We're in a little bit of a dead period in between free agency and the draft, so let's take some questions. This is Part II of a two-part mailbag (Part I here). As always, thank you for doing half the work for me.
Question from @jeff_greenbaum: The Eagles' pass rush stats (sacks, QB hits, pressures) were middle of the pack in 2024. Are we being misled by the very favorable matchup with the Chiefs' O-line from understanding our need is for pass rush help? After all, in how many other games did the Eagles' pass rush dominate?
If we're being honest, there were times during the season when the pass rush really wasn't that great. Obviously, it was a wrecking machine during the Super Bowl and at other times during the playoffs.
As the regular season progressed, Nolan Smith developed into a legitimately good player, and Jalen Carter continued to evolve into a beast who opposing offenses had no choice but to constantly double.
And then as we all saw, Josh Sweat and Milton Williams dominated favorable matchups in the Super Bowl because Carter was occupying the Chiefs' two best offensive linemen. Sweat and Williams had good-not-great seasons but got paid this offseason because Carter set them up for success on a big stage.
The Eagles have Carter, which is a great start. He is already one of the best players in the NFL. And then they have Smith, who had a breakout season in 2024, some potential up-and-comers in Jalyx Hunt and Moro Ojomo, and Jordan Davis had some impressive moments in the playoffs. They also bought in some one-year upside lottery tickets in Azeez Ojulari and Josh Uche.
They have a really good, young group, but there's only one true star player (so far). There is certainly plenty of room to be even better.
MORE: The Eagles' top 10 options with their first-round pick
Question from @LotharZZ: The Eagles won’t pick up Jordan Davis’ fifth-year option, but what might a possible second contract look like for him? And to what extent might his friendship with Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith play in the Eagles' level of interest in keeping him around after this year?
Are we sure they won't pick up his fifth-year option? The sense that I got at the owners meetings a few weeks ago was that they are still very much in on Jordan Davis. My bet is that they'll exercise that fifth-year option, even if I agree that they probably shouldn't. We'll see.
I do think you bring up an interesting dynamic with all the Georgia players and their friendships that go back to when they were like 18 years old. Ultimately, you have to do what is best for your roster, but how much extra is it worth paying an underperforming player to keep your best young player and anther really good young player happy?
(I don't know the answer, but I'm sure it's something the team has considered.)
Question from @SeanLamplugh: Any potential late round draft day trades for veterans out there? Michael Mayer, etc.
I actually watched a little of Mayer, and I like him. He fights for every inch after the catch, and he's a good blocker. Solid floor. If the Eagles don't draft a tight end and they move on from Dallas Goedert as expected, I could definitely see the Eagles trying to trade for Mayer. I mean, they have 11 picks in 2026.
Or, in another draft-day scenario, if after the second round they haven't drafted a tight end and they feel like they need a starter, Howie Roseman has developed a pattern of trading third-round picks for a player plus a Day 3 pick. He did that with Jahan Dotson and Kenny Pickett last offseason, to name two examples. Maybe in Round 3, if all the tight ends the Eagles like are gone they could swing that kind of trade with the Raiders?
Question from @Cumbleton: Will Jahan Dotson play a bigger role in 2025?
I do think that having a full offseason with the team will help, and maybe he gained some trust from Jalen Hurts after he made some plays in the Super Bowl?
Question from @7th_Reason: Is Dallas Goedert more than likely (1) traded for a player/pick, (2) traded after June?
Trading Goedert after June 1 would allow the Eagles to delay a chunk of the dead money hit until 2026, so that is more likely than trading him for a pick in this draft.
I would rank the Goedert outcomes like so:
- Traded after June 1.
- Released after June 1.
- They keep him, with a pay cut.
- They trade him before/during the draft.
- They keep him, with his contract as is.
Question from @llucc10: What do you suspect is the real reason for CJGJ being traded? If you believe it was truly a money issue for the future contracts, any other big, surprising trades/cuts in the next year or so that you envision?
Money. He's a veteran starter on the low end of the positional importance totem pole. I would put Goedert in the same "surprising trade/cut" bucket as CJGJ. The fans/media have already digested that probability, but if the Eagles had just traded Goedert in early March without some of our reporting emerging first, that would've definitely come as a surprise to most.
Question from @docd1eSil: Which of these bet-on-themselves one-year deal players are most likely to secure a top of the market type deal after a year with the Eagles?
I had pegged Azeez Ojulari as a free agency fit early this offseason. He was actually the first free agent we profiled. So, you know, that's my answer. He has talent and was productive when healthy on a terrible team. I think he has a chance to have a Mekhi Becton-like rejuvenation in Philly if he can stay on the field.
