When a team is as good as the Philadelphia Eagles, other teams literally and figuratively take things from them. It’s players, coaches, schemes, plays, ideas, and general identities.
When a team wins the Super Bowl, that idea is shot full of steroids and launched to the moon. Well, the Eagles just beat the brakes off of the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX which gave them their second Super Bowl victory in seven years. It’s a franchise that’s doing a whole lot of things right, and other teams have no choice but to notice that.
The Eagles are going to fall square into ‘Often imitated, never replicated’
There are owners and general managers who are bad at their jobs all around the league, and when they see something or someone being successful with a successful team, they try to take it and make it their own. Sometimes that works, and sometimes it doesn’t. A lot of what the Eagles do great isn’t copyable, but teams will still try.
Paying a running back in free agency
The Eagles made it to the Super Bowl because of a dominant running game. The general idea is that teams had been prioritizing ‘smaller’ players on defense who could move and defend against the pass, but they weren’t as good against the run.
Based on what the Eagles did this season, it feels like a slight shift might be coming; Teams might try to make their running game more of a focus.
Ken Griffey Jr.’s swing was smooth, powerful, and beautiful. Growing up, you would turn your hat backwards, and try to be Ken Griffey Jr. Saquon Barkley is Ken Griffey Jr.’s swing.
Three of the biggest free agent acquisitions in the 2023 to 2024 offseason were Barkley to the Eagles, Derrick Henry to the Ravens, and Josh Jacobs to the Packers. All three of those players thrived with their new teams, but King-Quan was clearly the best.
Other teams are going to try to imitate that this offseason, whether it’s through free agency or the draft.
The problem is that there’s not nearly as much talent this season as there was last season. The best free agents that will be available are Najee Harris (Steelers), Aaron Jones (Vikings), and maybe J.K. Dobbins (Chargers).
There’s going to be a dumb team that pays one of those guys something comparable to Barkley’s $12.5 million, and it’s going to backfire because they’re not a generational talent like Saquon Barkley and they simply won’t have the infrastructure to make it work. It’s going to be very funny.
In the draft, Boise State’s Heisman-finalist running back Ashton Jeanty is projected to be a first-round draft pick, and he should be because he rocks… but just because teams can pick him, doesn’t mean they should.
A lot of projections show him going to the Cowboys, which would be the least surprising thing ever. Jerry Jones loves a flashy new toy, and more specifically, selling the jerseys of his flashy new toy.
Jerry might not know it (because he’s old as dirt and a lunatic) but his future Hall of Fame right guard, Zack Martin, is a free agent. Sure, Jeanty would be good anywhere he went, but he won’t come close to reaching his potential if that team doesn’t have an offensive line.
That’s the same thing that Saquon just went through: he spent years and years with a bad franchise with a bad offensive line. Then he goes to a team with an offensive line (granted, it’s the best one in the NFL) and he becomes a first-team All-Pro and the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year.
It’ll be funny seeing teams get too much dip on their chips this offseason. They’ll spend boatloads of money on slightly above-average players, just to stay middling.
Rushing four
The best thing that the Eagles did in the Super Bowl was pressuring Patrick Mahomes without blitzing. They were able to do that because of elite talent on the defensive line and great coverage by the defensive backs.
Prediction: in one of the first four weeks of next season, there is going to be a team that plays the Chiefs and tries to get pressure without blitzing, and it’ll be a team that has no business relying on the talent of their defensive line. Mahomes is going to have a thousand years in the backfield and will throw for 150 yards in the first quarter.
Front office guys
Year after year, Howie Roseman shows why he’s the best general manager in the NFL, and year after year, other teams around the NFL poach guys from the Eagles’ front office.
Joe Douglas was the Eagles’ Vice President of player personnel in 2018. The Jets hired him as their general manager in 2019.
Andrew Barry was the Eagles' Vice President of football operations in 2019. The Browns hired him as their general manager in 2020.
Ian Cunningham was with the Eagles’ director of player personnel in 2021. The Bears hired him to be their assistant general manager.
Those are just three of the notable ones and there are a handful more. These are valuable people.
Alec Halaby is the Eagles’ assistant general manager and he was a candidate for the Jets’ opening in January. It would make sense that teams would probably try to go after him some more. Right now, the Jaguars are the only team that doesn’t have a general manager and Halaby didn’t get an interview request, so he’ll probably be safe from them.
Obviously, the general manager is the front-office job that gets the most shine, but there are just so many other ones and Howie’s people are probably going to get some eyes on them after how this season went.
I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I know the duties of every front office position, but you’d prefer to keep those guys as much as possible. That’s especially true if Roseman likes them because that means they’re good at their job. Unfortunately, that’s not how the world works and good guys from good franchises get hired by other franchises.
On the plus side, it’s always Howie SZN. If his disciples get spread to every front office around the league, it would probably make it a little easier for Roseman to sink his teeth into a team when it comes to trade talks. He’s addicted to trying to fleece teams, and it’s easier to fleece the people you know.
Undersized edge rushers
In the 2023 draft, the Eagles drafted Nolan Smith with the 30th overall pick. In the 2024 draft, they drafted Jalyx Hunt in the third round. Smith is listed as six feet and two inches tall and 235 pounds. Hunt is listed as six feet and four inches tall and 250 pounds.
Both of those guys had amazing seasons, given where they are in their careers; Smith is on his way to becoming a premiere player, and Hunt played 41% of the snaps in the Super Bowl.
Hunt has been an incredible story. In 2021, he was a safety at Cornell, then he transferred to Houston Christian in 2022 where he was an edge rusher. When he was drafted, he was supposed to be a developmental player, but nine months later he would end up getting three pressures and a half of a sack in the Super Bowl. It’s crazy.
Drafting players who are developmental and undersized is a luxury that a lot of teams don't have because of their more immediate needs, but it wouldn't be surprising to see a team make a swing or two with some of their more valuable draft picks.
Fangio defense
This isn’t necessarily anything new because the Vic Fangio scheme has been all around the NFL for a long time. Hell, the Eagles used a bastardized version of it from 2021 to 2023 with Jonathan Gannon and Sean Desai’s defense.
But this year, the Eagles actually had Vic Fangio and they had one of the greatest defensive seasons in the history of the NFL… and then capped it off with one of the best defensive performances in Super Bowl history.
Fangio isn’t going anywhere, but his guys eventually will. Take Brandon Staley: He was Fangio’s linebackers coach with the Bears in 2018 and also his linebackers coach with the Broncos in 2019. The Rams hired Staley to be their defensive coordinator in 2020 and then he became the Chargers head coach from 2021 to 2023.
The point is that people from the Fangio tree get jobs, and if you were on his coaching staff that made Patrick Mahomes look like a child on the biggest stage, you’re going to be valuable.
Now, the only current open defensive coordinator spot is with the Saints, and they don’t have a head coach yet. So it seems like if the Eagles' defensive position coaches left, it would be for the same(ish) job with a different team rather than a promotion.
That being said, all signs are pointing to Kellen Moore taking the Saints’ head coaching job, and if he leaves, he might take the Eagles' linebackers coach Bobby King, or defensive line coach (and absolute hoss) Clint Hurtt to be his defensive coordinator.
After the 2022 season, Jonathan Gannon took linebackers coach Nick Rallis with him to be the defensive coordinator for the Arizona Cardinals, so it’s not totally unprecedented.
In theory, getting guys who have worked with Fangio isn’t a bad idea. They’ve definitely learned from the guy and will be able to take some of those ideas and be successful… But, actually having Vic Fangio is the only real way to get that defense. History has shown us that anyone else isn’t going to give you what you’re hoping for.