Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Fearless decisions and a little luck reshaped the Eagles’ roster and got them back to the Super Bowl.
Almost five years ago to the day, Nick Foles and the Eagles beat Tom Brady and the Patriots in Super Bowl LII by a score of 41-33. It was an instant classic that featured two stellar quarterback performances and some of the gutsiest play calling you’ll ever see in an NFL game.
Following Philadelphia’s dramatic victory, the team seemed set to continue their reign over the NFL with a strong roster surrounding third-year quarterback, Carson Wentz. Wentz had turned in an MVP-caliber performance with 3,296 yards and 33 touchdowns against just seven picks before landing on injured reserve with an ACL tear in Week 14. But the continued reign never quite materialized.
The Eagles would go on to post a pair of 9-7 campaigns during the 2018 and 2019 seasons, with one playoff win, before experiencing a major tumble that ended in a 4-11-1 record in 2020. Wentz recorded a league-high 15 interceptions in just 12 games played that season as he looked like a shell of the former MVP candidate during most of that stupendous Super Bowl run.
But just like that, two years removed from that disastrous season, they’re back in the Super Bowl to take on Andy Reid and the Chefs.
So how did they get here so soon? How did their fortunes turn around with such haste?
In a few words, they were fearless, aggressive, and maybe even a bit lucky.
They knew who their foundation players were
From that talented Super Bowl roster, only five players remain employed by the Eagles. They are defensive linemen Brandon Graham and Fletcher Cox, offensive linemen Lane Johnson and Jason Kelce, and kicker Jake Elliott.
Five years is a long time in the NFL, especially when it comes to the shelf life of certain positions versus others. Somehow, some way, the Eagles have managed to keep four of the league’s best players at their respective positions over the course of the last half-decade when there were likely numerous times they could have moved on for cap reasons.
Kelce and Johnson are arguably the top players at center and right tackle. Cox has long been the gold standard at defensive tackle, while Graham has been as steady as they come off the edge. The Eagles know how important it is to win both sides of the trenches and their dedication to these four players never wavered through worse times since that Super Bowl.
Now, five whole regular seasons later, all four of those guys played huge roles to help get their team to Arizona.
Both Kelce and Johnson were named First-Team All-Pros at 35 and 32 years old, respectively. Graham recorded his first season double-digit sacks EVER (11) at the age of 34, and Cox’s seven sacks this year were his third most in a season across his 13-year career.
Numerous teams would have looked at one or two of these aging stars and likely cut bait with them in hopes they could find younger and cheaper replacements via the draft or free agency. But not general manager Howie Roseman. He stayed true to the players who got him there in the first place and now he’s reaping the benefits of those decisions once again.
They hit home on several major positions in the draft
Starting with the 2018 NFL draft, the Eagles began to slowly but surely hit on a handful of draft picks and all of them just so happened to break out around the same time. In the first draft following the Super Bowl victory, the Eagles snagged tight end Dallas Goedert in the second round and edge rusher Josh Sweat out of Florida State in the fourth round.
In the 2019 draft, the Eagles found running back Miles Sanders in the second round, and they were able to sign linebacker T.J. Edwards as an undrafted free agent.
In 2020, the Eagles made the decision to draft quarterback Jalen Hurts despite the front office having just handed Wentz a four-year, $128 million contract the previous offseason.
Following that disastrous season, the Eagles traded Wentz to the Colts for a 2021 third-round pick and a 2022 first-rounder. Using the additional third, they moved up on Day 1 of that year’s draft to select wide receiver and Heisman Trophy winner Devonta Smith.
This past season, each one of these six players had a hand in making the Eagles one of, if not the most complete team in the NFL.
Not only did Jalen Hurts wind up earning the starting quarterback job following the Wentz trade, he’s all of a sudden one of the most dynamic playmakers in all of football. His efficient passing and dual-threat ability fueled the Eagles’ third-ranked offense as he threw for 22 touchdowns and rushed for 13 more on the ground.
After three seasons of being prominently used in a rotation, Sanders broke out this season with 1,269 yards and 11 touchdowns, both of which were career highs.
Goedert was on pace to set a new career high in yards but unfortunately succumbed to injury and was held out of five games during the regular season. He still finished the season with 702 yards and three touchdowns. Edwards notched 159 total tackles, besting his previous career high of 130 in ‘21.
Sweat recorded a career-high 11 sacks this season and was somehow one of FOUR players on this Eagles defense to record at least 11 quarterback takedowns.
