The many moves the Eagles have made to reshape and reload their roster for the 2025 season have been done strategically – making sure that the impact players the Eagles wanted to keep were in good shape – and then to reach out and bolster the roster in free agency.
Philadelphia has, to date, added more than a dozen new players to the roster via trade and free agency, and the signings of the free agents have a signature likeness: The players are all here on one-year contracts.
What is the meaning of that?
"If you look at our Drafts from 2022 to 2024, we had 8 starters in the Super Bowl from those Drafts and zero of them have long-term contracts," said Howie Roseman, the team's Executive Vice President/General Manager. "As we stand right now, we have 20 picks in the 2025 and 2026 Drafts. So, we are going to need some of those roster spots for younger players. We're trying to balance having the best possible team we can have this year and also acknowledging that there is a transition with the middle to back of our roster and that we are going to have some younger players here."
Of course, the Eagles have also built up their NFL Draft capital and that, as Roseman and the team see it, means there are chances aplenty to keep this roster strong for seasons to come.
"It opens up tremendous opportunity for the success of our football team," said Roseman. "We want to always increase the talent and depth of our football team. Through whatever avenue we can, we're going to work this roster. We've lost some talented players and we're working hard to replace the talent that has moved on."
Roseman's approach following the win in Super Bowl LIX represents a different process than the one he took after the team won Super Bowl LII in February, 2018. At that time, the Eagles tried to run it back with much of the same roster that beat the New England Patriots to win their first Lombardi Trophy.
This time, the approach is different.
"Experience helps shape the direction that you go in, so in 2018 there was a theme that we thought that the players who helped us win Super Bowl LII had earned the right to defend their Championship," Roseman said. "After a couple of year run that didn't end the way we wanted it to, we are asking, 'What can we do to help us win a third World Championship?' Hopefully, that's this year, so everything we are doing is hopefully putting us in position to have another parade down Broad Street. It's going to look a little bit different, but that doesn't mean we aren't trying to win as quickly as possible and as much as possible. I can promise that there are no other goals other than to find a way to have that confetti fall on our heads on the final day of the season."
