A look at how much better the Eagles’ offense should be in 2025, an odd trend regarding Syracuse quarterbacks and the fastest Eagles to 5,000 receiving yards.
As we all sit here with our Google calendars open eagerly awaiting the NFL schedule release on Wednesday, here’s a big ol’ bucket of Roob’s 10 Random Eagles Offseason Observations to tide you over.
By the way, this past Wednesday was a significant day in the Eagles’ offseason. It’s the first day we were closer to the start of training camp than the Super Bowl. Let’s goooooooo!!!
1. The Eagles won 16 of their last 17 games, won the Super Bowl, scored 95 points in their last two postseason games, and it’s still fair to say they underachieved on offense. They averaged 26.8 offensive points, 7th-highest in the NFL, and 361 yards, 8th-highest. They were 10th on third down, 11th in yards per play and 13th in the red zone. Not bad. But with the talent on their roster? Those numbers should have been better, and at times the defense really carried this team. Now, with Dallas Goedert back for 2025, the Eagles return 10 of 11 offensive starters, with right guard the only exception. And eight of those starters were also here in 2023. That sort of continuity is extremely rare in the NFL these days and it’s extremely valuable. When you’ve spent that much time playing and practicing and watching film with the guy lining up next to you, you know how he thinks, you see what he sees, you share his football DNA. Multiply that by 10 guys and you have a unit that has the ability to operate at a truly advanced level. And we saw that at times last year, especially in the postseason. But with a Super Bowl MVP quarterback, an MVP-caliber running back, two elite wide receivers, an outstanding tight end and the best offensive line in football and the whole group continuing to grow as a group, I don’t see any reason this offense can’t take a big leap in 2025. You’d like to see them average at least 30 points per game. The highest-scoring Eagles teams were in the 1940s – the 1948 Championship averaged 31.3 and the 1949 NFL champs averaged 30.3. Modern Era, the highest-scoring offense was Chip Kelly’s 2014 team at 29.6 points per game. We don’t know what Kevin Patullo will look like as an offensive coordinator and play caller, but everybody in the organization speaks so highly of him. And with this sort of talent at his disposal? It’s scary how dangerous this offense can be. Last year it was very good. This year could be – should be – even better.
2. Only four Syracuse quarterbacks have ever been drafted, and the Eagles have selected three of them. They picked Don McPherson, the 1987 Heisman Trophy runner-up to Tim Brown, in the sixth round in 1988, Donovan McNabb with the second pick in 1999 and then Mount Laurel’s Kyle McCord in the sixth round this year. The only other Syracuse QB ever drafted is Ryan Nassib, the Giants’ 4th-round pick in 2013. Nassib, like McCord, is a Philly-area native, growing up in West Chester and attending Malvern Prep. McPherson never played in the NFL and Nassib only threw 10 passes, completing nine. His 90 percent career completion percentage is highest in NFL history among players who’ve thrown at least 10 passes. Just in case you were wondering.
3. JALEN HURTS STAT OF THE WEEK: In just four years and 75 starts, Jalen Hurts has already had 24 games in which he’s completed at least 70 percent of his passes. That’s a franchise record, seven more than Donovan McNabb had in 158 starts. Carson Wentz (13 in 69 starts), Nick Foles (11 in 38 starts), Tommy Thompson (9 in 44 starts) and Randall Cunningham (9 in 112 starts) have the next most. It’s also 7th-most by any player after five seasons.
4. Jalen Reagor, now with the Chargers, his fourth team since 2021, has 1,037 career receiving yards in 64 games. That’s the fewest career yards by any 1st-round wide receiver who’s played at least 50 games since the 1980s. A guy named David Verser, selected 10th overall by the Bengals out of Kansas in 1981, had 454 yards in 52 games from 1981 through 1987.
5. With Dallas Goedert agreeing on a one-year restructure, the Eagles now have seven tight ends on the roster: Goedert and Grant Calcaterra, veteran free agents Kylen Granson and Harrison Bryant, 2024 holdover E.J. Jenkins and street pickups Nick Muse and Cameron Latu. Goedert and Calcaterra are roster locks, so who’ll be the third tight end? My guess is nobody. Out of that next group, Bryant is probably the guy that has the best chance to play. He had 76 catches for 710 yards and seven TDs with the Browns from 2020 through 2022 before dropping to 21-for-167-3 the last two years. But whoever the 3rd-best tight end is in camp won’t be worth a roster spot. You can get any of those guys safely to the practice squad, and I’d guess the Eagles would keep two of them around for game-day elevations, and if there’s a significant injury you bring one of them up to the 53. But there are too many promising young kids on this team who the Eagles need to protect to devote a valuable spot on the 53 to a fringe tight end.
