The action plan was to start fast and finish strong building the roster for the 2024 Philadelphia Eagles season, to bring to the team players who had chips on their shoulders, who loved to compete, and who could help take an already playoff-caliber roster to new levels.
From the very first day of the 2024 free agency through the NFL Draft and beyond, that's exactly what the Eagles have done to reach this stage as they prepare for September 6 and the league's first game in South America, in São Paulo, Brazil, against the Green Bay Packers. They brought in experienced, proven coordinators to aid the offense (Kellen Moore) and defense (Vic Fangio), added a star (Saquon Barkley) to the offense, and revamped the defense at all three levels with players who have had high levels of success in the league including edge rusher Bryce Huff and safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, among others.
In the draft, Executive Vice President/General Manager Howie Roseman balanced patience and aggressiveness in the opening two nights and nabbed highly rated cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell in Round 1 and Cooper DeJean in Round 2, adding youth and depth to a coverage room already stocked with veterans and younger Eagles eager to earn more playing time.
The construction of the roster – adding to a team that went 11-6 in 2023 and reached the postseason for the third straight year, albeit ending the campaign in disappointing fashion with a Wild Card Playoff Round loss to Tampa Bay – was done with an intentional mindset.
With a framework of what they wanted to do and a profile of the kind of players the Eagles wanted to add, Roseman and his staff played it aggressively, confidently, creatively.
"We wanted to have a 'mentality' offseason. We wanted to bring in people here who had a chip on their shoulder because we felt like we had a little bit of a chip on our shoulder," Roseman said. "Not in a bad way. Just in a way like we felt like we wanted to do whatever we could to put ourselves in the best possible situation for this year because we had a bad taste in our mouth the last year. It started in free agency bringing in the free agents that we brought in, and we were looking for people in the draft who had that."
And with that, it's a new year and the Eagles have the same lofty goals. They've had change in the locker room – all-time greats Fletcher Cox and Jason Kelce retired and Haason Reddick, so important to the team in its Super Bowl run in the 2022 season, was traded to the New York Jets.
But the Eagles took care of their own, in addition to signing and adding via trade more than a dozen veterans in free agency and nine players in the NFL Draft. They kept defensive end Brandon Graham, who is back for a franchise-record 15th season. Five players – offensive tackle Jordan Mailata, guard Landon Dickerson, wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, and placekicker Jake Elliott – inked long-term contracts.
A strong core of players stays in place, and the Eagles added players they feel will upgrade the roster from one corner of the locker room to the other.
"I just think everybody is, 'Hey, we're starting again,'" said Head Coach Nick Sirianni, who has compiled a 34-17 mark in three seasons, the highest win total in a head coach's first three seasons in franchise history and a .667 winning percentage that is the best among all Eagles head coaches. "Obviously none of us are satisfied. All of us are pissed off of how that (2023) ended. But we're working every single day in the sense of how do we get better today, how do we get better today, how do we get better today, and putting it one day at a time.
"I do sense that everybody has that feeling of unsatisfaction from last year. And that's a good thing when you can control it, right? That's our job is to make sure that we're controlling it and not knowing – we can't go out and win the first game right now against Green Bay or anything like that. We have to take it one day at a time and do what we need to do today to get ready."
Barkley was the headliner of the new Eagles, and he comes to Philadelphia after six seasons with the NFC East-rival New York Giants. A three-time 1,000-yard-plus rusher, a two-time Pro Bowl player, and the 2018 NFC Offensive Rookie of the Year after accounting for 2,028 yards from scrimmage and 15 touchdowns, Barkley comes to an offense loaded with weapons. Quarterback Jalen Hurts made his second Pro Bowl last season after establishing franchise records for total touchdowns (38) and total yards (4,463) and he has a plethora of receiving options at his disposal with Brown (106 receptions, 1,456 yards, and 7 touchdowns) in 2023, Smith (81-1,066-7), and tight end Dallas Goedert (59-592-3) forming as potent a trio as any in the league.
The offensive line has best-in-the-NFL players in Mailata at left tackle, Dickerson at left guard, and Lane Johnson at right tackle. Third-year man Cam Jurgens is poised to become the starting center, with second-year man Tyler Steen among a crowded group of talented players to compete at right guard.
There are a lot of new faces on defense, so Fangio – a 40-year-coaching veteran who is considered among the best defensive minds of all time – will leverage that experience to help bring it all together, but the upside is very high with talented young tackles Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter leading the way up front with edge rushers Graham, Josh Sweat and Huff, and Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay, the leader of the secondary.
Elliott earned his first All-Pro nod last season after making 30 of his 32 field goal attempts, and punter Braden Mann set Eagles records with his gross average (49.8 yards) and net average (43.9). Punt return man Britain Covey averaged 14.4 yards per return and was the only player in the league with multiple 50-yard punt returns.
A lot of pieces are in place. It's no wonder that Barkley, almost immediately, recognized what it's like being here, in South Philadelphia, in an offense that has a galaxy of top options.
"Biggest thing that struck me is my first 7-on-7 huddle, you see A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, and Jalen Hurts. It's not a bad group to be out there with," Barkley said. "That's not even including the offensive linemen.
"We're all just coming in, buying in, trying to learn the playbook, learning the system, trying to get better each day. You know there is a lot of talent, a lot of talent before I got here. I feel I can only add to that. At the same time, you can't look too far. That's the beauty of it. That's the beauty of coming in every single day, working with each other, pushing each other."
Pushing each other. It's a mentality, one the Eagles are bringing to a new height for 2024, determined to do what they did in the offseason: Start fast and finish strong.
