By: Jake Rajala

The Philadelphia Eagles secondary certainly has a Rocky Balboa-like attitude heading into the 2022 season. Philly showcases Darius Slay, James Bradberry, Jaquski Tartt, Anthony Harris, and Avonte Maddox in their secondary. Bradberry, who went from the Big Apple (NYG) to the dark side (PHI), is the Eagles x-factor in my opinion. He ousted 4 interceptions and 17 pass deflections in 2021. Jeff Kerr of CBS Sports nicely noted that the former Giant had a strong Saturday practice – as he notably had a superb pass break-up on Brown deep down the field.

Bradberry inked a one-year deal worth $7.5 million dollars with the Eagles, so he will seek to unleash havoc in 2022 and break the bank in the next off-season. Avonte Maddox was one of the players of the day yesterday – as he had a memorable interception against Jalen Hurts. Maddox had a fine 72.8 grade by PFF in 2021. He can be reliable and effective against potent slot WRs like Cooper Kupp and Chris Godwin next season.

The Eagles will also anticipate their safety tandem in Harris and Tart to be consistent veteran pieces moving forward. They will expect Harris to be effective in his second season as an Eagle. The safety that snagged six ints in 2019 wasn’t exactly sexy in 2021. PFF awarded him a 61.6 grade for his 2021 performance. He resigned to the Eagles on a one-year deal worth $2.5 million dollars. Tartt isn’t a top-notch safety, but he is a well-rounded defensive back. He is also in a contract season.

The Eagles ranked 11th in passing yards allowed last season and 21st in interceptions (with 12 ints). With that said, I certainly expect them to be a Top-8 unit in passing yards allowed and a Top-15 unit in interceptions with the int magnet in Bradberry in 2022. The Eagles may have made a lot of noise for adding A.J. Brown, but their secondary could be a pivotal reason in upsetting the Ivan Drago-like persona, Tom Brady.

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By: Jacob Keppen

Many Philadelphia fans were just happy to see their favorite team back in the playoffs, rebounding from a four-win 2020 season. Many fans had hopes that maybe the Eagles could upset the injured Buccaneers squad, which would help show Philadelphia truly belonged in the dance this year. Many were disappointed very quickly into their Sunday afternoons.

The 31-15 final scoreline does not do this game any justice to just how one-sided of a beatdown it truly was. Tampa Bay dominated this from the onset, driving down the field 75 yards to open with a 7-0 lead. That lead would never change hands, as the Bucs were adding to their total with ease.

The sequence with a little more than five minutes left to go in the third where the Buccaneers followed a Jalen Hurts interception on fourth down immediately with a 36 yard Mike Evans touchdown to give the Buccaneers a 31 point lead perfectly encapsulated this game. The Eagles were completely outmatched in every area. There is a silver lining to this though: most knew Tampa Bay was winning this one.

Although many put on their fan goggles and hoped to leave Florida with an upset shocking the world, the reality was Philadelphia was barely supposed to be there much less compete. In what was supposed to be a rebuilding year, many predicting Philly to have a similar result to the season prior, Philadelphia managed to squeak into the playoffs with the last seed in the NFC. While this game was mostly about gaining experience for the team and the young coaching staff, there still are some troubling takeaways from the performance.

The biggest takeaway from this game is that the Eagles need more talent across the board. In nearly every area the skill position players were simply outmatched. Despite taking wide receivers high over the past three seasons, there is still only one guy on this team who can consistently get open and catch the ball and that is Devonta Smith.

Quez Watkins is a modest speedster. He has speed that would do very well situationally, but he doesn’t have an overall refined game at this point. He’s shown some very good flashes and is someone you want to keep in your receiver room, that is all you can ask from a sixth-round pick. The problem is why Quez is having to be relied on as the “second receiver”, and that is because of a former first-round receiver who is quickly looking like one of the biggest flops in Howe Roseman’s tenure as GM.

