Will Eagles face another Murderer's Row of QBs in 2022?

A lot was made this past season about how the Eagles’ defense struggled against elite quarterbacks.

That may not be as much of a problem next year.

First of all, the Eagles’ defense should be significantly better, presumably with an influx of draft picks as well as the return of Brandon Graham as well as a second year in the system for the players who do return.

Second of all? There’s a very good chance they won’t be facing nearly as many elite quarterbacks.

There’s no Pat Mahomes or Derek Carr on the schedule this coming season. No sign of Tom Brady. The Steelers come to the Linc but without Ben Roethlisberger. The Saints come to the Linc but Eagles killer Drew Brees is long gone. 

The Packers head to Philly as well, but who knows whether Aaron Rodgers will still be a Packer.

There are still a lot of unknowns when it comes to several 2022 opponents. But an early glance at the projected QBs the Eagles will face shows quite a different story than this past season.

A website called NFL Spin Zone recently ranked all the projected 2022 starting quarterbacks, so I used their rankings for this story.

One thing jumps out is that based on their rankings, the Eagles faced six top-10 quarterbacks last year – No. 2 Brady, No. 3 Mahomes, No. 6 Justin Herbert, No. 9 Dak Prescott twice and No. 10 Derek Carr. They went 0-7 against those six – 0-8 if you include the playoffs. They were 9-1 against QBs not ranked in Spin Zone’s top-10, with the loss coming to Daniel Jones (who only put up 13 points).

The only projected top-10 QBs the Eagles are scheduled to face are Rodgers – if he’s still with the Packers – and Prescott twice.

The only other QBs they’re likely to face who are even in the top half of the rankings are No. 12 Ryan Tannehill with the Titans at the Linc and No. 13 Kyler Murray of the Cards in Glendale.

Nine of the quarterbacks they’re likely to face – more than half – are ranked 22nd or worse. And that will increase to 10 if the Steelers start Mason Rudolph.

Only three of the 17 QBs they’re likely to face have made a Pro Bowl in the last two years (Rodgers, Murray, Cousins).

Only five have ever won a playoff game: Rodgers, Goff, Prescott, Cousins and Tannehill. And Prescott and Cousins have each only won one. 

Now, a lot can change. Quarterbacks can get traded. Some rookie draft picks may wind up as starters. Guys will get benched and injured. 

But however it lines up, the Eagles will almost certainly have fewer elite quarterbacks to contend with in 2022.

Here’s a brief look at the Eagles’ 14 opponents next year and their current QB situation. The 2022 schedule will be released in April.
 
Cowboys: Dak Prescott, No. 3
[53-32-2 career record, 7-3 vs. Eagles, two Pro Bowls]

Prescott is 7-3 career record vs. the Eagles, but two of the wins came in meaningless games at the end of the season. Still, the Eagles haven’t beaten Prescott at the Linc since the 2017 Super Bowl season, and his five games with a 100 passer rating against the Eagles are 7th-most ever.

Giants: Daniel Jones, No. 28
[12-26 career record, 2-2 vs. Eagles, no Pro Bowls]

Jones has split with the Eagles in each of the last two years, but let’s be honest, he’s a quarterback the Eagles should be happy to see. Jones’ 84.3 passer rating ranks 33rd out of 47 active QBs who’ve thrown 750 career passes.

Commanders: Taylor Heinicke, No. 27
[7-9 career record, 0-1 vs. Eagles, no Pro Bowls]

He’s better than Garrett Gilbert, but if Heinicke really is Washington’s quarterback next year, that’s two games the Eagles should win. Maybe they’ll go out and get Russell Wilson or maybe they’ll draft a guy in the first round. But it’s been a long time since Washington has had a quarterback – Mark Brunell is the last QB to win a playoff game for Washington and that was 17 years ago – and that’s not likely to change.

Packers: Aaron Rodgers, No. 1
[139-66-1 career record, 5-1 vs. Eagles, 10 Pro Bowls]

The big question is what will the three-time NFL MVP do next. Will he retire? Will he try to force a trade out of Green Bay? Will he return to the Packers? It’s probably most likely he’s back in Green Bay, and if that’s the case the Eagles will be facing a QB who’s 39-9 over the last three seasons (although one of those losses was to the Eagles at Lambeau in 2019) and has thrown 136 touchdowns and 15 interceptions since 2018. If Jordan Love leads the Packers to the Linc? That will be a little bit different.

