Philadelphia Eagles 2020 Season Preview
PHILADELPHIA – The Eagles have qualified for the playoffs in three straight seasons and won their first Super Bowl in one of those years.
That was 2017. They went 13-3 that season and were the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.
The last two years have been more mediocre, with back-to-back 9-7 seasons, and after going 3-0 in the playoff in their Super Bowl season, the Eagles are 1-2 in the postseason since.
The window does not look closed yet on a team that returns in 2020 as the defending NFC East champions. Not with a franchise quarterback entering his prime and some sturdy veterans on the defensive side of the ball.
Here are links that preview every team in the NFL:
https://www.si.com/nfl/2020/08/25/team-by-team-2020-nfl-previews
The Eagles may also have a slight advantage as the season gets underway with the opener against the Washington Football Team on Sept. 13 because this will be the fifth season for head coach Doug Pederson.
The rest of the division is breaking in new cultures with new coaches, and one, New York’s Joe Judge, has never been a head coach until this season. Mike McCartney in Dallas has plenty of head coaching experience, logging the previous 13 years with the Green Bay Packers, and Ron Rivera in Washington previously coached for the Carolina Panthers for the last nine years.
Offense
It all starts with quarterback Carson Wentz. Now entering his fifth season, Wentz, 27, played all 16 regular-season games last year for the first time since his rookie year of 2016, but he suffered a concussion early in the first quarter of an eventual playoff loss at home in January to the Seattle Seahawks and was removed from the game.
Wentz had been playing his best football at the time, taking the Eagles, who were 5-7, on a four-game winning streak to close the season. With a lineup of former practice squad players at receiver and even at running back, Wentz threw seven touchdowns without an interception during the four straight wins.
Boston Scott emerged from the practice squad and was the NFC East Offensive Player of the Week in the season finale against the Giants. He will be an important part of the offense this year, along with second-year back Miles Sanders.
Sanders put up rookie of the year type numbers, breaking two rookie records in Eagles history that had been held by LeSean McCoy for rushing yards since 2008 and yards from scrimmage set by DeSean Jackson in 2009.
The offense, however, is led by veteran tight end Zach Ertz and third-year man Dallas Goedert, and the Eagles used two-tight-end sets more than 50 percent of the time last year. The duo combined for 146 catches, 1,523 yards, and 11 touchdowns.
The receiving group has been rebuilt, with three drafted rookies including first-round pick Jalen Reagor along with John Hightower and Quez Watkins. DeSean Jackson returns hoping to avoid another injury of the sort that limited him to two games last year. Alshon Jeffery is coming off Lisfranc surgery and when he will return remains unclear.
The offensive line so good and so stable for several years, has changed with second-year Andre Dillard taking over at left tackle and left tackle Jason Peters moving to right guard, a position he never played in his 17-year career, to take over for Brandon Brooks, who tore an Achilles in June and is expected to miss the season.
Defense
The Eagles like to spend money in the trenches, with $33.2 million of their salary cap invested in interior defensive linemen and another $14.3M in edge rushers.
Their latest big splurge came on DT Javon Hargrave, who the Eagles signed as a free agent to a three-year, $39M deal in March. He will team with Fletcher Cox and last year’s big free-agent prize, Malik Jackson, who suffered a season-ending injury in the 2019 season opener.
Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz has already said he will try to find ways to get those three on the field at once, with Jackson likely moving to the edge.
The linebacker group is young and mostly inexperienced with the entire group, except for special-teamer Alex Singleton, 25-years-old or younger. Nathan Gerry will likely be the three-down linebacker with second-year man T.J. Edwards getting reps in the nickel package. Draft picks Davion Taylor and Shaun Bradley could have roles at some point.
Darius Slay is the shutdown corner Schwartz hasn’t had since arriving in Philadelphia in 2016, with the Eagles trading two 2020 draft picks to Detroit to acquire Slay.
The other corner is Avonte Maddox, a third-year player who has moved around from nickel to safety in his first two seasons.
Jalen Mills is transitioning from corner to safety while the Eagles added safety K’Von Wallace in the fourth round of the draft and signed Will Parks as a free agent.
Rodney McLeod will be the single-high safety and the veteran is expected to take over the leadership role vacated by the departure of Malcolm Jenkins to New Orleans in free agency.
Prediction
10-6. The schedule is prickly, with the Eagles set to play five playoff teams from last year. If they can make hay early in the season, they could even reach 11 wins, but the team has to gel quickly since the schedule is backloaded with some games that, at least right now, look difficult.
Depth Chart
QB: Carson Wentz, Nate Sudfeld, Jalen Hurts
RB: Miles Sanders, Boston Scott, Corey Clement, Elijah Holyfield
WR: DeSean Jackson, Alshon Jeffery (active/PUP list), J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, Greg Ward, Jalen Reagor, John Hightower
TE: Zach Ertz, Dallas Goedert, Joshua Perkins, Noah Togiai
RT: Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata, Jack Driscoll
RG: Jason Peters, Matt Pryor
C: Jason Kelce, Nate Herbig, Luke Juriga
LG: Isaac Seumalo, Matt Pryor, Sua Opeta
LT: Andre Dillard, Jason Peters, Prince Tega Wanogho
DT: Fletcher Cox, Malik Jackson, Javon Hargrave, Hassan Ridgeway, Anthony Rush, Raequan Williams
DE: Brandon Graham, Derek Barnett, Josh Sweat, Joe Ostman, Shareef Miller, Genard Avery, Casey Toohill
LB: Nathan Gerry, T.J. Edwards, Shaun Bradley, Davion Taylor, Duke Riley, Alex Singleton, Dante Olson
CB: Darius Slay, Avonte Maddox, Nickell Robey-Coleman, Cre’Von LeBlanc, Rasul Douglas, Sidney Jones, Craig James, Grayland Arnold
S: Rodney McLeod, Jalen Mills, Will Parks, K’Von Wallace, Rudy Ford, Marcus Epps
K: Jake Elliott
P: Cameron Johnston
LS: Rick Lovato, Nathan Gerry
