Eagles' Offseason Philosophy Will Be Put to Test By New Faces
PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia Eagles deserve the benefit of the doubt regarding their offseason workload after an NFC championship season ended by pushing Kansas City to the limit in Super Bowl LVII.
That said, it’s also fair to recognize things have changed significantly for the Eagles and perhaps the status quo shouldn’t have been the default setting this time.
First, the background:
Philadelphia has an NFL-low six days of on-field OTAs and no mandatory minicamp scheduled before breaking on June 8 for the long lull before training camp which will begin in late July.
The CBA permits 10 days of OTAs and three days of mandatory minicamp meaning the Eagles will leave over 50 percent of their allotted field time unused while trying to integrate two new coordinators and seven fresh starters, who are either inexperienced as a whole or in the Philadelphia system.
Rewind to the 2022 offseason and head coach Nick Sirianni had rare continuity with the major pieces on his coaching staff and a veteran-laden team.
Fast forward 12 months and the former coordinators, Shane Steichen and Jonathan Gannon, got head-coaching positions in Indianapolis and Arizona respectively, while high-profile position coaches Dennard Wilson (defensive backs) and Nick Rallis (linebackers) left the organization for other opportunities.
The starters lost are running back Miles Sanders and right guard Isaac Seumalo on offense, and defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, linebackers T.J. Edwards, and Kyzir White, and safeties C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Marcus Epps on defense.
The projected replacements -- Rashaad Penny or D'Andre Swift at running back, Cam Jurgens at right guard, rookie defensive tackle Jalen Carter, linebackers Nakobe Dean, and Nicholas Morrow, and safeties Terrell Edmunds and Sydney Brown or Reed Blankenship -- are all either wet behind the ears or new to Philadelphia.
In theory, spring work most benefits those kinds of players.
Meanwhile, while the new offensive coordinator Brian Johnson was elevated and has a history on staff, the defensive chief, Sean Desai, is coming from outside the organization with a similar scheme and philosophy but different terminology.
The Eagles’ cost-benefit analysis here boils down to player health and quite frankly highlights the organization's belief that on-field spring work with no pads isn’t that much more impactful than the classroom work Sirianni stresses.
“I think at some point [the on-field stuff] becomes a little stale,” Sirianni admitted last year. “... Everybody is going to do it a little bit different. There are a lot of different ways to do it. We felt that was what benefitted us.”
Former Philadelphia defensive coordinator and now Cleveland defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz once described the NFL calendar to SI.com’s Eagles Today.
“The offseason is for teaching, training camp is for evaluation and the regular season is all about preparing for the next opponent," he said.
The current Eagles regime has staked its belief the classroom is more important than the actual laboratory in the spring with the latter being rendered less important by collective bargaining and legislating real football practice out of the equation.
That thesis was validated with the Grad students last season. Now, it’s about proving it with the undergrads.
Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Philadelphia Eagles? Click Here.
Want even more Philadelphia Eagles news? Check out the SI.com team page here
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
