said, it seems dumb and pretty lame to give someone an award because they’re not playing.

The MVP is Saquon Barkley. Duh. He’s been phenomenal. He’s the definition of a game changer and the Eagles wouldn’t be 2-2 without him.

You should go and watch every single one of Saquon’s 73 carries because it will give you legitimate goosebumps. It’s awesome. 90% of the time he touches the ball, it’s a highlight. It doesn’t matter if it’s a 4-yard run or his 65-yard run, he’s explosive, makes someone miss, and picks up more yards than he should. 

So far this season, he has 435 rushing yards (third in the NFL), which is 108.8 yards per game and six yards per carry. He has four rushing touchdowns (fourth in the NFL). He has 156 rushing yards over expectation (second in the NFL). He has 10 rushes of over 10 yards (fifth in the NFL). He has two rushes where he’s reached over 20 mph (first in the NFL). Simply put: he’s everything you could hope he would be and more.

In 2013, LeSean McCoy set the Eagles single-season rushing record at 1,607 yards, which is 100.4 yards per game. Again, Saquon is at 108.8 yards per game right now. There is a very real possibility that he will break that record.

Not only is Saquon the Eagles early season MVP, but he’s also in the running for to NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year, which would be killer.

Rookie of the Year

This one isn’t too hard. The only rookies that have had real playing time this season are wide receiver Johnny Wilson and cornerback Quinyon Mitchell. Johnny hasn’t done a whole lot with the ball in his hands, but he’s shown flashes as a blocker. 

Quinyon Mitchell wins by a landslide. Not only has he been phenomenal as a rookie, but he's been amazing as an NFL cornerback.

He’s getting tested and he’s passing with flying colors: He’s been targeted 25 times, which is the most of any Eagles’ defensive back, but he’s only allowing a 52% catch rate and a passer rating of 76.6. Those numbers alone are great, but it’s what you actually see that’s awesome. 

Whether he’s putting his foot in the ground and breaking back towards a receiver or when he’s going downfield, his closing speed is crazy. He’s able to manipulate his blockers and he’s down to throw his body and make a tackle. He’s been great so far and watching him develop even more is going to be so much fun.

Also, he just played every single defensive snap in 108-degree weather. He can do everything he needs to do, and he won’t get off the field even if the air is boiling. 

He could win Defensive Rookie of the Year. As of October 2, 2024, Fanduel has him at +1400 odds to win DROY, behind only Jared Verse, Laiatu Latu, Dallas Turner, and Kamari Lassiter.

Defensive Player of the Year

It would be awesome to say the Eagles’ early season Defensive Player of the Year is Jalen Carter. He had all the hype coming into the season but then laid two straight duds in Weeks 1 and 2. In Week 3, he came alive and wrecked the Saints’ entire gameplan by living inside Derek Carr’s facemask for a full 60 minutes. 

Then Week 4 came around and he was a non-factor again. Now, to be fair, Baker Mayfield was getting rid of the ball so fast that Carter never had a chance to consistently make an impact. That inconsistency means this award really comes down to two other players.

Zack Baun has been awesome. He leads the team in sacks (unfortunately that’s just two), and he’s had 29 solo tackles (fourth in the NFL) and 43 total tackles (fifth in the NFL). He’s flying around, and making important stops. He might actually be a pretty good linebacker this year. 

The problem is that while linebackers are important, they aren’t as important as edge rushers, and there’s been one edge rusher who’s defying both the odds, and time.

Brandon Graham is the Eagles’ Defensive Player of the Year so far. What he’s been doing this season is astonishing. 

He’s disruptive and unrelenting, and he’s the leader on defense. He’s getting the most pressure from all of the Eagles edge rushers, and in a season where pressure from edge rushers feels like it’s going to be at a premium, those pressures are important. 

Hell, his pressure on Derek Carr directly lead to Reed Blankenship’s game-sealing interception in Week 3. 

Now, it’s not great that a 36-year-old is the best defender on the team, but if there is a 36-year-old that you want to be your best guy, B.G. is him.

Most Improved Player

Only a few players on the Eagles roster qualify for this award. The Eagles' defense in 2023 was terrible so it shouldn’t be hard to improve, but a lot of new players came in and some of the duds either left or are now on the bench. On offense, there was only one big change last season, and that was Cam Jurgens moving from right guard to center.

Jurgens is a peculiar case. In 2023, he was a good right tackle; he wasn’t great and he wasn’t bad. He was definitely better when he was run-blocking than he was at pass-blocking, but he wasn’t bad at pass-blocking.

Then this year, he replaced a future Hall-of-Fame center in Jason Kelce. That’s a lot of pressure, but he hasn’t buckled. As a matter of fact, he’s been doing really well. Sure, there have been a handful of sloppy plays, but so far it’s been much better than expected. 

It’s tough to say that he’s improved because this is a different role for him, but it would be wrong to not mention him for this award.

On defense, you could say that Milton Williams is a candidate because he’s getting more playing time and he’s making decent and efficient use of that time. Maybe in Week 8 or 9 Milton can earn this award, but he’s not there yet. 

You could also say Reed Blankenship is the most improved. If he misses a tackle then he makes the next one. Also, he’s had two interceptions in three games. That’s all pretty good, but he’s always kind of been pretty good.

The one player on defense that has undeniably improved the most is Nakobe Dean. Going into this season, you were either completely out on him or he was a huge question mark. He couldn’t find the field for the first two years of his career because of positional depth or injuries.

Now that he’s been playing, it’s been surprising. You can clearly see that his size is going to physically stop him from being the elite linebacker in the NFL that he was in college, but he’s still been playing well. With him and Baun, it wouldn’t be crucified if you said the Eagles have good linebackers.

Going from ‘not playing at all and potentially being a bust’ to ‘playing pretty well’ is a huge amount of improvement.

Out of all of these awards, Quinyon Mitchell probably has the highest chance of keeping his accolade throughout the season. When Cooper DeJean eventually takes over for Avonte Maddox at nickel corner, there might be competition for Defensive Player of the Year, but Q has been playing out of his mind.

For MVP, A.J. Brown could usurp the throne, but the thing that’s working for Saquon is that he is THE running back. We can only hope that Jalen Carter takes the mantle for DPoY, and Josh Sweat, Nolan Smith, Dallas Goedert, or Jalen Hurts could all win Most Improved Player. Cross your fingers that it’s Jalen.