Last Year: 

Record: 6-10

Offense:  364.4YPG (12th), 23.6 PPG (13th)

Defense: 401.6 YPG (12th), 26.9 (28th)

The Eagles had strong expectations coming into last season in Chip Kelly’s 1st season as both HC and essentially GM. He had the reigns and he made the roster exactly how he wanted it to be, opting to ship out talented veterans like Lesean McCoy and Evan Mathis and letting Jeremy Maclin walk in free agency. He also decided to trade for Demarco Murray and sign Byron Maxwell to a huge contract. Well McCoy, Mathis, and Maclin all had very strong seasons for their new teams while Murray and Maxwell both flopped in their 1 and only year in Philly. Overall, the Eagles were an effective offensive team even without those stars they let go. They finished in the top half of the league in both points and yards almost getting into the top 10. Though Murray was criminally misused in Chip Kelly’s offense, Ryan Matthews was very effective.

Offseason: 

Key Acquisitions: OG. Brandon Brooks, LB. Nigel Bradham, WR. Ruben Randle, S. Rodney McLeod

Key Loses: RB. Demarco Murray, LB. Kiko Alonzo, CB. Byron Maxwell, LB. Demeco Ryans, S. Walter Thurmond III, DT. Cedric Thornton

2016 Draft Picks

2016 Outlook

Coaching Staff

HC: Doug Pederson

OC: Frank Reich

DC: Jim Schwartz

ST: Dave Fipp

 

Projected Depth Chart

Offense

QB. Sam Bradford, Chase Daniel

RB. Ryan Mathews, Darren Sproles

FB. Trey Burton

WR. Jordan Matthews, Josh Huff

WR. Nelson Agholor, Chris Givens

WR. Ruben Randle

TE. Zach Ertz, Brent Celek

LT. Jason Peters, Matt Tobin

LG. Allen Barbre, Issac Seumalo

C. Jason Kelce, Stefen Wisniewski

RG. Brandon Brooks, Barrett Jones

RT. Lane Johnson, Dennis Kelly

Defense

DE. Brandon Graham, Connor Bawin

DT. Fletcher Cox, Beau Allen

DT. Bennie Logan, Mike Martin

DE. Vinny Curry, Marcus Smith II

OLB. Nigel Bradham, Quentin Gause

MLB. Jordan Hicks, Najee Goode

OLB. Mychal Kendricks, Deontae Skinner

CB. Leodis McKelvin, Eric Rowe

SS. Rodney McLeod, Jaylen Watkins

FS. Malcom Jenkins, Ed Reynolds

CB. Nolan Carroll, Jalen Mills

NB. Ron Brooks

Special Teams

K.Caleb Sturgis

P. Donnie Jones

Breakdown

Offense: 

I actually expect the Eagles to take a step back offensively in 2016. I ultimately think we’re gonna see all 3 of the Eagles QBs start at some point during the upcoming season. Sam Bradford will start the season and play average with some flashes of good play before getting hurt as he always does. Then Chase Daniel will come in and be slightly less effective than Bradford, ultimately paving the way for the Eagles to be in last place by the time late November, early December rolls around, which is when I believe we could possibly see the 2nd-overall pick Carson Wentz for the first time. The skill players on this team aren’t overwhelmingly good but they aren’t bad either. They have a couple of guys they can rely on, number 1 being Jordan Matthews, who proved he could be a reliable number 1 option last year, recording 85 receptions and nearly 1000 yards despite inconsistent QB play. Ertz also had a good year and I expect him to play well again this season. After that, things get shaky as far as the receiving options go. Neither Agholor nor Huff did enough last season to feel good about either as the number 2 option. They brought in free agent Ruben Randle but he’s coming off a down year with the Giants so just how much extra punch will he provide? Of course if you throw Sproles in the mix, that’s another receiving target, but he’s starting to get older and slow down. At RB, the Eagles are hoping that Matthews can duplicate the success he had a year ago on a bigger scale with more touches. The Eagles felt they needed to improved on the offensive line. The biggest addition they made was signing free agent Brandon Brooks, who is a massive, near 340-pound guard who should help at what was the weakest position on the Eagles offensive line. But if the Eagles O-Line is going to resemble the group they had in 2014, when they were arguably the 2nd-best O-Line in the NFL, they need Jason Peters and Jason Kelce to return to elite form. It may be possible for Kelc,e but as Peters continues to age and have injury issues, I fear the end might be near for him.

Defense: 

It’s the defensive side of the ball I expect to see the most improvement from the Eagles. The switch to the 4-3 defense should work wonders as it certainly seems to better fit the personnel they have in place. The Eagles defensive line has a ton of talent and should be the strength of this unit led by DT Fletcher Cox, who figures to benefit most from the shift to the 4-3 defense. On the edge, both Vinny Curry and Brandon Graham have a ton of talent and Babin should make for a nice rotational rusher as well. This team has a lot of guys that can get after the QB. Philly isn’t too shabby at the LB level either. Kendricks is the star of the group and should thrive as the team’s WILL linebacker in this 4-3 defense, where he should have more room to roam and scrape freely. Bradham was a free agent pick up and if he can stay out of trouble off the field (he reportedly assaulted a hotel worker this week) he can definitely help out at either outside or inside LB. In the middle is Jordan Hicks, the team’s 2015 3rd-round pick, and he has a lot of potential and the Eagles are very high on him. He made some noise as a rookie last season in only 8 games and looks to continue to get better in 2016. The secondary is where things look dicey for the Eagles. The Eagles cornerback situation was 1 of the worst in the NFL last season and it doesn’t look much better this season with guys like McKelvin and Carroll as the top corners on the roster. After giving up all of their major assets to move up and get Carson Wentz, they didn’t have the ammo to address the position high in the draft and they didn’t sign any of the top corners in free agency. The safety position was a position of strength a year ago and figures to be again. Malcolm Jenkins, 1 of the game’s elite safeties, still remains and figures to have another fine season and though they loss Thurmond to retirement they picked up free agent Rodney Mcleod who played well for the Rams a year ago so the Eagles should have 1 of the leagues best safety tandems for another year. It’s a very important position to be weak at but the corner position is the only spot where the Eagles really look weak at on defense. With all the other talent they have at the other positions, they should be able to compensate for that weakness and be much better than they were last season defensively.