MORE: Will Howie Roseman trade up, trade back, or stay put at pick No. 32?
Question from @andrewgoldy31: Are we underrating how big an issue CB might be this year? I’m not that confident that Ringo can move up from CB4 to CB2 in one offseason.
We took a look at Ringo's 2024 season a few days ago, and while I was encouraged by what he showed, I do agree that corner is a sneaky under the radar need, both on the outside, as explained here, and for depth in the slot.
Are they going to take a corner in the first round? Very likely not, but I'd be surprised if they didn't add any corners at all.
Question from @mattkrady: Will there be a specialist competition for you to track this summer? Long snapper and kicker seem possible.
Jake Elliott had a down year, but he won't have any competition. He has four years left on his contract, the team still believes in him, and he was hurt last season. My expectation is that he'll have a rebound season in 2025.
I could see the Eagles signing a UDFA long snapper to give the Charley Hughlett some competition. I'd be down for that in training camp.
Question from @Jack_Despeaux: Jimmy, I’ve been collecting RAS scores for all the Eagles’ reported top 30 visits. How much do you think the front office takes into account RAS (or some kind of in-house team equivalent data)? Are there any historical patterns you’ve seen?
I highly doubt they're specifically using RAS scores, though they're still using Combine results, which is essentially what RAS scores are basing their scores off of. I do think RAS scores are nice snapshots of prospects' blends of size and athleticism, for fans and media.
The NFL is privy to more sophisticated on-field GPS data, which I know the Eagles use.
Question from @drewdelaware: Rank these in order from most likely to least:
- Eagles somehow end up with Abdul Carter
- Jalen Hurts wins NFL MVP
- Sydney Brown wins the job vacated by CJGJ; plays at an All-Pro level
- Cowboys screw up Micah Parsons contract talks so badly that he becomes an Eagle in 2026
- Eagles win Super Bowl LX
This felt pretty easy:
- Eagles win Super Bowl LX
- Jalen Hurts wins NFL MVP
- Sydney Brown wins the job vacated by CJGJ; plays at an All-Pro level
- Cowboys screw up Micah Parsons contract talks so badly that he becomes an Eagle in 2026
- Eagles somehow end up with Abdul Carter
Question from @bigseb31213 (via Bluesky): More miserable season – 2020 Eagles or 2024-2025 Sixers?
I didn't watch a single Sixers game this season. Not one. So I had pretty low expectations heading in. Obviously it turned out worse than we could have realistically guessed.
The 2020 Eagles had higher expectations, in my opinion, so their collapse that season probably felt a little worse, but that was offset to some degree by the extreme weirdness of that season as a result of COVID.
I think the answer to this question is TBD. That Eagles season paved the way for their Super Bowl season, as we laid out a week or so ago. The Sixers might not even get a draft pick if the lotto balls don't cooperate.
Question from @TwitterImmigrant (via Bluesky): Jimmy! Miss hearing your voice on the podcast man. Sydney Brown, I’m really stumped on. He didn’t get to have an offseason last year but he clearly lacked discipline IMO. Do you think this offseason he can get it together or are we looking draft/trade for a starting safety?
Thanks! At some point I'll be doing a Sydney Brown film review. I think he has all kinds of ability, and he clearly loves playing football. That's a good start. But you're right, in my opinion, that he's a little out of control.
He's going to get a chance to start, but he has to earn it. I imagine they'll give him legit competition, whether that's via the draft or with a veteran safety they could sign after the draft.
MORE: Eagles 2025 mock draft roundup, version 4.0
Question from @BenButWorse: When are you podding again, boss?
SB Nation (Vox Media) killed all their podcasts without warning last April. We (Brandon, mostly) built up a pretty wide listenership, and in an instant it was just gone, with no explanation why, and seemingly no logic behind it.
Vox came back to some of their better performing podcasters around the start of last season, wanting to re-launch it, but behind a paywall. I had no interest in that. We weren't going to ask people to pay for a podcast when literally every other Eagles podcast is free. Maybe that would work in other markets? We tried to explain that a paywall didn't make sense in Philly, but that seemed to fall on deaf ears. So, I dunno.
Last year I had an idea for something a little new and different, but ultimately determined that executing it at a high level would require time that I didn't have. I should probably think about a way I can pull off that idea that doesn't wipe out the rare free time and energy I have during the busier parts of the year.
So, that's my periodic podcast update. I do appreciate when people ask. They were fun to do.
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