Eagles' Approach Different Coming Out of this Super Bowl Season than in 2018
The Eagles emerged from their 2017 Super Bowl LVII championship eager to keep that title-winning window wide open.
It didn’t work, despite their best efforts.
The approach this time, coming out of a Super Bowl LVII loss, is different.
“I think it's different, kind of where you are, but I think you learn a lot of lessons about that moment (in the 2018 offseason),” said GM Howie Roseman. “…There are things, the things that we could have done better and that I could have done better personally.”
Here’s a closer look at then and now:
2018 OFFSEASON APPROACH
The Eagles had a nucleus to work with, so they thought.
Carson Wentz would return healthy from a severe knee injury suffered late in that run to the Lombardi Trophy. Their offensive line was intact, and Jason Peters would be a part of it this time after an Achilles’ tear shelved him for second half the season.
Some tweaks would need to be made, but, overall, the Eagled felt good about “running it back.”
“Coming out of ’17, we win a championship and it's like, ‘Let's run it back, let's run it back, let's give these guys a chance to go back-to-back,’” said Roseman. “At some point, you're gonna have to pay the price for that. It’s just the reality of it.”
Roseman parted ways with some draft picks over the next two years and had just 10 picks combined in 2018 and 2019.
He dealt away his first-round pick in the 2018 draft, which had the Eagles selecting at No. 32, the final pick of the round after winning the Super Bowl. Roseman dealt that pick and a fourth-rounder to the Ravens in exchange for three draft picks, including a second-round pick in 2018, and one in 2019.
The 2018 draft was a hit, with Dallas Goedert arriving with the pick they acquired from Baltimore, Avonte Maddox, Josh Sweat, and Jordan Mailata working their way into recent contract extensions and current cornerstones.
The 2019 draft not so much, yielding only Miles Sanders, and, to a lesser extent, Andre Dillard, but missing on J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, Shareef Miller, and Clayton Thorson.
Free agency wasn’t kind, either, as the Eagles tried to keep the window open.
They traded for DT Michael Bennett and signed free agent WR Mike Wallace and DT Haloti Ngata.
Wallace turned 32 that summer, was hurt, and played two games.
Ngata was 34 and, despite playing 13 games, had nothing left to give in his 13th NFL season.
Bennett was decent, logging 9.5 sacks, but he was 33 and in his 10th NFL season.
2023 OFFSEASON APPROACH
On Thursday, the Eagles signed their seventh free agent to a one-year deal, defensive tackle Kentavius Street. He joined Marcus Mariota, Justin Evans, Terrell Edmunds, Nicholas Morrow, Greedy Williams, and Rashaad Penny on prove-it deals.
Six of the seven have at least one thing in common – they are in their mid-20s, except for Mariota, who is 29.
Not an aging veteran among them: Morrow, Evans, and Penny (27), Street and Edmunds (26), and Williams (25).
That’s not to say that the Eagles didn’t ring back their share of veterans, such as Brandon Graham, Fletcher, Jason Kelce, and Darius Slay among them.
“We certainly learned from (the 2018 offseason) in certain ways,” said owner Jeffrey Lurie. “Like for example this year, we thought about whether we should re-sign some of our older players, but we really decided was, and this is more Nick and Howie than me, that they’re playing at such a high level, it was a smart thing to bring back Jason Kelce, and BG, and Fletch at different levels.
“You don’t want to take something that you would worry about it because actually, they were playing great.”
The Eagles only have six draft picks this year, but next year they could have as many as a dozen, including two in the second round and several compensatory picks.
Those picks will be huge not only in giving the Eagles some inexpensive contracts to offset some of the higher ones, such as Jalen Hurts, whose contract extension is being negotiated but won’t kick in until next year but also because it should help keep the championship window open longer.
“You try to retain key players and know when you think it’s not smart to spend the money that way,” said Lurie. “You have to allocate resources. You need a mix of older players, younger players, draft choices, vets, up-and-coming players, players you’re developing, and lesser-known players from the practice squad, or the bottom of the roster. You need all that.”
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglestoday.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
