Breaking down 2023 Eagles' offense after initial free agency flurry

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Free agency isn’t over, the NFL draft won’t happen for another month and the Eagles aren’t done building their roster for the 2023 season.

But after the initial flurry of free agency, it’s time to take a step back and look at what the Eagles have on their roster heading into draft season.

We’re looking at the Eagles’ roster position-by-position, starting with the offense today:

Quarterback: Jalen Hurts, Marcus Mariota, Ian Book

Additions: Marcus Mariota
Subtractions: Gardner Minshew

Outlook: The Eagles are obviously in a really strong position with their starter. Hurts had a magnificent 2022 season, finishing second in MVP voting. And he’s so very clearly the top quarterback in the conference that it’s tough to even figure out who’s second. Is it Jared Goff? Kirk Cousins? Kyler Murray? Geno Smith? Dak Prescott? The Eagles are in a really good position going into next season because not only do they still have a talented roster but they have an elite quarterback. By the time the 2023 season starts, the Eagles will hope to have Hurts locked up on a long-term extension.

Then there’s the swap of Minshew for Mariota. Minshew joined our old buddy Shane Steichen in Indianapolis to presumably backup whichever rookie the Colts take in the draft. But the Eagles might have lucked into an upgrade. Both of these guys are high-level backups but I’d rank Mariota ahead of Minshew (the money backs that up). Mariota wasn’t great in 2022 but he was serviceable in his 13 starts in Atlanta last season. The fear with Mariota is that if the Eagles need him for an extended period of time, he hasn’t had the greatest injury history. But having a quarterback with running ability behind Hurts is worthwhile because the structure of the offense doesn’t need to change if Hurts misses time. That’s not to say that Mariota has anywhere near the skill or running ability of Hurts, but just that the skillsets are similar enough to find some continuity.

Are they done at the position?

Yeah, probably. The Eagles could maybe draft a quarterback in a late round but they have just six picks right now and that wouldn’t necessarily be the wisest allocation of resources, especially with a good backup already under contract.

Running back: Rashaad Penny, Kenny Gainwell, Boston Scott, Trey Sermon, Kennedy Brooks

Additions: Rashaad Penny
Subtractions: Miles Sanders
Staying in FA: Boston Scott

Outlook: The Eagles will miss Sanders, who had the best season of his career in 2022. He rushed for over 1,200 yards and 11 touchdowns and is still just 25. Even though he struggled a little more down the stretch and in the playoffs, that’s tough production to replace. But it’s hard to argue with the Eagles’ letting him walk after seeing that Sanders got a four-year, $25 million contract with the Panthers. Even the guaranteed portion of this deal — that can pretty much make it two for $13M — was too steep for the Eagles.

So the Eagles found one of the more intriguing low-risk, high-reward options available in Penny. There’s no questioning Penny’s talent or ability but his durability has left plenty to be desired. The former first-round pick has had a ton of injuries so the Eagles probably can’t rely on him. But his deal is worth just $1.35 million with $600K guaranteed. Prototypical low-risk, high-reward. Penny has averaged 6.2 yards per carry over the last two seasons running behind an offensive line that is not as good as the Eagles’ OL.

And a healthy Penny (knock on wood) combined with Gainwell, Scott and possibly Trey Sermon is a pretty decent and cheap running back room. Scott came back on a one-year, $2 million deal, which made sense for both sides.

Are they done at the position?

Maybe not. They have six draft picks in April and are now linked to Ezekiel Elliott. Not sure bringing in a declining former Cowboys running back with a ton of carries under his belt makes a lot of sense. But it might show that the Eagles are still interested in adding. And if it’s the right guy for the right price (or draft pick) that should still be an option.

Wide receiver: A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Quez Watkins, Britain Covey, Greg Ward, Tyrie Cleveland, Devon Allen

Additions: None
Subtractions: Zach Pascal

Outlook: The Eagles bring back their two studs in Brown and Smith as well as their slot receiver in Watkins but they do lose their No. 4 (or 3a, whatever) with Pascal’s signing in Arizona. The Eagles might not necessarily miss Pascal an awful lot but he did have a very specific role on this offense as the enforcer and blocker among the receivers. And without him, the Eagles definitely have some concerning depth behind the starting three.

