Last week, we listed 10 reasons why the Philadelphia Eagles' 2025 season could go badly as part of our Dumpster Fire series. Here we'll do the opposite, as we'll take a look at 10 reasons why the Eagles could repeat as Super Bowl champions.
1) Jalen Hurts is a big game player
There's a belief among some in the NFL community that the Eagles' roster was so loaded last season that all Jalen Hurts needed to do was not mess it all up, and go along for the ride.
There is certainly some truth to the notion that Hurts had as ideal a situation as any quarterback could ever ask for.
He played behind the best offensive line in the NFL.
He had the best player in the NFL last season (Saquon Barkley) standing next to him in the backfield.
He was throwing to one of the best wide receiver duos in the NFL in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, plus a very good tight end in Dallas Goedert.
On the other side of the ball, the Eagles had the No. 1 defense in the NFL, and consistently produced takeaways.
But what is also undeniable is that in the Eagles' two Super Bowl runs in 2022 and 2024, Hurts was a star. He was the best player on the field in Eagles-Chiefs I, and he was the game MVP of Eagles-Chiefs II.
In his eight playoff games since 2022, Hurts has completed 69.5% of his passes, he has thrown 9 TDs vs. 1 INT, he ran for 10 TDs, and he has a 6-2 record.
Did the Eagles win some regular season games in which Hurts didn't play particularly well? Sure. But the idea that he was "along for the ride" in the playoffs is nonsense. He was a big reason why the Eagles now have two Lombardi trophies.
The Eagles merely need to get into the tourney, and anything can happen.
2) They still have the best offensive line in the NFL
The offensive line will return four of five starters, and for now looks like this:
LT LG C RG RT
Jordan Mailata Landon Dickerson Cam Jurgens Tyler Steen Lane Johnson
Mailata and Johnson are easily the best offensive tackle duo in the NFL, Dickerson has been to three straight Pro Bowls, and Jurgens made the Pro Bowl in his first season as the starting center.
The only spot that isn't manned by a proven, decorated player is at RG, where Tyler Steen is the favorite to win the starting job. Steen played in all 21 games in 2024, and started two.
There was maybe an argument that the Lions had the best offensive line in the NFL (I never thought they were close, personally), but that debate is out the window with the retirement of Lions C Frank Ragnow.
3) The Eagles rarely lose when A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith are both healthy
Ever since the Eagles traded for A.J. Brown, the Eagles are 41-10 (0.804) when both Brown and DeVonta Smith play (including the playoffs).
Year Both play One guy out Both guys out
2022 16-4 0-0 0-0
2023 11-5 0-2 0-0
2024 14-1 3-1 1-1
TOTAL 41-10 3-3 1-1
They are 4-4 when at least one of Brown or Smith is out of the lineup.
My conclusion: The Eagles are very hard to beat when Brown and Smith both play. #Analysis.
4) Saquon Barkley will still give opposing defensive coordinators nightmares
Last season, the Eagles were rolling with Barkley as the focal point of the offense, and they reasonably decided to just ride him to a Super Bowl and worry about the ramifications later.
As we noted in our dumpster fire series, however, running backs of yesteryear who have had a similar number of touches that Barkley had last season typically experience a drop-off in performance in the subsequent season. It's a legitimate concern heading into 2025, backed by consistent historical evidence.
At the same time, the Eagles still have the best offensive line in the league, an elite run game designer in Jeff Stoutland, and an athletic quarterback in Hurts who opposing defenses have to respect as a runner on read options. Above we noted that Hurts has as ideal a situation as a quarterback could ask for. Well, so does Barkley at running back.
The open spaces should still be there, and opposing defensive coordinators are going to be forced to gameplan around Barkley first and foremost.
5) Dallas Goedert is back
For most of the offseason, it looked like Goedert would be playing elsewhere in 2025, but his surprise return to the team on a significant pay cut boosts the Eagles' chances of repeating.
Though he has struggled staying on the field, Goedert is still a very efficient receiver and an asset as a blocker in the run game when healthy. He was also a star in the playoffs, leading the team in receiving.
6) The Eagles' player continuity should offset concerns about a new offensive coordinator
With 2024 offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and quarterbacks coach Doug Nussmeier headed to New Orleans, Jalen Hurts will have his fifth offensive coordinator (Kevin Patullo) and quarterbacks coach (Scot Loeffler) in his sixth NFL season.
Changes to the coaching staff have been good some years (Moore, Shane Steichen), and not so good other years (Brian Johnson, Press Taylor).
