Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Lurie delivered his annual State of the Eagles address from the NFL Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida.
Here are seven major takeaways from Tuesday's press conference:
On the retirements of Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox
"I just want to recognize that two players, extraordinary people and players, Jason Kelce, Fletcher Cox retired this year," Lurie said. "One of the joys of owning the Eagles is the camaraderie, the relationship with players, the relationship with coaches, relationships with everybody in the building. It's one of the favorite joys of owning the team, and it's all for a purpose: Winning.
"Yet, you come across extraordinary players and extraordinary people. Jason and Fletch, two exceptional, exceptional players. I hope we'll see them both in Canton in five years, and they'll of course be recognized and celebrated in Eagles near history and future history forever, but amazing people. Amazing people."
On the decision to retain Head Coach Nick Sirianni
"We go through a very, very intensive process after every single season," Lurie said. "This season was no different, extremely disappointing ending to the season, the last five, six games, extremely disappointing to me, very frustrating for all of us.
"And once one can assess and meet with Howie (Roseman), with Nick, go through a lot of details and a lot of plans and a lot of philosophies, I was very encouraged where we're at and where we're going forward. It was an extremely impressive meeting with Nick and Howie on our plans for both roster development and player development, execution, and every aspect of coaching.
"So, it was a very straightforward decision based on a very straightforward process. I don't get very overly influenced by much. It has to be a holistic look of where we are as a franchise. I expect us to always be a championship-caliber team that looks to the mid-range and the future at the same time. They're all important. And I think one of the experiences I've had over the years is to take a very hard look at everything every year, no matter how it ends, no matter how it starts.
"So, the ingredients that I've always seen with Nick are very obvious. The ability to connect. The ability to be authentic, very incredible work ethic, high football IQ, all the reasons that he was hired in the first place have been almost magnified in the first three years because they've been extremely successful."
On his confidence in Sirianni moving forward
"The things with Nick, I have to say were really impressive, wanting to truly improve the ingredients of the offense; truly improve who was going to lead in terms of leading the offense and the direction it would go; wanted to be much more innovative, much more dynamic," Lurie said. "Of course, bring the things that brought us a lot of success. But very open to finding the best possible offensive coordinator.
"So, Nick's conscious desire to have top-notch coordinators under him really drove a lot of the strategy. And he was hell bent on making sure we had the best. And highly encouraged by his, both analysis of where we're at, no excuses, basically a fundamental understanding of what needs to be better than the last five or six weeks of the season, and not only a return to our championship-caliber performance and execution, but improve on that, too. Not just go back to what we were but try to be better than what we were in the really recent past."
On the play and development of quarterback Jalen Hurts
"Jalen Hurts, outstanding quarterback. Outstanding young person. Let's say, take an objective appreciation of this young man," Lurie said.
"The year before, co-MVP candidate. I think he ended up No. 2 in the National Football League. You could argue that with one more chance with the ball at the end of the Super Bowl, he was the Super Bowl MVP.
"Then we go into this year, and we're 10-1, and I think I remember reading about the odds of being MVP this year, I think Jalen was leading the way, or one of the top two.
"That's Jalen's last two seasons – 25 years old leading this team. He and all of us wish the final five or six games were a lot better. It's a team sport. It's a team sport. And there's so many factors that go into it.
"Was the protection good enough? You can go on and on and on. But we've got a major star, 25-year-old mature young man who has every skill set that you want. And he's a superb person, excellent leader, and he's authentic. And I really respect that. As the owner of the team, this is exactly what you want."
On the team's season opener in Brazil and the league's growth in the international market
"It's probably the biggest area of growth for the National Football League," Lurie said. "We are not a sport that has had tremendous global expansion, global growth. It's about to happen.
"Internationally, I think it's really important. I'm proud we'll be taking the first game to South America, 38 million sports fans. Brazil is the fifth most populated country on the planet. As many of you know, it's an incredibly dynamic country – multicultural, a real melting pot. In so many ways it's really interesting, whether it's the music, the culture, incredible sports fandom. One of the great countries on the planet.
"But we are big supporters of trying to make the NFL a more popular game around the world. I think it's really possible. I know you know we have marketing priorities, arrangements in Australia, New Zealand. We were the first in Africa, in Ghana. And we'll be the first to host a game in Brazil and South America.
"And so, to be a part of that, to represent a really good football team that's exciting to watch, I think will be great for Brazil and South America and for the public to see down there. And I'm just proud to be an ambassador and do whatever I can to bring that to both the NFL and our fans. And I think our fans are excited to see their team also get to show the world."
On the addition of running back Saquon Barkley
"With Saquon, one of the things we always talk about, whether it was LeSean McCoy, Brian Westbrook, is the value of a running back is it's not even the word of the title 'running back.' You have to be a great passing attack running back as well," Lurie said. "For us it's got to be multifunctional.
"And he exhibited a very special skill set both in the running and the passing game that we think certainly can be maximized by being on a team with better skill positions, quarterback, offensive line. So, it was a strategy to go.
"I know people think, well, we don't spend on the running back position. That's never really been the case. We would do it very carefully. So, LeSean McCoy, Brian Westbrook, those are instances of players that are really multipurpose running backs that improve the passing attack, improve the running attack."
On what new Offensive Coordinator Kellen Moore will bring to the offense
"Well, first of all, I'm encouraged by Nick's support of Kellen, because Nick really brought Kellen into the picture of who we should hire," Lurie said. "It was his first choice. And I had the fortune of getting to know Kellen quite a bit in the head coach interviewing process. We all did and spent five, six, seven hours with Kellen. We were able to fully evaluate where we thought he was at that point.
"And I think – I rely on Nick's judgment on this. And on the other hand, I think internally he's one of the most dynamic offensive coordinators in football. We had to play against him every single year. And he's worked with outstanding young quarterbacks.
"And he's always had a very sort of difficult-to-defend multiple attack. And Nick, who was his biggest supporter in this, basically went through how he thinks Kellen will transform our offense into something that's more unpredictable and more dynamic in a great way."
