The Philadelphia Eagles Are Panicking

The Philadelphia Eagles Are Panicking

Jaylen Phillips goes to the Eagles. That is the word of Adam Shfter. 2026 third round pick is what the Dolphins will get in exchange for. Jaylen Phillips is a Philadelphia Eagle. Don’t forget they also got Jaier Alexander. They got him too and Michael Carter from the Jets. How like Jesse Pinkman, he can’t keep getting away with this. While other teams were just sitting pat Howe Roseman went out and made three trades in six days. The Eagles GM was on his phone wheeling and dealing like it was draft night. And here’s the craziest part. He’s not done yet. We’re talking about acquiring an edge rusher who posted six and a half sacks in eight games under the same defensive coordinator that’s now calling plays for Philly. We’re talking about a former allpro cornerback who couldn’t even get on the field in Baltimore. But before we break down whether these moves are genius or desperation, you need to understand what’s really going on here. Because this isn’t just about adding depth. This is about a defending Super Bowl champion that’s looking in the mirror and not liking what it sees. By the end of this video, you’re going to understand exactly why the Eagles might be in panic mode, whether these are good decisions or not, and what it means for them moving forward. So, real quick before we get to the content, this video is sponsored. You guys have been flooding my DMs about our hate rate on prize picks. It’s over 70% for this month. We’ve been absolutely dominating in both the NBA and the NFL. And I’m going to give you guys my pick of the week in just a sec. First, to sign up for prize picks, make sure you use my promo code, microphone, so you can get $50 in lineups when you make a play of $5 or more. And then tail this pick. I had Devonte Adams and Tyler Warren each recording a touchdown. And I have JJ McCarthy getting under 214.5 pass yards. I think the line’s going to move on JJ McCarthy. This guy’s been averaging like 150 pass yards a game. I don’t care if he’s going up against Baltimore. I expect him to have another game where he’s getting the under in pass yardage. Now, if you guys want additional daily plays, I partnered up with a genius at making picks in a Discord server. The link to the Discord server is the link in the description down below. It’s the second link from the top. And thank you prize picks for sponsoring today’s video. Mike Check1212. What’s going on everybody? Let’s start out this video with the big one. Jaylen Phillips to the Philadelphia Eagles for a 2026 third round pick. If you guys remember in my last video about the Miami Dolphins, I mentioned that now that they fired their general manager Chris Greer, they’re probably going to have a fire sale. And it looks like I was correct. On the surface, trading for Jaylen Phillips looks like a solid move. You’re getting a former first round pick who’s only 26 years old and has shown flashes of being an absolute game wrecker. But here’s where it gets interesting, and this is the part that should have every Eagles fan either really excited or really nervous. This isn’t one of those clear-cut home run plays. This is very similar to when the Philadelphia Eagles traded for Robert Quinn from the Chicago Bears a couple years ago. Back in 2023, Phillips was playing for the Miami Dolphins under defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. And he wasn’t just good, he was on an absolute tear. Phillips racked up 6 and a half sacks in just eight games before his season came to a brutal end. We’re talking about a guy who had at least one sack in five straight games. He wasn’t just looking like a solid role player. Jaylen Phillips was looking like a legitimate star. The kind of edge rusher who takes over games and makes quarterbacks uncomfortable just by lining up. This all came to an end on Black Friday 2023 playing against the Jets in every player’s most feared stadium. A stadium that has taken many careers so far and has given brutal injuries to multiple stars. Metife Stadium. This field has ended more careers than a retirement home. Phillips tore his Achilles tendon and just like that, his breakout season was over. But wait, it gets worse. He battled back for the 2024 season opener, showing the kind of determination that made him a firstrounder in the first place. And four games in, disaster strikes again. He partially tears his ACL in a collision with his own teammate. two straight seasons ended by devastating lower body injuries. Most players don’t come back from one of those injuries the same and Phillips has had two. Now bear in mind, regardless of how the Miami Dolphins were doing, Jaylen Phillips