6A. Eight Eagles have had 5,000 yards in an Eagles uniform, and DeSean Jackson was fastest to get there, doing it in 73 games. How long did other Eagles 5,000-yard receivers take to reach 5,000 yards? Mike Quick was next-fastest (74 games), followed by Tommy McDonald (78), Zach Ertz (94), Pete Retzlaff (96), Pete Pihos (100), Harold Carmichael (108) and Bobby Walston (126). A.J. Brown already has 3,995 yards in his first 47 games with the Eagles, so he needs 1,005 this coming season for 5,000, and DeVonta Smith has 4,011 yards in 63 games, so he needs 989. Brown has averaged 85.8 yards per game as an Eagle, which means at his current pace he needs 12 more games to reach 5,000, which would get him there in just 59 games – 14 games faster than DeSean. Smith is averaging 63.7 yards per game as an Eagle, so he’s on pace to reach 5,000 in 16 more games, which would get him there in 79 games, which would be 5th-fastest.
7. Dallas Goedert has played the 24th-most games by a tight end since 2019, but he’s got the 5th-most games with 50 or more yards. He’s had 50 or more yards in 44 percent of his games during that six-year span, and only Travis Kelce, George Kittle, Mark Andrews, T.J. Hockenson and Darren Waller have reached 50 yards more frequently among tight ends who’ve played at least 50 games since 2019.That just shows how dangerous Goedert still is when he can make it onto the field. One important thing to remember about Goedert and his frequent injuries: He’s never missed a playoff game. He’s gotten banged up, but he always comes back. He’s never suffered a season-ending injury, and he’s always been just as productive when he’s come back as before he got hurt. And by January and February, he’s always been a force. Top 12 all-time among tight ends in both postseason catches and yards. That’s why he’s still here. If he can play 12 or 13 games and be healthy for the annual postseason run, that’s $10 million well spent.
8. The last Eagles quarterback to have a 0.0 passer rating in a game (minimum 10 attempts) is Pat Ryan in a 23-0 loss to Washington at RFK Stadium in 1991. Ryan went 4-for-14 for 24 yards with no touchdown passes and three interceptions after relieving Jim McMahon, who suffered a knee injury in the first quarter. The last Eagles starting QB with a 0.0 rating? You have to go back to Rick Arrington in a 30-17 loss to the Packers at County Stadium in Milwaukee in 1970. Arrington was 3-for-10 for 16 yards, no TDs and three INTs in his first NFL start before getting benched for Norm Snead. Donovan McNabb had a 0.4 in a 17-7 win over the Dolphins at the Linc in 2007 – 3-for-11 for 34 yards, no TDs and two INTs before leaving the game with an ankle injury. That’s as close as you can come to a 0.0. If he had thrown one more incomplete pass, his rating would have dropped to 0.0.
9. Ray Rhodes won as many Coach of the Year awards as Eagles head coach as Andy Reid, Doug Pederson and Nick Sirianni combined.
10A. Carson Wentz is 32 years old, he’s been with five teams in the last five years, he’s 3-6 in nine starts for three different teams since 2022 and he’s 29-35 in seven seasons since tearing up his knee at L.A. Coliseum in December of 2017. It’s May and he doesn’t have a job and I feel like this could very well be it for Wentz. It’s hard for me to imagine there are any teams left that would be looking for a backup quarterback and decide on Wentz. What a weird career. His last 11 games before he got hurt in 2017 he was playing at an astonishing level, and if he hadn’t gotten hurt he would have been MVP that year. And he had some good stretches after that, but he really never was the same over an extended period. It’s insane that his career will end with three postseason passing yards, a short pass to Boston Scott on the play Jadeveon Clowney cheap shotted him. He’s the only quarterback in NFL history to start at least one postseason game and not throw for more than three yards in his postseason career. It’s hard to wonder what could have been with Wentz. But I know one thing: The Eagles would not have been Super Bowl champs in 2017 without him.
10B. Wentz is the only quarterback in NFL history drafted in the first round to play for five different teams in five years.
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