Vikings: Kirk Cousins, No. 18
[59-59-2 career record, 6-3 vs. Eagles, 3 Pro Bowls]

Cousins is OK, but he’s really the epitome of an average NFL quarterback. He’s had one 10-win season in 10 years in the NFL, he’s won one playoff game and he turns 34 before opening day. Cousins will usually put up some pretty nice stats, but he always has been and always will be a middle-of-the-road NFL quarterback.

Jaguars: Trevor Lawrence, No. 31
[3-14 career record, 0-0 vs. Eagles, 0 Pro Bowls]

He should improve working with Doug Pederson’s tutelage, but the Lawrence we saw his rookie year is clearly still a work in progress. He led the NFL with 17 interceptions vs. just 12 touchdowns and had just one game with a passer rating of 100 or more. His 71.9 passer rating was 4th-lowest in NFL history by a quarterback throwing at least 600 passes. Doug’s got some work to do.

Titans: Ryan Tannehill, No. 15
[72-59 career record, 1-0 vs. Eagles, 1 Pro Bowl]

Titans general manager Jon Robinson made it clear earlier this week that Tannehill will be the Titans’ starting quarterback in 2022, and he’s a perfectly fine functional quarterback who’s had one great season in 10 years in the league and has two career playoff wins in which he completed a combined 15 passes for a combined 160 yards. Tannehill, who turns 34 this summer, isn’t bad, but he’s sure not elite.

Steelers: Mason Rudolph, Unranked
[5-4 career record, 0-0 vs. Eagles, 0 Pro Bowls]

With Roethlisberger retired, we’re going to go with Mason Rudolph, Big Ben’s backup the last three years. Although he’s not ranked, he’d be in the mid-20s if he were. Rudolph’s career passer rating of 80.9 ranks 44th out of 57 active quarterbacks who’ve started at least 10 games in their career. Bring him on.

Saints: Jameis Winston, No. 17
[33-44 career record, 1-0 vs. Eagles, 1 Pro Bowl]

Winston is a free agent so there’s no lock he’ll be back in New Orleans, although it does make a lot of sense for them to bring him back. If it’s Taysom Hill, that No. 17 ranking goes down significantly. Drew Brees has the 6th-highest passer rating ever against the Ealges [minimum 100 attempts], and the 3rd-highest in the postseason. He’s the only QB ever to beat the Eagles three times in the postseason. So whoever the Saints run out there it’ll be nothing like facing Brees.

Bears: Justin Fields, No. 26
[2-8 career record, 0-0 vs. Eagles, 0 Pro Bowls]

It was a rough rookie year for the 1st-round pick out of Ohio State, and now he’s got to deal with a coaching staff change and a new scheme he has to learn. Fields’ 73.2 passer rating last year ranked 28th out of 31 quarterbacks who started at least 10 games. He’s got some ability, and the game is at Soldier Field, but on paper it’s another game against a bottom-10 QB.

Lions, Jared Goff, No. 22
[45-37-1 career record, 1-3 vs. Eagles, 2 Pro Bowls]

Goff’s stats are OK, but over the last three seasons he’s a losing quarterback (21-23-1) with an ungainly 61-to-37 TD-to-INT ratio, and his last Pro Bowl came in 2018. He’s clearly not the same guy anymore, and he might not even be the Lions’ quarterback by the time they face the Eagles. When last we saw Goff, he was on the short end of a 44-6 score at the Linc in October. That’s who he is at this point in his career.

Texans, Davis Mills, No. 32
[2-9 career record, 0-0 vs. Eagles, 0 Pro Bowls]

With Tyrod Taylor’s contract up and not expected back, Mills is the heir apparent in Houston. And although he did some good things – he beat the Chargers late in the season and threw three TDs and no INTs in losses against the Patriots and Titan – he’s certainly got a long way to go to be a consistent winning quarterback in the NFL. Now, like Fields and Lawrence, he goes into his second season under a new coach with a new scheme. 

Colts, Carson Wentz, No. 23
[44-40-1 career record, 0-0 vs. Eagles, 1 Pro Bowl]

This will be interesting. We’re assuming Wentz will still be the Colts’ QB but who knows. The way he played down the stretch in his first year with the Colts, anything is possible. Wentz was 18-11 his first two seasons but is 26-31-1 over the last four years. He’ll turn 30 with three career postseason passing yards. Like Goff, he’s just not what he used to be.
 
Cards, Kyler Murray, No. 13
[22-23-1, 1-0 vs. Eagles, 2 Pro Bowls]

Murray definitely has a ton of ability, but which Kyler Murray will the Eagles get? The one who had 17 TDs and 4 INTs during the Cards’ 7-0 start this year or the one who has 53 TDs and 30 INTs and has won just 15 of 39 starts over the rest of his career? 

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