Opinions are somewhat split on Watkins, who has a ton of talent but didn’t have a very good 2022 season and capped it off with a costly drop in Super Bowl LVII. But Watkins has five catches of 40+ yards over the past two seasons and he’s one of just 25 players in the league to accomplish that feat and just one of those other 24 did it with fewer targets. So I look at Watkins as a player who can make a major contribution without taking a huge percentage of the target share and that’s valuable. Of course, the Eagles could think about trading Watkins to clear around $2.7 million in cap space. But they’d have to find a replacement before feeling comfortable with that.

Are they done at the position?

Probably not. Even if the Eagles feel good about their top three of Brown, Smith and Watkins, that would make Britain Covey their fourth receiver. And that would make either Ward, Cleveland or Allen their No. 5. That’s not good enough. The Eagles could go into the season with four wideouts but they’ve gone into both seasons under head coach Nick Sirianni with five wideouts on the roster. At the very least they’ll need some more bodies to compete at training camp.

Tight end: Dallas Goedert, Jack Stoll, Grant Calcaterra, Tyree Jackson, Dalton Keene

Additions: None
Subtractions: None
Staying in FA: Tyree Jackson

Outlook: The Eagles have their three tight ends from the 2022 season under contract for the 2023 season. It starts with Goedert, who has turned into a star tight end and would have been a Pro Bowler last year if he didn’t suffer a shoulder injury that kept him out five games. Stoll played a ton last year for a blocking tight end and most of Calcaterra’s targets came when Goedert missed time on IR.

Jackson is somewhat of an afterthought now but the Eagles are still interested in developing the 6-7 former quarterback. Jackson is an exclusive rights free agent. The Eagles tendered him and once Jackson signs, he’ll be back for the summer. There really aren’t any other options for ERFAs.

Are they done at the position?

Tough one to figure out. The Eagles could simply bring back these three and they’d be fine. After all, when they’re in 12 personnel, Stoll does his job as a blocker. But it would be intriguing to add a tight end to the mix who would be a nicer blend of the Eagles’ No. 2 and No. 3, a guy with more pass-catching ability than Stoll and more blocking ability than Calcaterra. It would give the 12 personnel package teeth but adding another tight end isn’t a top priority.

Offensive line: Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Jason Kelce, Cam Jurgens, Lane Johnson, Jack Driscoll, Sua Opeta, Brett Toth, Roderick Johnson, Fred Johnson, Tyrese Robinson, Cameron Tom, Julian Good-Jones, Jarrid Williams

Additions: None
Subtractions: Isaac Seumalo, Andre Dillard
Staying in FA: Jason Kelce, Brett Toth

Outlook: You can argue the Eagles’ biggest move of the offseason was hearing from Kelce that he would return for a 13th season. Kelce isn’t coming back cheap — his new one-year deal is worth $14.25 million — but he is the best center in the NFL and played like it in 2022. The Eagles will need that to continue to this season. If it does, they should have a really good offensive line of (left to right) Mailata, Dickerson, Kelce, Jurgens and Johnson. The Eagles did lose Seumalo in free agency, which makes the likely new starting right guard Jurgens. That’s a bit of a projection after Jurgens was really a center-only prospect when the Eagles drafted him in the second round last season. But Jurgens began to cross-train at guard during his rookie year, is a similar size to Seumalo and has long enough arms to project as a guard. And the Eagles can’t just let him have a second redshirt season waiting for Kelce to retire.

In addition to Seumalo’s departure to Pittsburgh, former first-round pick Andre Dillard left for Tennessee, where he will likely be a starting left tackle. He was paid starting tackle money — a three-year, $29 million deal. While Dillard didn’t work out to plan in Philly, he at least provided solid depth and now the Eagles’ depth on the O-line is lacking a bit. Their top backups in 2022 were Jurgens, Dillard and Driscoll. Driscoll is the only one left on the bench. The Eagles have some other candidates for the roster like Opeta and Toth but it might be time to replenish.

Are they done at the position?

Never. The Eagles build through the trenches unapologetically. That doesn’t mean they’ll use the No. 10 or 30 pick on an offensive lineman but would it really surprise anyone? They used No. 51 on Jurgens last year even when they already knew Kelce was coming back. So offensive line is always in play. And as good as the Eagles look on the line in 2023, Kelce is 35 and Lane Johnson will turn 33 in May. It’s up to Howie Roseman to think about this year but also the years after it too.

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