Ranking the Eagles’ 2026 positional needs: Short-term, free agency edition

In advance of NFL free agency and the 2026 NFL Draft, we'll take two different looks at the Philadelphia Eagles' biggest positional needs. Here we'll evaluate the team's biggest immediate needs, ignoring positional value. That's what the Eagles tend to address in free agency each year.

Once free agency has run its course, we'll rank the Eagles' positional needs more specifically in the draft, which will be more geared toward long-term roster building and positional importance. For example, the Eagles probably need to find a replacement for Lane Johnson in the draft this year. We won't cover that here, because the team is unlikely to find his successor in free agency, but it'll be high up in the order when we do this exercise for the draft. Got it? Cool, moving on…

(Players bolded in red are scheduled to be free agents in March.)

1) Tight end

Dallas Goedert, Grant Calcaterra, and Kylen Granson are all scheduled to be free agents in March. The only Eagles tight end under contract in 2026 is TE4 Cameron Latu.

It appears to be a good crop of tight ends in this year's draft, and I expect the Eagles to select at least one after surprisingly not adding a tight end in the 2025 draft. However, because they are so thin at the position, the Eagles are also going to have to add a competent veteran or two in free agency, whether that's re-signing Goedert or adding some someone else.

2) EDGE

The Eagles only have two edge defenders under contract in 2026, though they are both potential foundational pieces in Nolan Smith, who had a breakout season in 2024; and Jalyx Hunt, who had a breakout season in 2025. They have five edges set to be free agents in March.

As noted in a mailbag post on Wednesday, the obvious player already on the roster who should be the team's biggest re-signing priority is Jaelan Phillips, for the following reasons:

• He was Vic Fangio's top edge rusher in 2026, leading the Eagles' edges in snaps per game by a significant margin after the team acquired him at the trade deadline.

• He wants to be in Philly, calling the trade at the time the best day of his life.

• He's a bigger edge defender than Smith or Hunt. The Eagles added a big edge in Za'Darius Smith, and when Smith abruptly retired in-season, they then traded for Phillips. If they let Phillips get away, they're going to have to add another bigger edge defender. They may as well just keep the talented one already on the roster in place.

If the Eagles are able to keep Phillips long-term, that checks off a huge box on their 2026 roster, and beyond.

Phillips aside, it appears that Brandon Graham seems to want to play another season, and I imagine the Eagles will welcome him back as long as he's realistic about his pay.

This is a position the Eagles could also address in the draft, but they can't head into the draft with only Smith and Hunt on the roster.

3) Cornerback

The Eagles' plan heading into 2025 training camp was to hope that Kelee Ringo had developed into starting-caliber corner in his third NFL season, and if he hadn't that Adoree' Jackson was there as a fallback option.

Throughout camp and the preseason games, neither Ringo nor Jackson did anything to separate from the other, and rookie Mac McWilliams didn't stand out either. So, the team traded for Jakorian Bennett, setting up something of a four-way competition for the CB2 job, which was eventually won by Jackson.

Heading into the regular season, the CB2 spot was the team's biggest concern. By the time the season was over, although Jackson wasn't great, it was pretty far down the list of concerns.

So let's take stock of those four CB2 training camp contenders after the 2026 season:

1. Ringo could stick on the roster as a special teamer and backup corner, but the team will not head into 2026 hoping that he is an answer as a starter.
2. The Bennett trade was a bust, but he'll probably be back in camp.
3. McWilliams was a healthy scratch most weeks. He'll have a chance to show what he can do this year, but he did not earn Fangio's trust as a rookie.
4. Jackson is a free agent.

There's also Michael Carter, who the team traded for in-season. Carter will almost certainly be a cap casualty this offseason, as he has a salary of $9,697,500 in 2026.

Reading the tea leaves, the Eagles are highly likely to have an offense-heavy draft this year. If a great corner prospect falls and has no business being available when the Eagles are picking, sure, they could take one, but it's more likely that they'll address the offensive line, receiver, tight end, etc.

That means that addressing the corner position will have to happen during free agency. They could re-sign Jackson, I suppose, though I suspect that would be a wildly unpopular move. Or they could sign someone new. Whoever they find, don't expect them to cost a lot of money.

They might even wait until after the draft, when in previous years they found decent-to-good starters in Steven Nelson and James Bradberry. And they employed that strategy at a time when they didn't even have star players at two of their three starting corner spots like they do now in Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean.

4) Wide receiver

Whether A.J. Brown is traded or not this offseason, the Eagles need to add to their wide receiver position this offseason, and in my opinion, that will happen both in free agency and in the draft. Obviously, if Brown is dealt, the wide receiver spot becomes a much greater need.

5) Safety

In my opinion, Reed Blankenship is the Eagles' third-most important defensive free agent, behind Jaelan Phillips and Nakobe Dean. The Eagles aren't going to be able to retain everyone, and Blankenship is likely to get a significant bump in pay, probably elsewhere.

Add in that Sydney Brown has not lived up to his potential, and the Eagles will be shopping for safety help this offseason, especially when there have been competent starters available in recent years at low costs.

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