I’m a Philadelphia Eagles fan, and so far in 2020 things haven’t been great. I don’t live in the Philadelphia area so I read other blogs about the Eagles and check out the comments to try getting a sense of where other Eagles are at with this team. There’s a lot of people who want coaches and GM’s to be fired and the QB to be benched. Wentz has improved (slightly) in the last couple of weeks, so calls for his benching have settled down somewhat. Realistically, though, it was never going to happen. Here’s a rundown of the current offensive roster as I see it.
Quarterback – Carson Wentz, Jalen Hurts, Nate Sudfeld
Carson Wentz has kinda sucked this year. That said, he’s the starter regardless of what the fans want. He’ll be the starter next year, too, barring injury or the plague. Jalen Hurts was questionably taken in the 2nd round in this year’s draft because the Eagles saw some talent in him and are, apparently, a “QB Factory”. I don’t know about that second part, but he seems like a useful player in some packages. Nate Sudfeld seems like a nice guy, but I have serious doubts he’ll be around next year. I wish him well. There’s nothing anyone can do about this situation given the economics of the league and Carson’s contract so let’s just move on.
Running Back – Miles Sanders, Boston Scott, Corey Clement, Jason Huntley
Miles Sanders is a stud, but is somehow being under-utilized in the offense this year. Dear Doug, please use Miles Sanders. He will help you win games. Boston Scott seems like a poor man’s Darren Sproles. He was awesome last year down the stretch. Not so much this year. Either he’s being used incorrectly or he just isn’t as good as he looked last year. Either way, he’s not very effective and should be replaced or bumped down to third RB by next year. Clement had a hell of a rookie season…three years ago. I have no idea what Huntley does or why he’s on the roster. I really wish they’d just kept Jordan Howard. He would have been a nice complement to Sanders. Hopefully they get someone to fill that roll next year. Hard to see Clement or Huntley back next year.
Wide Receiver – too many to list
What the hell? Why is it every year this team suffers catastrophic injuries at multiple position groups? Who’s even healthy at WR on this team? DeSean Jackson has been invisible even when he was healthy. I hate to say it, because I’m a big fan, but he needs to be gone next year. Alshon Jeffery is wasting space on the roster when he should have been put on PUP. Is his ego too fragile to handle it? If so, please cut him and accept the financial ramifications. JJAW is useless. Please let him walk this off-season. Fulgham looks awesome, but he’ll probably get hurt or turn out to be a one-hit wonder. That’s the way of things with the Eagles. I don’t really question the Reagor pick, but it sure would be nice to see him play. Once again, the Eagles will be looking to figure out this position in the off-season, but at least this time they *might* have a couple pieces to build around.
Tight End – Zach Ertz, Dallas Goedert, Richard Rodgers
There’s another one too, but I don’t remember his name and I doubt it much matters. Dallas is the future at this position, so naturally he’s hurt. Ertz is the past. I appreciate everything he’s done for the Eagles. I also really like his wife Julie Ertz. She’s awesome. Unfortunately, the Eagles need to move on from him. It’s time. A trade this year makes the most sense as it seems likely to bear the best return. In-season trades in the NFL are difficult. It’s not like baseball where you can grab a pitcher and just have him take the mound every five days and do his thing. How a player plays his position on one team can change drastically when he goes to another, and he has to rely on 10 other players doing everything right while also doing everything right himself. Obviously, it can be done, but it’s not as easy as other sports. This off-season seems a more likely time to trade him, though it will almost certainly mean a lesser return. At this point, I’m not sure the return matters quite as much as clearing the way for Dallas to take over and for the Eagles to stop relying so much on 12 personnel when it clearly isn’t working anyway.
Offensive Tackle – Jordan Mailata, Lane Johnson, Jack Driscoll, Jason Peters, Brett Toth (who?)
There’s a lot going on with the line this year. Jason Peters was let go. Then he came back to play right guard after Brandon Brooks went down with a freak injury. Then Andre Dillard got hurt, and everyone assumed Peters would take over at left tackle, except he wanted more money. The Eagles tried to wait him out, but the guy they tried to have take over at LT wasn’t cutting it so they caved. Peters wasn’t very good in the first few weeks, and is now hurt. Money well spent. The guy actually playing LT now, Jordan Mailata, literally never played a game of football in his life prior to this year. By my count, he’s the fourth option at the position….and he might actually be the best. He’s a massive Australian mountain of a man who can push DE’s around all day long provided he keeps his feet. Whatever else happens with the Eagles this year, they owe it to themselves and Mailata to keep him at LT for the rest of the way. On the other side, Lane Johnson has been in and out of the lineup with…you guessed it…an injury. He’s one of the best RT’s in the game when healthy. When he’s not, Jack Driscoll has filled in admirably. It seems to me Lane should be shut down until after the bye. Let the kid play for a few weeks.
Offensive Guard – Jamon Brown, Nate Herbig, Sua Opeta, Isaac Seumalo, Brandon Brooks, Matt Pryor
Surprisingly, both starters are hurt. Isaac Seumalo seems likely to return at some point this year. Brandon Brooks might as well, but he’d be defying all logic and medical experience if he does. Of course, he’s Brandon Brooks. I’m sure as hell not going to be the one to tell him he can’t do something. Meanwhile the guys filling in seem…fine? For all the talk of how the Eagles offensive line is being held together by duct tape and blah blah blah, they might be the best collective group on the team outside of the D-line.
Center – Jason Kelce
Technically, there’s also something named Luke Juriga listed at center, but whatever. Jason Kelce is gonna do Jason Kelce things at center and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.
So the Eagles offense, led by a collection of coaches best described as “too many chefs in the kitchen” has struggled in a year where seemingly everyone outside of New York City/the Meadowlands is putting up record-setting offensive numbers. Not a good look. Of course, it would help if Carson Wentz could hit those dump-off throws and maybe threw the ball away once in a while. Maybe one of those chefs/coaches should tell him that. Also, stop throwing the ball to the other team. That would really help a lot.
Self-Critique: Looking back, this isn’t a very good blog post. I had a lot I wanted to get out and wasn’t really sure how to do it. I’ll think of better ways going forward. For now, this is what you get…assuming there even is a you.