So, there's reasonable concern that Patullo could be a downgrade from Moore. We'll see. However, if there's a team equipped to handle an offensive coordinator change, it's the Eagles, (a) because they do it almost every year anyway, and (b) they are returning 10 of 11 offensive starters.
They have extreme continuity, both in 2025, and into the future:
Eagles contracts 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
QB Jalen Hurts ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
RB Saquon Barkley ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
WR A.J. Brown ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
WR DeVonta Smith ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
WR Jahan Dotson ✅
TE Dallas Goedert ✅
LT Jordan Mailata ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
LG Landon Dickerson ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
C Cam Jurgens ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
RG Tyler Steen ✅ ✅
RT Lane Johnson ✅ ✅ ✅
These guys have all been playing together for a long time. They know the plays they like, and the players know each others' tendencies. A new offensive coordinator would have to be a walking disaster to mess it up.
7) They have an exciting blend of youth and big game experience on defense
The Eagles' projected starting 11 (eh, we'll do 12) on defense Week 1:
EDGE: Nolan Smith (24)
iDL: Moro Ojomo (23)
NT: Jordan Davis (25)
iDL Jalen Carter (24)
EDGE: Jalyx Hunt (24)
LB: Zack Baun (28)
LB: Jeremiah Trotter (22)
CB: Quinyon Mitchell (23)
S: Reed Blankenship (26)
S: Andrew Mukuba (22)
CB: Kelee Ringo (23)
SCB: Cooper DeJean (22)
Average age: 23.8! 🤯🤯🤯
Old man Baun is the only guy above who has signed a traditional second contract. (Blankenship has technically signed two, but that was only because he was an undrafted free agent coming out of college.)
Now, normally, the Eagles' extreme youth on defense might be concerning. However, all of the above players, with the exception of Mukuba, have seen what it takes to win a Super Bowl, and most of them contributed in major ways to win one. Four of them — you know, the Georgia guys — won National Championships in college.
A lot of those guys have more big-game experience than some 10-year vets around the league.
8) Even on an already great team, there are plenty of breakout candidates
In 2022, the Eagles got breakout seasons out of Jalen Hurts, Javon Hargrave, Landon Dickerson, Josh Sweat, T.J. Edwards, and even some rebound seasons from vets like James Bradberry, for example.
In 2024, they got breakout seasons from Zack Baun, Nakobe Dean, Nolan Smith, Cam Jurgens, and Milton Williams. They also got Jalen Carter to take his game to the next level, and they got stellar rookie seasons from Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean.
In 2025, there are still plenty of young veteran players who could break out, like Jalyx Hunt, Moro Ojomo, Jordan Davis, Kelee Ringo, Will Shipley, Jahan Dotson, Azeez Ojulari, Josh Uche, Jeremiah Trotter, and Sydney Brown, to name a few.
Some will ultimately disappoint. Some will step up. But this is a roster with a lot of young players who have not yet reached their ceilings. If even half of those above named players improve in 2025, they can support the players already entrenched as star players on both sides of the ball.
9) Nick Sirianni and Vic Fangio
Fangio is already a Philadelphia legend after one season as the Eagles' defensive coordinator. We probably don't need to sell how good of a coach he is at this point, right?
As for the head coach, I don't have much in the way of specific examples to back up the following claim, but from a lot of things I have heard from players and others within the organization, Sirianni has done a phenomenal job behind the scenes putting out fires and maintaining a winning culture in the locker room.
And, I mean, the guy has a career 48-20 record in the regular season, plus a 6-3 record in the playoffs, with two Super Bowl appearances, one Super Bowl win, and two other playoff appearances in just four seasons as an NFL head coach.
10) The NFC still kinda stinks
In the NFC East, the Commanders were the Eagles' biggest threats in 2024, but as noted in our dumpster fire series, there are a boatload of reasons why it is likely that they will win fewer games in 2025. Meanwhile, the Cowboys got worse in free agency for the second straight season, and the Giants are, you know, the Giants.
Elsewhere in the NFC, the Lions are probably the second-best team, but they lost both coordinators this offseason, as well as Ragnow, as mentioned above.
And then there are a couple of young, potentially ascending teams in the Rams and Packers, as well as veteran teams like the Bucs, Vikings, and 49ers, but there's no good argument that any of those teams have rosters anywhere near as complete as the Eagles'.
But the Eagles aside, when you look at the top teams in the NFC, they just aren't close to the same level as the cream of the crop in the AFC, where teams like the Chiefs, Ravens, and Bills reside, not to mention other potential contenders like the Bengals, Broncos, and Chargers.
Even if a lot of things go wrong and the Eagles have a bumpy road in 2025, they can still contend in the NFC.
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