The Eagles finished with a top five offense and a top five defense in the 2022 regular season, but there were certainly moments where Michael Clay’s special teams unit seemed like the weak link.
These latest special teams rankings back that up.
In his annual ranking of special teams units across the NFL, longtime NFL columnist Rick Gosselin has the Eagles ranked as the No. 31 unit in the league.
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This is the lowest ranking for the Eagles since at least 2013, when former special teams coordinator Dave Fipp took over. Clay once worked under Fipp and Nick Sirianni hired Clay from San Francisco before the 2021 season. Despite some very strong individual performances, the Eagles’ special teams units were shaky at times this season.
Gosselin ranks each special teams unit on 22 different categories and assigns point values for each to create a final score.
Here’s a look back at the Eagles rankings since 2013:
2021: 21st
2020: 17th
2018: 14th
2017: 13th
2016: 1st
2015: 5th
2014: 1st
2013: 19th
NFL
Of course, it is important to point out that the bottom two teams in these special teams rankings this season were the Eagles and the Chiefs. They are the two No. 1 seeds and Super Bowl favorites this season.
And in the bottom quarter of these rankings, you’ll find six playoff teams out of the bottom eight teams: Chiefs (32), Eagles (31), Buccaneers (30), Giants (28), Dolphins (27), Bengals (26).
The team that finished in first place this season? The Texans, who finished with a 3-13-1 record and fired their head coach again.
Even though the Eagles’ special teams unit struggled as a whole, they did have some impressive individual performances. Three different Eagles were named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week in 2022: Zech McPhearson in Week 1, Cameron Dicker in Week 5 and Jake Elliott in Week 18.
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