stated that he wants to stay in Miami. I would love to say you’re trading like me. It didn’t seem like the Dolphins really cared. And here’s where the Eagles are betting big this season. Jaylen Phillips has been healthy. All nine games he’s been on the field, but the stats don’t jump off the page. three sacks, seven quarterback hits. But if you dig deeper, there’s something there. He leads the Dolphins with 29 pressures. And according to NextG stats, 12 of those are quick pressures, meaning he’s getting to the quarterback in under 3 seconds. For context, Jex Hunt leads the Eagles with 30 pressures, and that’s their best pass rusher. Nobody else on the team has more than 19. And here’s the kicker that makes this trade make sense. Vic Fangio is now the Eagles defensive coordinator. The same Vic Fangio who got that career year out of Phillips in 2023. the same Fangio who knows exactly how to use him, what his strengths are, and what makes him tick. There’s familiarity there, and in the NFL, that matters. Phillips isn’t walking into a completely new system trying to learn everything from scratch. He’s reuniting with a coach who already got the best out of him. Let’s be real about why this trade happened. The Eagles are desperate for pass rush help. Like, really desperate. They’re ranked 24 in the NFL in sacks with just 16 through eight games. That’s embarrassing for a team trying to repeat as Super Bowl champions. And it’s not like they didn’t see this coming. Josh Sweat walked in free agency and signed a huge deal with the Cardinals where he already has five sacks in seven games. Milton Williams left too and he’s thriving in New England with three and a half sacks. Then Zidarius Smith, who they brought in to help fill that void, suddenly retired last month, just walked away. They had to convince Brandon Graham to come out of retirement just so they could have bodies. The craziest part is that Vic Fangio reportedly pushed for this trade. He wanted Phillips. He knows what the guy can do when healthy. And apparently he made it clear to Howie that this was the move to make. When your defensive coordinator is actively lobbying for a player, that’s telling you something. Now, let’s talk about the Jer Alexander trade because this one’s a lot messier. The Eagles sent a 2026 sixthround pick to the Ravens for Alexander and a 2027thround pick. On paper, you’re getting a former AllPro cornerback who made the Pro Bowl twice and was legitimately one of the best corners in the league in his prime. But here’s the problem. Alexander hasn’t been in his prime for a while now. Let me paint you a picture of just how bad things got in Baltimore. Alexander signed a one-year deal worth up to $6 million with the Ravens back in June after the Packers released him. The Packers, the team that drafted him 18th overall in 2018, the team that gave him a 4-year $84 million extension in 2022, just let him walk. They reportedly offered him a restructured deal with a pay cut, but it never got done, so they just cut him loose. Fast forward to Baltimore, and it was a disaster from day one. Alexander was a healthy scratch for five of Baltimore’s eight games this season. Five games where he wasn’t injured, wasn’t suspended. He just wasn’t good enough to dress. Think about that. A two-time AllPro who you signed in the offseason can’t even make it onto the field. In the two games he did play, week one against Buffalo and week five, he was terrible. He played 61 defensive snaps total and allowed five catches on five targets for a 118.8 passer rating. Pro Football Focus gave him a 36.9 defensive grade and a 31 coverage grade. Those are backup level numbers. The Ravens were so done with him that they traded him on a Saturday, which almost never happens. Teams are usually game planning on Saturdays, but both the Eagles were on a buy and the Ravens had just played on Thursday night, so they had time to get the deal done. Baltimore was happy to dump his salary and get something back, even if it was just a sixth round pick. So, why would the Eagles want this guy? Well, here’s the thing. When Alexander was healthy and motivated, he was elite. Back in 2020, he was Pro Football Focus’s top ranked quarterback with a 90.5 grade, the only corner above 90 that season. In the playoffs that year, he picked off Tom Brady twice on consecutive possessions in the NFC Championship game. He had more interceptions than receptions allowed in that postseason. That’s the type of playmaker that he can be. But let’s not sugarcoat this. Alexander has played 16 plus games in just one of the last four seasons. Injuries have clearly derailed him, and even when he’s been healthy this year, he’s been one of the worst