This is the Eagles training camp. It denotes a fresh start. This year’s squad is expected to perform well. While it provides plenty of material for sports talk radio hosts and podcast commentators, their rankings in the top five here and top ten there do not really explain what transpired late in the previous season.
That stench tends to stick around and is best removed live on the field, not in controlled environments such as training camp.
This is a team that has a lot to prove as a whole in 2024 because the last time the public saw the Eagles, they were a defeated club that had given up.
With 10:44 remaining in their 32-9 playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Wild Card round, the official epitaph of their epic collapse was delivered. NFL Hall of Famer and ESPN color analyst Troy Aikman boldly—and accurately—announced to the nation that the 2023 Eagles were a… “a defeated team and they were when they came in.” And this squad has not really had much life at all during the entire baseball game.
The Eagles’ six games during their 1-6 fall season resulted in a 52-50 overall record (including two games against the New York Giants). They were outscored 214-132 (by an average of 11.7 points per game) and outgained 2,729 to 2,293, allowing an average of 389.8 yards per game and outgaining an average of 62.2 yards per game during their 1-6 loss.
In the last month of the previous season, the Eagles’ defense was the weakest in the NFL. The only team to surrender more passing touchdowns in the NFL than the Eagles defense was Washington (39 to 35). The Eagles finished the season ranked No. 31 in passing defense, giving up an average of 252.7 yards per game, and 30th in the NFL in opponent red zone scoring percentage (TDs only), at 66.1%. They allowed 51 touchdowns, which is the third-highest total in the NFL, behind only Arizona (54 and Washington (59), and they ranked 30th in scoring defense (25.2).
The Eagles finished 11-7 overall and became just the fourth double-digit winning team in NFL history to finish with a negative point differential. They were trailed by the 2021 Las Vegas Raiders, who finished 10-8 with a negative point differential of -72 (393/465), and the 2023 Pittsburgh Steelers, who finished 10-8 with a negative difference of -34 (321/355). In 2022, the 13-5 Minnesota Vikings (448/458) had a minus-10 difference, yet the Eagles finished ahead of them.
The 2024 Eagles have many things to make right.
and much to demonstrate.
Nick Sirianni was signed by the Eagles for an additional season, and it appears that Howie Roseman chose Vic Fangio, the new defensive coordinator, and Kellen Moore, the new offensive coordinator, to support Sirianni. In the NFL coaching levels, those are seductive names. But Fangio and Moore are not spared when they go to Philadelphia.
They too have representatives to back them up.
Here are five important Eagles players who may have some work to prove in 2024, as well as jobs to save.
5. The Jordan Davis
When you search for “Jordan Davis on Google, the most probable result will be the name of country music performer Jordan Davis, not the enormous 6-foot-6, 350-pound defensive lineman selected in the first round by the Eagles out of Georgia in 2022. That might be the case because Jordan Davis of the Eagles has not quite established himself yet. To be honest, he has not lived up to the expectations placed on him as the 13th overall pick in the 2022 draft. He has recorded 2.5 sacks, 26 solo tackles, and 63 tackles in his first two years combined. While Davis has only had three combined sacks in two years, his former Georgia teammate Devonte Wyatt, the next defensive tackle selected by the Green Bay Packers at No. 28 in 2022, is coming off a 5.5-sack season, has seven total sacks in two seasons, and six tackles for losses. There are growing rumblings that Davis might be a first-round flop. That has yet to be ascertained. However, he had a questionable work ethic in the past. The Packers will switch from former coordinator Joe Barry’s two-gap, 3-4 defensive scheme to a more attacking 4-3 scheme this season thanks to Wyatt’s predicted explosion under new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley (the Eagles open with the Packers and will get a first view of this new look). Eagles supporters continue to await Davis. He struggled with weight, which affected his stamina on the field. He has zero sacks, no quarterback hits, and zero tackles for loss in the Eagles’ previous ten games. He has five quarterback hits and two and a half sacks in the Eagles’ first seven games. This offseason, the 24-year-old has appeared more trim. He claims that he is moving more fluidly and feels revitalized. The Eagles used the No. 13 pick to trade up and acquire him. For him, this year may make or ruin his career. Davis has the charm and amiability of a movie star. Off the field, he is the closest thing the Eagles have had to Jerome Brown in a long time. Hopefully, he learned from his lack of conditioning in 2023 throughout the offseason.
