In just under a week's time, the Philadelphia Eagles will be back on an NFL field for the first game of the 2025 season.
Soon, fans will find out if the reigning and defending Super Bowl champions are legit, having used their win to get even meaner despite losing multiple key starters from last year's run, or if they simply didn't try hard enough to keep their winning core together, with 2025's results looking a bit too much like 2018's.
For pessimistic fans, things aren't looking good, as losing a half-dozen starters plus an offensive coordinator is a tough pill to swallow. But even if the Eagles will have to plan, practice, and ultimately play a little differently than they have in the past doesn't mean they can't still be very effective. No, with a summer to get back on track and figure things out, who knows, maybe the Eagles will still return to the Super Bowl next February, even if they look a little different getting there.
1. The Eagles lose more games than in 2024
After a rough end to the 2023 NFL season, the Eagles found themselves in a very advantageous position heading into their eventual Super Bowl run.
For one thing, the team had a second-place schedule, a nice side effect of finishing behind the Dallas Cowboys while they still had Micah Parsons. They also faced off against the NFC South, a division widely considered one of the worst in football, to go with out-of-division contests against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Los Angeles Rams.
While the Eagles had some issues early on, with some calling for Nick Sirianni's job after a 2-2 start with losses to the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they committed to the run after their Week 5 bye and never looked back, going 12-1 down the stretch, including a perfect record in games started and finished by Jalen Hurts.
In 2025, things get a bit more challenging.
Right off the top, four of the Eagles' first five opponents were playoff teams last year, with the Kansas City Chiefs on the books in Week 2, the Los Angeles Rams coming to town in Week 3, the always challenging Buccaneers in Week 4, and the deceptively talented Denver Broncos finishing off the tour on October 5. While the Eagles get three easy games before the bye, the New York Giants, the Minnesota Vikings, and the New York Giants again, there are still multiple tough games in the second half of the season, including the Green Bay Packers, the Detroit Lions, and the Buffalo Bills, all challenging for the Eagles' Super Bowl title.
With such a schedule, even if the Eagles split those seven games, that would still leave them with more losses than 2024 at 3.5, with an always tough Washington Commanders squad capable of taking a game in the division, maybe even two.
Is a 13-4 record good enough to win the NFC East in 2025? It's hard to say, but it probably won't be good enough to lock up first place in the NFC, which could result in a wildcard weekend showdown at Lincoln Financial Field next January.
2. Saquon Barkley has his carries managed
In 2024, the Eagles put too much on Saquon Barkley's plate.
Now granted, it's hard to fault the team for doing so, as statistically speaking, Barkley was good for a first down every two runs, but running a player with a history of injuries 50 more times than his career high just in the regular season simply isn't sustainable, especially for a team with Super Bowl aspirations.
In 2025, the Eagles need to keep Barkley under 300 regular-season carries.
Fortunately, it would appear Howie Roseman feels that way too, as, over the past six months, he's invested pretty heavily in the position, signing AJ Dillon in free agency, adding Montrell Johnson Jr. as an undrafted free agent, and coming to terms with 2024 fifth-round pick Audric Estime after cutdown day, the latter two currently hold spots on the practice squad. Factor in a returning Will Shipley, who put some good things on tape at the end of last season, and the Eagles have the bodies to rotate in different rushers throughout the regular season to keep Barkley fresh, even if he will occasionally take on a more expansive role in games where he is on a roll.
The Eagles also opted to promote Kevin Patullo to offensive coordinator after Kellen Moore accepted the New Orleans Saints head coaching job shortly after the Super Bowl. While Moore, a former quarterback, should have seemingly been all about throwing the ball, he found a formula that worked on the ground and rode it to the biggest win of his career at any level. Though the sample size may be small, based on Patullo's efforts in the preseason, when coupled with the addition of John Metchie III, it looked like the Eagles may field a more balanced offense in 2025 versus 2024, which is good news for Barkley's overall efficiency and workload.
3. Vic Fangio's front seven shines despite CB2 questions
Heading into the summer, the Eagles' new-look defense had one major question to answer: would the young collection of players Roseman assembled be able to fill the shoes of multiple departing Super Bowl Champions?
CJ Gardner-Johnson? Gone. Darius Slay? He left, too, as did his primary backup, Isaiah Rodgers. Josh Sweat? Milton Williams? Brandon Graham? Gone, gone, gone, as were a number of other players around the margins.
So far this NFL calendar year, the Eagles added a few quality players to address their issues, including Adoree' Jackson, Josh Uche, and Azeez Ojulari in free agency, Jihaad Campbell, Andrew Mukuba, and Ty Robinson in the draft, and Jakorian Bennett via trade, but two areas remained major question marks heading into Week 1: CB2 and edge rusher.
With Kelee Ringo almost certainly out of the CB2 race behind Bennett and Jackson, a major blow to Roseman's expected plans, the Eagles' defensive secondary will most likely take a step back this fall unless someone steps up in a major way, but the pass rush? That might not be as worrisome as some fans might fear.
In 2024, the Eagles' pass rush wasn't this dominant weapon that struck fear into the hearts of opposing quarterbacks, with their 41 sacks ranking tied for 13th in the NFL alongside the Arizona Cardinals and the Cleveland Browns. The Baltimore Ravens and Washington Commanders both had more sacks, but so did the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants, proving that sack totals don't actually correlate to wins and losses as much as some may assume.
On paper, the Eagles' defensive line isn't as good as it was last fall, as even if the combination of Moro Ojomo and Robinson should be able to replace Williams well enough, Uche, Ojulari, and Ogbo Okoronkwo aren't as good as Sweat and Graham. With that in mind, the Eagles now have an absolute wealth of talent at linebacker, including a pair of off-ball players, Campbell and Zach Baun, who can be lethal weapons as part of the pass rush. When Nakobe Dean returns and even before he's reinstated, the Eagles will be able to get creative with different rushing options from the front seven, giving Fangio a chance to ease up the pressure on his secondary by giving quarterbacks happy feet in the pocket.
