Howie Roseman has been busy this offseason, racking nine moves in the first week alone. The guru himself isn’t done yet, but we are taking a deep breath in the second week of the league’s free agency window to mull over his best moves. After all, the future may be bright, but the present shines the light.
3. Adding Saquon Barkley
If only to piss off Giants fans, this was a fantastic move. Haters will point to the value of the running back position (or lack thereof), injury history, and … DeMarco Murray. For starters, Barkley’s deal is remarkably affordable given the talent: Christian McCaffrey, a comparable positional talent, will make $11.8M this year and $12M next year. Barkley, meanwhile, will cost a base salary of $1.375M this year and $11M next year before reaching his potential out. The Eagles have the option of keeping Barkley around that – on their terms. For a top-three running back, Howie just fleeced the league.
2. Signing Bryce Huff
Saquon was the sexy move, but the impending exit of either Josh Sweat or Haason Reddick (or both, though at this rate, Howie’s going to find room to keep them, lol) signals a need a defensive end. Philadelphia lands the league’s best option this offseason in Jets star Bryce Huff, who is coming off a 10-sack season. Concerns are still swirling that he only had one good season and the birds are overpaying, which is precisely what makes this the second-most significant move. If Howie misses on Barkley, a running back’s floor is kept high by the performance of his offensive line. If Huff is a whiff? Quarterbacks will have plenty of time to pick apart the secondary. And at $51.1M over three years, Huff better not be a whiff.
1. Hire new coordinators
The most important, however, is the play-calling. This offseason, the Eagles brought in Vic Fangio and Kellen Moore to supplant Sean Desai/Matt Patricia and Brian Johnson, respectively. The former coordinators took the brunt of the blame for last year’s late-season collapse, and deservedly so. After all, Nick Sirianni is infamous for giving coordinators all play-calling responsibility while he… I don’t know, picks on opposing fans?
All this is to say, Fangio and Moore will have a MASSIVE impact on the trajectory of the 2024 season. On both sides of the ball, the new coaches inherit depth charts locked and loaded for a deep playoff run. If their pedigree is of any indication, these two could be the best minds the sport has to offer insofar as unlocking the Eagles is concerned.
So, will Philly be a contender in 2024? If these moves work out, the sky is the limit.
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