4. Vic Fangio
Fangio’s departure from South Beach was met with a fair share of tears. Miami was unable to let go of the defensive wizard and football lifer quickly enough. It could have been Fangio who took off first. Fangio has spent the last four seasons with three different teams (he took 2022 off after being sacked as Denver’s head coach in 2021). Both Sean Desai and Jonathan Gannon, the previous defensive coordinator, have implemented some version of the Fangio method for the Eagles. They now have the architect in person. Does he, however, have any baggage? The most powerful agent in Miami, Drew Rosenhaus, stated in the open that there “was not a unanimous positive relationship between now-former Dolphins DC Vic Fangio and the players.” Cornerback Jalen Ramsey of the Dolphins expressed his displeasure with Fangio’s methods and coaching staff. “Vic is a football lifer and as old-school as you can get,” Eagles Hall of Famer Ron Jaworski, who has a long connection with Fangio, stated in a June interview with BGN. He demands the same adherence to discipline and commitment from his players. I heard in Miami that he did not understand that. It is possible that some of those players preferred to party over playing football when Vic was trying to talk to them. They were unwilling to put in the effort. This Eagles group will.
The Dolphins, playing under former defensive coordinator Josh Boyer, were ranked No. 9 in terms of points allowed per game, surrendering 23.5, prior to Fangio’s arrival in Miami. Miami was ranked No. 11 in 2023 under Fangio, conceding 23 points per contest. Under Fangio, the Dolphins’ defense gave up 318.2 yards per game on average in 2023, ranking No. 10 in team defense. It was impressive how much Fangio had improved from Boyer’s 337.8 yards per game in 2022, when Miami ranked No. 18 in terms of total team defense. Is Fangio able to connect with today’s younger athletes? “They will listen to Vic if they want to make the commitment to succeed,” Jaworski stated. “Defensively, this Eagles team has some work to do. Vic is the best person to do this job. Defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs dominated the Dolphins in the AFC playoffs, defeating them 26-7 despite giving up 25 first downs and 409 yards of total offense. Miami appeared to be a team that gave up during that match. Do you recognize this?
3. Kellen Moore
In the NFL, Moore has never had any success. The Cowboys made it to three postseason games in their four years in Dallas. Running Moore’s offense in the postseason, Dallas was 1-2, averaging 20 points per game, and they did not advance past the divisional round. In Moore’s system, the Cowboys did move the ball well in the playoffs, averaging 312.3 yards per game. Despite Moore’s departure from Dallas, Dak Prescott had his finest season to date that year, with career highs in passes completed (410), completion percentage (69.5%), and quarterback rating (105.7). In 2023, Prescott was a possible MVP. The quarterback for the Los Angeles Chargers, Justin Herbert, had a career-low 13 starts in his first season under head coach Adam Moore. He also threw for a career-low 3,134 yards, and his career-low 65.1% completion percentage was unaffected by injury. As a result, the Chargers finished 5-12 in 2023, their poorest season since 2019. Moore had the same fate in Los Angeles that Fangio had in Miami. When the Chargers’ administration opted to blow everything up and start over with Jim Harbaugh, they did not fight to keep him.
Here’s something to consider: Moore was unable to win despite having two quarterbacks who were superior to Jalen Hurts. Moore had a tendency to be “pass happy” in Dallas. Saquon Barkley’s arrival gives Moore’s Eagles attack more weapons than he is ever had. His chances of becoming an NFL head coach in the future may be little to none if he loses this game. Moore is meant to be the solution. He is a better choice than Brian Johnson. However, the Chargers underwent a significant regression from their 2022 offense, when they were No. 9 in the NFL in total offense under offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, Vince Lombardi’s grandson. Last season, the Chargers finished 18th in total offense under Moore, with 5,599 total yards and an average of 329.4 per game. The offense of the Chargers in 2022 produced 509 more yards and a better average of 29.9 yards per game. Los Angeles entered the game ranking No. 21 in first downs per game (18.8), 11 spots below the 2022 season (20.6/per game), and was 13th overall in passing. They also passed the ball 63.95% of the time on first down, the third-highest percentage in the NFL. To be fair, Moore was left stumbling to put together an offense after the Chargers suffered a lot of injuries the previous season.