corners in football. The Eagles are banking on a change of scenery and coaching to resurrect a career that’s on life support. For a sixthround pick, that’s definitely worth the gamble. Don’t be surprised if this doesn’t work out. Before we got Phillips and Alexander, there was another move. The Eagles acquired Michael Carter II from the Jets on Wednesday, sending John Mechy the third and swapping some late round picks. Carter is a slot corner and this move potentially opens up something interesting for the Eagles defense. You see, Cooper DeGene had been really good in the slot as a rookie, but he can play outside too. With Carter coming in to handle slot duties, the Eagles could move Dean outside fulltime opposite of Quinon Mitchell, which would give them two young talented corners on the perimeter or they could rotate based on matchups. The point is, Carter gives the Eagles the ability to be versatile and adds depth to a secondary that desperately needed both. And Carter has connections, too. He played under Joe Douglas with the Jets. Douglas is now the Eagles senior personnel director. So again, there’s that familiarity factor. He’s not walking into a completely foreign environment. But here’s what nobody’s really talking about. These trades aren’t signs of strength. They’re signs that Howie Roseman knows that he messed up in the off season. The Eagles let Josh Sweat walk to Arizona on a $76 million deal. They couldn’t keep Milton Williams, who’s now been dominating on a $14 million contract in New England. They traded CJ Gardenner Johnson, who had six interceptions last year, to Houston for Kenyan Green, a former firstround guard who can’t stay healthy or win a job. That trade has been a disaster. All those moves were about money. Roseman was trying to manage the salary cap after paying Jaylen Herz, AJ Brown, and Devonte Smith. He was making calculated decisions about who to keep and who to let walk. But those calculated decisions have left holes all over the defense. And now he’s scrambling to patch them up mid-season. The pass rush has been anemic. Before the by-week, the Eagles had to bring in Brandon Graham out of retirement because they literally didn’t have enough bodies. Nolan Smith has been on injured reserve with a triceps injury. Aziz Agelari just went on IR with a hamstring. Joshua Uch, who they signed to help replace Sweat, has one sack in eight games. Jex Hunt has one sack, too. The Eagles edge rushers combined for just five and a half sacks through eight games. And one and a half of those came from Zidarius Smith before he retired. At cornerback, it’s been a mess, too. Darius Slay and Isaiah Rogers both left in free agency. The Eagles signed Adory Jackson to a one-year deal and drafted some young guys, but they haven’t had a reliable number two corner opposite of Quinon Mitchell all year. The Eagles went from the number one ranked pass defense in 2024 to 18th this season. That’s a massive drop off. So, yeah, these trades are panic moves, but here’s the thing. They’re smart panic moves because Howie knows what’s at stake. The Eagles are 6-2. They’re tied for the best record in the NFC. They’re the defending Super Bowl champions. Their window is right now, this season with this roster. Jaylen Herz is in his prime. Saquon Barkley is having another remarkable season. AJ Brown and Devonte Smith are one of the best receiver duos in football. You can’t waste this opportunity. Now, you might be thinking, doesn’t all this trading gut the future? Surprisingly, no. After all these trades, the Eagles still have eight picks in the 2026 draft. They have both of their own picks in rounds one, two, four, and five, plus an extra third rounder from the Jets as part of the Hassan Reic disaster last year. Remember, the Jets gave up a third round pick for Reic, and he was such a headache for them that they basically gave him away for free. That Jets third rounder is now Eagles property. And since New York is horrible this year, it’s going to be a high third rounder. So, it’s pretty much a second round pick. Plus, the Eagles are expected to get three compensatory picks for losing Milton Williams, Josh Sweat, and Mai Beckton in free agency. so they could have 11 picks total in next year’s draft. That’s how Howie operates. He makes splashy trades that look aggressive, but he’s always thinking three moves ahead. He’s not mortgaging the future. He’s using the assets he stockpiled to go all in right now while keeping enough picks to reload next year. I have to admit, man, I’m a Dallas Cowboy fan and I’ve always said that there’s no better team at managing their roster than the Philadelphia Eagles. Howie Roseman has made a habit of being aggressive at