Jalen Reagor isn’t just a disappointment for the Eagles at this point, he is truly a hindrance on the field. It is a fact that Jalen Reagor simply has not been good enough for the Eagles. We are past the point of comparing Jalen Reagor to Justin Jefferson. He is not a disappointment because Justin Jefferson looks to be a perennial top five receiver over the next decade and Reagor does not. Reagor is a disappointment because at this moment he is not proving to be an NFL-caliber receiver. He struggles mightily to get open and as a player who was renowned for his speed coming out of TCU he looks uncomfortable with the ball in his hands. As a punt returner, he’s arguably been worse. Multiple times this year Reagor has cost the Eagles key field position and the struggles were just amplified on the national stage today.

If the Eagles are serious about taking another step forward next year Jalen Reagor can not be on this team next year. Both him and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside (remember him?!) must be let go of this offseason, proper replacements brought in who can help this football team. I hope for Reagor’s sake he can find a new start somewhere else because the confidence looks lost in him. You feel for Jalen Reagor because the harassment he has received from the fanbase over the past two years has reached the point of being unacceptable. These athletes are people first and nobody should be talked about the way he is online. Reagor had talent in college and I hope it can be realized in another city where he can regain his confidence, it just is not going to happen in Philadelphia.

Another area the Eagles need to add talent to is on that defense. Linebacker is still an issue. How long must fans hear “The Eagles won’t take a linebacker in the first, Howie Roseman doesn’t value linebackers high enough” while every time on the big stage the linebackers get exposed. One of the key differences between the Eagles defense and the Buccaneers defense is they have a star at linebacker. The Buccaneers have two actually in future Hall of Famer Lavonte David and Devin White. Both routinely make impact plays and routinely change the game. The Eagles simply do not have that skill at linebacker. The Eagles need their own bulls at LB on defense. Georgia’s Nakobe Dean or Utah’s Devin Lloyd one of them should be high on the Eagles board in the 2022 draft.

The Eagles have a top notch stud in Darius Slay. That’s very clear. Still, the Eagles need to add CB talent around Slay. Avonte Maddox needs to be the full-time slot and they need a more inspiring secondary corner other than Steve Nelson.

Finally, this all brings us to the biggest question mark the Eagles have for this offseason, what decision is being made at quarterback.

Jalen Hurts has been up and down, to say the least, this season. There’s a lot to like about him. His worth ethic and leadership abilities are star caliber. He is as tough as they come and adds another element to the Eagles running game they haven’t had since Michael Vick. The problems that many had before the season and before he was drafted are still there though. Hurts still struggles mightily as an overall passer with TB being a brutal opponent for him. Nothing seems natural for Hurts as a passer. Sure, he will make a good throw usually once a game on the run as the play breaks down, but from a down-to-down basis, he struggles with consistency throwing the ball.

Now as a “developmental quarterback”, Hurts can work on those issues. A lot of running quarterbacks out of college struggle with the more traditional elements of the game, but it doesn’t mean they are hopeless.

Look at Josh Allen. He was one of the most “inaccurate quarterbacks” in recent memory. Nothing was natural for him as a passer and he just torched the Patriots defense, looking like the player fans hoped he could become.

Allen did this through hard work and dedication, and there’s no doubting Jalen Hurts’ work ethic and determination. The key difference is Josh Allen’s tools. Allen lacked overall refinement coming out of Wyoming but he still had one of the best arms the league had ever seen. Jalen’s arm is just okay.

Hurts also lacks refinement as a passer, not to the extent that Allen did but still lacking refinement as a whole, but his arm simply isn’t elite caliber. Hurts lacks zip on some of his throws, especially outside the numbers, and it’s sometimes the difference between a completion and an incompletion. He doesn’t have the crazy tools to bail him most of the time as other top quarterbacks do. What is his true ceiling? Can he overcome his shortcomings and be the guy in Philadelphia?

The quarterback question could be a very simple one to answer for the Eagles. Despite his shortcomings, Nick Sirianni and his staff might have already identified Hurts as their guy moving forward at least into next season. Hurts did enough to stave off Gardner Minshew all season and it’s clear he’s the guy for the foreseeable future. With the 2022 offseason underway, the Eagles will have to figure out how they will build around the former National Champion.

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