Doug Pederson explains why the Eagles were quiet at the trade deadline

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The trade deadline came and went Tuesday afternoon without much of anything happening on the Eagles’ front or around the NFL.

Doug Pederson said he’s OK with Howie Roseman standing pat and fine with the Eagles’ roster as currently constructed.

“We take a look — when I say we, Howie and myself — (and have) conversations (about) a lot of different situations, but I feel really good about where we are as a team and what we’ve got coming down the pike,” Pederson said Wednesday.

Roseman clearly believes the Eagles at full strength — which they haven’t been all year — are talented enough to compete for a title.

Carson Wentz agrees.

“We do have a lot of confidence in the guys we have here and the organization does, too,” he said. “We love the guys we have in the locker room and we’ll have some guys coming back form injuries and stuff soon so we feel extremely confident in who we have and we’re ready to roll.”

The Eagles are 4-4 and half a game plus a tiebreaker behind the Cowboys in the NFC East.

Pederson said the Eagles are adding players ... but by getting them healthy, not by trades.

The Eagles got Jalen Mills and Ronald Darby back the last two weeks, and DeSean Jackson and Avonte Maddox are on track to play Sunday against the Bears. Mills hadn’t played since last October, Darby had missed four games, Jackson six and Maddox four.

Other injured players who could be returning over the next few weeks include Nigel Bradham, Tim Jernigan, Darren Sproles and perhaps Jason Peters.

You look around the league and there wasn’t a whole lot going on, and I think teams are comfortable and very confident with the guys they have, just like us,” Pederson said Wednesday. “We’re excited. The No. 1 thing is we’re getting guys back, we’re getting guys healthy here quickly and it goes into a lot of the decisions.

 Much of the trade speculation with the Eagles revolved around wide receiver, since Jackson has been hurt most of the year and is 32, Alshon Jeffery and Nelson Agholor have both underachieved, and the Eagles are getting nothing out of Mack Hollins and JJ Arcega-Whiteside.

The Eagles rank 21st in the NFL in yards per play, and their receivers have four catches of 25 yards or more in seven games since Jackson got hurt.

Do the Eagles as currently constructed have the firepower and playmaking ability to compete for a championship?

Pederson wouldn’t answer that question.

“I don’t look that far down the road,” he said. “I look at this week and try to go 1-0 this week, and I feel like we’ve got the team to do that and to show confidence in our players. … and that’s really all we try to do every single week, is just try to win a football game and then we go to the next one, and if we can string enough wins along, it puts you in the position to be in the postseason and make a run.”

The Eagles brought in Jay Ajayi at the deadline in 2017 and Golden Tate last year.

They did make one move prior to the deadline this year, acquiring linebacker Genard Avery — who has played five defensive snaps this year — from the Browns for a fourth-round pick.

Considering everything the Eagles have been through over the past few weeks — anonymous quotes, a former player blasting the franchise, team meetings — it would be understandable if the Eagles just didn’t want to risk upsetting team chemistry by bringing a new player into the locker room.

But Pederson said that wasn’t an issue.

“When you start talking about bringing guys into your building, our culture can surround those guys and our culture can help sort of shape those guys because of what we’ve been through as a team,” he said. “And we’ve done that, we’ve proven that the last couple years, with the people we’ve brought into our building.”



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