the trade deadline throughout his career and sometimes it works. Jagai in 2017 helped them win their first Super Bowl. But sometimes it doesn’t. Golden Tate in 2018, Jannard Avery in 2019, Robert Quinn in 2022, Kevin Bard in 2023. All those trades were duds. The difference this time is the Eagles don’t really have a choice. They’re not some upand cominging team building for the future. They’re not a fringe playoff team hoping to sneak in. They’re the defending champions and they’re watching their defense fall apart in real time. The pass rush can’t get home. The secondary has been shaky. And Vic Fangio has been having to blitz at a much higher rate than he wants to because the front four can’t generate pressure on their own. Fangio’s blitz rate jumped from 16% in week 1 to 29% in week 2 to 38% in week three, the seventh highest in the league that week. That’s not his style. He wants to drop seven in coverage and let his front four win. But they haven’t been winning. So bringing in Phillips gives Fangio another legitimate pass rusher. When Nolan comes back from IR, which could be as soon as this week against Green Bay, the Eagles edge rotation will be Phillips, Hunt, Nolan, Smith, Graham, Uchch, and Patrick Johnson. That’s suddenly a lot deeper than it was 2 weeks ago. And if Phillips can recapture even 70% of what he showed in 2023 under Fangio, that’s a massive upgrade. The quarterback situation is trickier. You’ve got Mitchell, who is excellent as a rookie. You’ve got Deene, who’s been really good in the slot. You’ve got Carter coming in potentially to take over slot duties. And then you’ve got Alexander Jackson, Keely Ringo, and Jacore and Bennett, who’s coming back from the injured reserve, all fighting for that outside corner spot opposite of Mitchell. It’s a mess of bodies, but at least there’s depth. If one of them gets hot, great. If not, you’ve got options. What I love about this story is the Eagles play Green Bay on Monday Night Football in week 10. So Jerry Alexander gets to face off against the team that he spent his prime years for for 7 years. That’s going to be emotional for him, and you better believe he’s going to be extra motivated. But are these trades going to work? Honestly, nobody knows. I mean, Phillips has the talent, but he’s coming off of two devastating injuries. Can he stay healthy? Can he produce at the level he did in 2023? Those are legitimate questions. Alexander has even bigger question marks. The guy couldn’t get on the field in Baltimore. What makes anyone thinks he’s suddenly going to be good again in Philadelphia? But here’s the thing. The Eagles didn’t give up much. A third rounder for Phillips, a sixthrounder for Alexander, and some late pick swaps for Carter. If all three of these guys bust, it’s not like it’s going to set the franchise back for years. It’s disappointing, but it’s not catastrophic. But even if one of them hits, if Philillip stays healthy and gives them 68 sacks down the stretch, or if Alexander finds his Pro Bowl form again, these trades could be the difference between winning the NFC and going one and done in the playoffs. That’s the gamble that Howie’s making. He’s betting that at least one of these reclamation projects is going to pay off. And given where the Eagles are, defending champions, elite quarterback, stacked offense, it’s a bet worth making. You don’t just sit pat when you have a championship window this wide open. You push your chips to the middle of the table and you go for it. So, look, the Eagles are in all-in mode, and there’s no shame in that. Every contender should be willing to make moves like this when the stakes are this high. The question is whether Howie Roseman made the right moves. Did he target the right players? Did he pay the right prices? We won’t know until January and February when the playoffs start. But we do know this. The Eagles identified their two biggest weaknesses, edge rusher and quarterback, and they attacked both positions aggressively. They brought in players with connections to their coaching staff. They didn’t mortgage the future. And they still have a full complement of draft picks next year. And they did it all during their by-week, giving these new guys two weeks to learn the playbook before they even have to take the field. Let me know in the comment section down below, especially if you’re an Eagles fan. Do you think the Eagles made the right moves here, or are they just grasping at straws trying to fix the mistakes from the offseason? Let me know what you guys think in the comments section down below. Aside from that, I’m your boy Mike and I’m dropping our mic until our next upload.

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