2021 Philadelphia Eagles Depth Chart
Quarterback | Jalen Hurts | Joe Flacco | |
Running Back | Miles Sanders | Boston Scott | Corey Clement |
Wide Receiver 1 | Jalen Reagor | Quez Watkins | Greg Ward |
Wide Receiver 2 | Devonta Smith | Travis Fulgham | |
Wide Receiver 3 | Greg Ward | John Hightower | |
Tight End | Zach Ertz | Dallas Goedert | Richard Rodgers |
Left Tackle | Andre Dillard | ||
Left Guard | Isaac Seumalo | ||
Center | Jason Kelce | Luke Juriga | |
Right Guard | Brandon Brooks | Matt Pryor | |
Right Tackle | Lane Johnson | Jordan Mailata |
Upon the completion of a successful season, most teams face the adversities of filling holes. These needs are created on the basis of players finding themselves within better situations to support their families, careers, and potential earnings. If I told you that Trey Burton would be a highly desirable tight-end product this off-season, you would have thought I was full of it. Give the man a Super Bowl ring and everything changes. The avoidance of a Super Bowl hangover runs deep through the minds of the players currently residing on the Eagles roster. Members of the coaching staff and a few role players found new homes this off-season. The Eagles losses fail to mount the comparison of Super Bowl teams in the past, which is a good sign for this organization.
The most difficult area of travel this off-season was what to do at the quarterback position. Their franchise guy is Carson Wentz, but injury placed Nick Foles within the starting, Super Bowl MVP role. Foles drew interest from many different organizations this off-season, but the Eagles did not choose to move him. Their greatest concerns were to fully address the developments of Carson Wentz and go from there. If they needed Foles to step in and sans the load while Wentz makes a full recovery, that option remains within the cards. Wentz finally returned to 11-on-11 drills late this off-season, placing a higher chance on his prospect of starting week 1 of the regular season. This storyline continues to play out for the team, but either choice has proven they are a good fit for the offensive strategy and both are worthy of time under center for the organization.
The main loss for the team came at offensive positions. Torrey Smith was traded to Seattle, LeGarrette Blount signed with Detroit, Trey Burton signed with Chicago, and Darren Sproles decided to retire from the game of football. While all of these losses look to create a headache on paper, the burn left little residual damage to the team. Blount and Sproles were playing second fiddle to Jay Ajayi. Ajayi was a usage monster for the team last season. While the rushing attack seemed to be a 3-headed committee, Corey Clement pushed his way into the conversation late last season, replacing the effectiveness of one veteran Sproles. The team won’t be hurting too much in the backfield with Clement and Ajayi still under contract. Burton flourished during times when Zach Ertz was sidelined. Returning Ertz to full health would have also cut into Burton’s production, a second loss that is essentially meaningless for the team. Take out Torrey Smith and insert Mike Wallace. This instantaneous replacement place offers a similar skill set to that of Torrey Smith. Wallace will flourish with this wide receiver bunch.
The defense, despite being one of the league’s best last season, got stronger in all departments. The roster the defense now boasts is overrun by former All-Pro talents. Michael Bennett was added from Seattle on a cheap deal that didn’t cut deep into the team’s limited cap space. The team was able to use a bulk of their cap room to re-sign Niguel Bradham, a choice that the team desperately needed to act upon. Through the draft, the team added 2nd and 3rd string talents to back-up their hefty core of talents. The rich got richer this off-season and the defense will continue to light the passage for the offense. The offense features a new offensive coordinator with the departure of Frank Reich. Boosting the defensive depth is a blessing in disguise for the offense. Jim Schwartz has his hands full with position battles, which is something that is making everyone grin in Philadelphia. Schwartz can feature some deep defensive sets and offer looks that most defensive rosters cannot feature. With the Eagles defense, Schwartz becomes a kid in a candy store, allowing for a constant influx of fresh talent to be inserted throughout a contest.
The Eagles organization made very few additions this off-season, somewhat of an unfamiliar passage for the team. Truthfully, the team needed little support at their positions. Limited cap space likely wrote the bylines for this to happen but adding talents would only cloud the make-up the team currently features. Their small strides helped piece together a deeper roster, which helps decrease the workload on everyone’s shoulders.