Eagles Training Camp Preview: Special Teams Needs Boost
PHILADELPHIA - There wasn’t a lot that the Philadelphia Eagles didn’t do well last season but there was one obvious issue: special teams.
Coach Nick Sirianni often says you never want to be bottom five in anything in the NFL.
Well, pick your poison. If you like the film, Pro Football Focus graded out the Eagles as tied for No. 29 in the league on special teams, ahead of only Pittsburgh and Miami. If you like statistics, Rick Gosselin’s annual special teams rankings had the Eagles at No. 31 of 32, ironically ahead of only Kansas City, who beat Philadelphia in Super Bowl LVII with the help of a huge special teams play when Kadarius Toney returned an errant Arryn Siposs punt 65 yards in the fourth quarter to set up a Chiefs touchdown.
It’s not all bad, though. Jake Elliott has developed into one of the NFL’s most consistent placekickers, veteran Rick Lovato remains a constant at long snapper and the return game came on the late when Britain Covey got his feet under him as an undrafted rookie punt returner and the Eagles shifted to Boston Scott as the kickoff returner.
The coverage units were shakier but the Eagles found something when it came to gunners Zech McPhearson and Josh Jobe, at least when Siposs or the now-retired Brett Kern punted the ball where they were supposed to.
Many wanted special teams coordinator Michael Clay to be the scapegoat for all of this but Sirianni quickly nixed that sentiment. The real culprit has been a change in philosophy.
The Eagles used to keep open a roster spot or two open for top-level special teams players who probably weren’t going to help much elsewhere dating back to the John Harbaugh era and the organization also made efforts to identify returners more often than not. When the latter was a struggle there was little hesitation to pull the ripcord on star players like Brian Westbrook or DeSean Jackson if a big play was needed.
Now, it seems like special teams have become a bit of an afterthought, and perhaps for good reason.
The rule changes have made kickoff returning less meaningful and in turn kickoff coverage. Meanwhile, the Eagles have been at the forefront of the fourth-down explosion when the distance is manageable with the unintended consequence of that making the punting aspect of the game less important.
In theory, it makes sense that the Eagles have placed less value on special teams, and in some ways, the merit of that is validated by the fact that the two worst special teams units in Gosselin’s rankings faced off in the big game.
The fact that it was a special teams play that arguably put the Chiefs over the top might have been a little trolling by the football gods to the Eagles, saying at least pay some attention to the third phase.
Perhaps Kelee Ringo, the rookie fourth-round pick set to intern behind Darius Slay and James Bradberry at outside cornerback, can become a difference-maker with his 4.36 speed.
Depth Chart:
K - Jake Elliott
P - Arryn Siposs; Ty Zentner
PR - Britain Covey; DeVonta Smith
KR - Boston Scott; Britain Covey; Boston Scott
LS - Jon Dorenbos
WHAT’S CHANGED: Zentner, an undrafted rookie out of Kansas State, is in to push Siposs but if the small sample size of the spring was any indication, real competition for Siposs is probably in other camps.
To be fair the Eagles probably shouldn’t have let Siposs kick in the Super Bowl after missing the previous six games with a significant ankle injury that was originally thought to be season-ending. He worked incredibly hard to get back, however. While Siposs takes plenty of heat, he’s got a very strong leg, even by NFL standards. He just needs more consistency. There aren’t many contenders to usurp Covey but perhaps DeVonta Smith in big spots could become more of a plan.
COACHING: A one-time Oregon linebacker Clay started his coaching career with the Eagles under Chip Kelly in 2014 as a defensive quality control coach and set off on his current path by the next season when Kelly promoted him to assistant special teams coach to aid Dave Fipp, who remains one of the best special teams coaches in the NFL with Detroit.
Clay followed Kelly to San Francisco in 2016 as the assistant special teams coach and was kept by the organization for two years after Kelly was fired before heading back to Philadelphia. When hired by Sirianni as the special teams coordinator in 2021, Clay was the youngest coordinator in the NFL at 29.
Despite the struggles last season, Clay led a group that featured three NFC Special Teams Player of the Week performances and stewarded Covey’s quiet development from looking overmatched early in the season to being very good late. Covey finished third in the conference in both punt return yards (308, eighth in the NFL) and punt return average (9.3, ninth in the NFL).
If you need experience, Clay’s assistant is 43-year veteran Joe Pannunzio. Also around is kicking specialist Tyler Brown, the son of Randy Brown the legendary kicking consultant and Baltimore special teams coach who has helped steward Justin Tucker’s Hall of Fame-level career with the Ravens.
THE CEILING: Elliott stays as consistent as ever, both Siposs and Covey turn the corner and Ringo, or second-year linebacker Kyron Johnson turn into an elite coverage player.
THE LONGSHOT: Zentner has an opportunity because of the issues that the Eagles had in the punting game last season. His path would seem to be consistency and directional punting because he’s not going to be able to overcome Siposs’ leg strength advantage.
WHO STAYS/GOES: It’s not exciting coming off of last season but bet on chalk here with the incumbents all being heavy favorites to retain their jobs. Covey might even end up being the main kick returner in addition to his punt-returning duties due to the fair catch becoming a bigger part of things and his top-tier ball security.
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-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