Lastly, Smith recorded 95 receptions for 1,196 yards and seven touchdowns. All of those are career highs despite the sophomore playing opposite A.J. Brown.
They knew what they needed to take things to the next level
Super Bowl teams aren’t simply made via the draft. The best teams and front offices know when to pull the trigger or pass on certain players in free agency or those made available for trade.
The Eagles are one of those franchises.
In March of 2020, the Eagles made the move to trade for longtime Lions cornerback Darius Slay. Slay was named a First-Team All-Pro in 2017 and despite being in his prime, the Lions saw fit to give him up for just a third and fifth-round pick. Money likely played a role, as well, but the Eagles needed a playmaker in the secondary and knew they couldn’t pass him up.
Fast forward to the 2022 season. The roster was talented prior to training camp, especially after the signings of cornerback James Bradberry and edge rusher Hasson Reddick in free agency, on top of the trade for Brown from the Titans.
Just before the season began on Aug. 30, the Saints traded safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson and a 2025 seventh-round pick to the Eagles in exchange for a fifth-round pick and two sixth-rounders in 2024.
As the 2022 season pressed on, the talent and ability of this Eagles team could not be ignored.
Through the first two months of the schedule, there was no hotter team. The Eagles began the season 8-0 before they lost their first game to the Commanders in Week 10. It was that same week, however, that head coach Nick Sirianni decided his team still wasn’t to the level they needed to be at to reach their full potential. Injuries had recently hampered the defensive line and it spurred on the search and eventual signings of both veteran defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh and Linval Joseph. Both Suh and Joseph helped keep the run defense just strong enough to help the Eagles finish second in total defense, behind only the 49ers.
The players Philly brought in stayed healthy and did their jobs
Building the roster is obviously just a part of the journey. General managers and coaches help make the decisions to create the final product, but then it’s still up to the players to get out on the field and perform.
But what’s another huge ability that helps team’s maximize their potential on the field?
Availability. You know how that saying goes.
The Eagles didn’t just get the right players. Those players stayed on the field, as well.
Of all the impact players I’ve touched so far, here’s how many games each played in 2022:
C Jason Kelce – 17
OT Lane Johnson – 15
EDGE Brandon Graham – 17
DT Fletcher Cox – 17
QB Jalen Hurts – 15
WR A.J Brown – 17
WR DeVonta Smith – 17
RB Miles Sanders – 17
CB Darius Slay – 17
TE Dallas Goedert – 12
LB T.J. Edwards – 17
CB James Bradberry – 17
EDGE Hasson Reddick – 17
EDGE Josh Sweat – 16
DB C.J. Gardner-Johnson – 12
DT Linval Joseph – 8 (Every game after signing)
DT Ndamukong Suh – 8 (Every game after signing)
With availability also comes production.
The Eagles had the top passing defense in the league due to a ferocious pass rush — again, FOUR separate players registered at least 11 sacks en route to a franchise-record 70 sacks this regular season — that was married to an equally opportunistic secondary.
Again, noting back to that list above, the Eagles got 38 sacks, 12 interceptions, and 39 pass breakups from just SIX players this season! Reddick posted a career-high 16 sacks along with Graham and Sweat each notching 11. Defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, another signing prior to that 2020 season, posted the other 11, yet another career high. For good measure, Cox was fifth on the team behind this group with seven sacks of his own.
Gardner-Johnson snagged a new high mark with six interceptions alongside Bradberry and Slay’s three apiece.
When I say that this was a perfect storm of ability meeting availability, I truly mean it.
A lot of teams around the NFL were very talented on paper before the regular season began. The Eagles were one of the only teams whose core group stayed intact for the majority of it.
Fortunately — or unfortunately, depending on how you feel about the Eagles — that’s just the way the NFL goes year-to-year.
To quote a popular Latin proverb, “Fortune favors the bold.”
The Eagles were bold when they won the Super Bowl following the 2017 season. They were bold during the 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 regular seasons.
And after all of those seasons, they were somehow the boldest in 2022.
When speaking with the media in Arizona leading up to this weekend’s Super Bowl, Graham told Pro Football Talk that the coaching staff and front office’s ability to evaluate their team and then proceed to make the moves they needed to get to Glendale can’t be understated.
“It feels good to know and trust the guys upstairs,” Cox said. “Howie (Roseman) did a really good job of getting the pieces that we need to be a championship caliber team, to be connected, to be competitive no matter what we’re doing. To have those guys on this team, especially this time of year, is very special.”
And saying the Eagles GM did a “really good job” building this championship-caliber roster might just be the understatement of the year.
