The Eagles defense is younger and more homegrown than ever. Will that keep them among the NFL’s elite?

For the longest time, the Eagles and their top decision-makers have talked about the importance of being a draft-and-develop organization and about the perils of relying too heavily on free agency.

But there are plenty of examples in their more recent history – say the past 25-30 years – of bad free-agent signings leading to an implosive season (who remembers the "Dream Team?") and of poor drafts and/or draft picks forcing the Eagles to make riskier splashes in free agency.

But since Howie Roseman's restoration of GM power in 2016, the Eagles have gradually started to put words into action in terms of building the bulk of their roster through the draft and approaching free agency with a more calculated, deliberate approach.

On defense, especially, the Eagles have leaned much heavier on handpicked, homegrown talent since their first Super Bowl win in franchise history in 2017.

In a two-part series, starting with today's look at defense, I'll examine the past three Super Bowl rosters and it's changing ratio of outside free agents to homegrown starters, and also look ahead to the 2025 version. On Tuesday, we'll look at the offense.

Let's start with a look at the 2017 Super Bowl defense, of which six of the 11 starters came from the outside:

Some important notes here:

• The Eagles had a ton of injuries to starters in 2017, I went with the player who played the most snaps at that position or the one who started the most games. I'll do that consistently throughout the story.
• The chart represents nickel defense, but that year, Vinny Curry and Tim Jernigan came off the field in four-man rush situations for Chris Long and rookie Derek Barnett, so ratio-wise it's a wash because Curry and Barnett were both homegrown while Jernigan and Long were outsiders.
• Jordan Hicks is the only one listed who didn't play in the Super Bowl but his spot was filled by Mychal Kendricks, also a homegrown swap, so the ratio remains the same.
• The moral of this story is, despite being largely homegrown in the front six, the Eagles were almost exclusively comprised of outsiders in the secondary, the results of some very poor drafting in the years prior.
• At least Roseman righted his past free-agent wrongs as he hit on both safeties, especially Malcolm Jenkins, and the trade for Darby was largely beneficial even though Darby missed eight games that season. The real home run was the 1-year deal for Robinson, who was excellent in the slot.
• He's not on this chart, but the impact of free-agent DB Corey Graham can't be ignored as the Eagles played a lot of three-safety "big nickel" packages that season, with Corey Graham often subbing for Kendricks. Graham actually played 64 percent of the snaps in the Super Bowl while Kendricks played 32 percent, so at times the Eagles would have seven of their 11 players on defense coming from the outside.

Now let's look at the difference between the 2017 defense and the 2022 version that lost to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl despite ranking second overall in the regular season. That defense had seven starters come from other organizations before landing in Philly, one more than the 2017 squad:

A few notes here:

• Once again, this chart represents nickel defense. The Eagles were in the second season of a transition to a 3-4 (or 5-3 base) alignment under DC Jonathan Gannon and had remade the front six to better reflect those needs , but they played mostly nickel with a four-man front, so that's the personnel I chose.
• To further illustrate, NB Avonte Maddox played 457 snaps that season. He came on the field to replace the nose tackle, either Jordan Davis or Linval Joseph, who combined to play 413 snaps.
• Although half of the front four came from the outside, the Eagles rotated very frequently, and the top four bench linemen – Brandon Graham (43%), Milton Williams (36%), Marlon Tuipulotu (21%), Jordan Davis (20%) – were all homegrown.
• Once again, the middle-to-back end of the defense – from linebacker to DB – was heavily comprised of outside talent, as the team continued to suffer from draft misfires at DB and borderline apathy about the ILB position. After this season, the organization would start to undergo a shift in thinking and draft strategy at those spots.

Now let's look at the 2024 Super Bowl champs on defense, which represents a massive change from the other Super Bowl defenses, as eight of the 11 starters were either drafted by the Eagles or signed by the Eagles as a rookie free agent:

A few notes here:

• This chart also represents nickel defense, as the Eagles were among the NFL leaders in nickel defense usage in 2024.
• Even if I switched the chart to represent base defense, DT Jordan Davis would sub for NB Cooper DeJean, which would keep the rate of homegrown to outside at eight of 11.
Obviously, the intended EDGE starter opposite Josh Sweat was free agent Bryce Huff, but that didn't work out. Even if it had worked out, seven of 11 starters being homegrown would still represent a major shit from the past two Super Bowl defenses.
• LB Nakobe Dean didn't play in the Super Bowl after he tore his patellar tendon in the wild card round, and was replaced by free agent Oren Burks, but Dean played the most snaps alongside Baun at ILB and would have started had he been healthy.
• Six of the eight homegrown starters were drafted from 2021-2024, making this one of the youngest defenses in recent Eagles history.

Now let's project what the Eagles are expected to look like in 2025 as they attempt to become repeat Super Bowl champs:

More notes:

• Whoa! If this holds up, a whopping 10 of 11 starters would be homegrown Eagles, representing a seismic shift from the 2017 team.
• Again, we went with a nickel defensive group, with NB Cooper DeJean subbed in for DT Jordan Davis. Again, a Davis-for-DeJean swap to represent base would be the same homegrown-to-outside ratio.
• The biggest threat to Ojomo's starting is Jordan Davis getting more reps in the four-man rush or fourth-round rookie Ty Robinson emerging into the spot. So the ratio is likely to remain the same even if Ojomo isn't a starter.
• If rookie second-rounder Andrew Mukuba somehow isn't the starter for Week 1, it would probably be Sydney Brown, a 2023 third-rounder, so the homegrown/outside ratio would also remain the same in this situation.
• LB Nakobe Dean isn't expected back from his knee surgery by Week 1 or even in September, but his top replacement options – Jeremiah Trotter Jr. or Jihaad Campbell – are also Eagles draft picks, so the homegrown/outside ratio still remains unchanged.
• The biggest threat to a ratio change is veteran free agent Adoree' Jackson beating out Kelee Ringo at left cornerback, but the Eagles would still be heavily homegrown with nine of 11 starters being homegrown talent.
• It's important to note that we have no idea yet how the 2025 defense will fare before we label this predominantly homegrown defense a successful approach, but there's no question the Eagles feel good about their draft-and-develop blueprint.
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