On one side is Kenyon Green and Dorian Thompson-Robinson. On the other side is Darius Slay, Josh Sweat, Milton Williams, C.J. Gardner-Johnson. Eagles logo front and center.
On one side is Kenyon Green and Dorian Thompson-Robinson. On the other side is Darius Slay, Josh Sweat, Milton Williams, C.J. Gardner-Johnson. Eagles logo front and center.
There is a cost to winning in the NFL, and the Philadelphia Eagles are finding that out the hard way. Of course, the team has no regrets, considering they won Super Bowl 59, but the offseason directly following that championship has been far from pretty. The team has been arguably the biggest loser of free agency so far, and in this article, we are going to explain why.
Eagles free agent losses
Josh Sweat Eagles Super Bowl 59
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
When you win the Super Bowl, the other 31 teams in the NFL immediately want your players. It is a copycat league, and Super Bowl winners clearly have the talent to accomplish the ultimate NFL goal. The Eagles have been a prime example of this. They entered free agency with a number of elite players hitting the open market, and they've lost most of them to massive paydays from other teams.
Milton Williams and Josh Sweat are the team's biggest offseason losses. Williams spent a lot of time coming off of the bench in Philadelphia due to the team's first-round investments in Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis, but he forced his way into the defensive rotation and was a key contributor in winning a championship.
The Eagles would have loved to have Williams back, but he had no choice but to bolt in free agency because of the massive $104 million deal over four years that the New England Patriots gave him. Williams has tons of potential, and his loss hurts the Eagles drastically, but they were never going to be able to compete with such a big overpay.
Sweat was given the bag, too. He signed a four-year, $76.4 million deal with the Arizona Cardinals. Sweat has 43 sacks off of the edge in his career, including eight last season. The front seven was a strength for the Eagles last season, especially when it comes to depth. The team's defensive line got a whole lot weaker/thinner with the departures of Williams and Sweat, though, and making it back to the Super Bowl won't be nearly as easy because of these huge losses.
The Eagles lost some other key contributors on defense, too. Salary cap issues forced Philadelphia to release both Darius Slay and James Bradberry. The defensive backs are 34 and 31 years old, respectively, so their best days are likely in the rearview mirror. Still, they are veteran players who played a big part in the Eagles' secondary having a resurgence last season.
Slay, in particular, still looks like one of the best cornerbacks in football. Bradberry even had somewhat of a bounce-back season after transitioning to the safety position. The Eagles traded another defensive back, too. Philadelphia acquired Kenyon Green in a trade with the Houston Texans. They they sent out C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and that was a move we just couldn't get behind.
We gave the Eagles a D+ grade for the trade. Losing another key defensive back hurts, but only adding an offensive lineman who has looked like a bust so far in his career is even worse. Isaiah Rodgers, yet another defensive back, also signed elsewhere. He agreed to a two-year deal with the Minnesota Vikings.
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Kenneth Gainwell's departure is being slept on, too. Saquon Barkley just had one of the best running back seasons ever, but he has proven to be injury prone in the past, so losing one of his backup ball-carriers could come back to bite the Eagles in the butt. Other players, such as Mekhi Becton and Avonte Maddox, are still on the open market, and it is becoming more and more unlikely that they will not return to Philadelphia.
Eagles free agent additions
Dorian Thompson Robinson free agency losers
Ken Blaze-Imagn Images
There have been a lot of free agent/trade losses for the Eagles this offseason, and they certainly haven't replaced all of their players yet. The team has been left with a lot of newfound holes because they haven't brought in any external free agents. The team extended Barkley and re-signed Zack Baun, which were necessary moves, but they have added zero players to the roster through free agency.
Not to mention, the new contracts for Barkley and Baun were big reasons why the team had to release and/or let so many players walk in free agency. The only two additions Philadelphia has made were via trade. There was the aforementioned trade for Green, but he seems like a downgrade at the right guard spot in comparison to Becton.
Green was a first-round pick in 2022, so perhaps he can turn things around in a new system (and a very good one in Philadelphia at that). However, he has consistently played like one of the worst guards in football since being drafted. In fact, he ranked 77th out of 77 guards as a rookie, according to Pro Football Focus. He also missed the entirety of his second season, and the Texans were ready just to get rid of the nightmare after year three.
The team's other trade was for Dorian Thompson-Robinson and a fifth-round pick in exchange for Kenny Pickett. While recouping draft capital is nice, Thompson-Robinson isn't as proven as Pickett, so this could be looked at as another positional downgrade. There is a chance that Thompson-Robinson won't even serve as Jalen Hurts' primary backup next season.
Overall, the Eagles lost a lot of talent, and they replenished next to none of it. Post-Super Bowl losses are expected, but Philadelphia fans can't be happy about the Eagles' offseason performance so far.