This is the worst time of year. Football season is over, and training camp is still 5\u00bd months away. What are we supposed to do until football starts up again? This is torture!<\/p>\n
At least we do have a weekly dollop of Roob\u2019s Random Eagles Offseason Observations to help us grind through these next 5\u00bd months. We\u2019ll never run out of observations!<\/p>\n
1. There seems to be a rather significant segment of Eagles fans who didn\u2019t want wide receivers coach Aaron Moorehead back for 2026 because as I keep reading on social media, \u201cHe hasn\u2019t developed any wide receivers. A.J. and DeVonta were already good when he got them.\u201d <\/p>\n
Moorehead, who\u2019s been here since 2020 under Doug Pederson, is one of a handful of offensive coaches who will return in 2026 under Sean Mannion, and I can\u2019t help wondering who are all the promising young wide receivers the Eagles have had since 2020 who haven\u2019t developed. Jalen Reagor? Travis Fulgham? Johnny Wilson? J.J. Arcega-Whiteside? John Hightower? Ainias Smith? <\/p>\n
Exactly what did any of them achieve after leaving the Eagles? Nothing. The Eagles haven\u2019t even drafted a WR in the first four rounds since Smith in 2021. So where exactly did Moorehead fail? Who did he fail with? Where are all the WRs he didn\u2019t develop who went on to contribute to other teams? There are none. (And, no, Mack Hollins was gone before A-Mo got here.)<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s also incredibly disingenuous to dismiss what Brown and Smith have done as \u201cThey were already good\u201d and not give Moorehead any credit whatsoever for their success. Brown has had his best years under Moorehead, and Smith has become one of the NFL\u2019s most exciting and consistent receivers in his five years with Moorehead, his only NFL position coach. <\/p>\n
You can\u2019t blame Moorehead for JJAW or Reagor and then just arbitrarily decide not to give him any credit for two of the best WRs in the NFL. Would it have been the end of the world if Mannion replaced Moorehead? Nah. But he\u2019s just about the least of my concerns heading into the offseason.<\/p>\n
2. We wrote last week about how Dallas Goedert is probably the greatest tight end in NFL history to never make a Pro Bowl. How about this: DeVonta Smith\u2019s 5,684 career yards are most ever by a WR in his first five years without a Pro Bowl. The only other receivers over 5,000 yards in their first five seasons without a Pro Bowl are Brandin Cooks (5,594), Marques Colston (5,469), D.J. Moore (5,201), Jaylen Waddle (5,114) and Darrell Jackson (5,007).<\/p>\n
And while you\u2019d love to see the Eagles figure things out with A.J. Brown, I have full confidence that Smith would be a top-5 wide receiver if he were WR1. He\u2019s a top-10 receiver now.<\/p>\n
3. My favorite Jeff Stoutland stat: In his 13 years with the Eagles, 10 offensive linemen started at least 25 games: Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, Jason Peters, Brandon Brooks, Isaac Seumalo, Jordan Mailata, Cam Jurgens, Allen Barbre and Evan Mathis. Of that group, Barbre is the only one who\u2019s never been a Pro Bowler or all-pro. That\u2019s insane.<\/p>\n
4A. Who remembers a guy the Eagles drafted out of Michigan in 1965 named John Henderson? He\u2019s significant for one fascinating reason. <\/p>\n
Henderson was the Eagles\u2019 5th-round pick 62 years ago but couldn\u2019t agree to a contract, and the Eagles wound up trading his rights that summer to the Lions. He played three years for Detroit before landing with the Vikings with coach Bud Grant in 1968. The next year, the Vikings reached Super Bowl IV at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, where they lost 23-7 to the Chiefs. Henderson was their leading receiver in that game with seven catches for 111 yards. And that\u2019s the most receiving yards any Eagles draft pick has ever had in a Super Bowl. <\/p>\n
The funny thing is that seven Eagles draft picks have had 75 yards in a Super Bowl and three of them \u2013 Nelson Agholor (84), Todd Pinkston (82) and Mack Hollins (78) \u2013 are generally viewed as three of the Eagles\u2019 most disappointing WR draft picks. Henderson played eight seasons and caught 108 passes for 1,735 yards and 10 TDs.<\/p>\n
4B. Bud Grant was also an Eagles draft pick, a 1st-round pick out of Minnesota in 1950. He only played two seasons but had 997 receiving yards in 1952 before retiring and embarking on a Hall of Fame coaching career.<\/p>\n
5. How about that Josh Jobe last Sunday in the Super Bowl? The former Eagles undrafted free agent corner, now in his second year with the Seahawks, was targeted 11 times by Drake Maye and allowed just four completions for 20 yards. That\u2019s astonishing pass defense.<\/p>\n
Jobe allowed 1.8 yards per target and that\u2019s the fewest yards per target (minimum three targets) in a Super Bowl since Stathead began tracking yards per target in 2019. His 36.4 defensive completion percentage is 2nd-lowest on record in a Super Bowl behind only Charvarius Ward\u2019s 33 percent on 1-for-3 for 16 yards for the Chiefs in their Super Bowl LV loss to Tampa. Jobe\u2019s 44.9 defensive passer rating is 4th-lowest on record and his 5.0 yards per completion is 3rd-lowest.<\/p>\n
The whole Seahawks defense played lights out, and Jobe was a big part of it.<\/p>\n
6A. Ever wonder what an all-time Eagles 800-meter relay team would look like? Yeah, me too. <\/p>\n
The four-fastest 200 runners who spent time with the Eagles are Michael Timpson (20.23 in State College in 1986), Devon Allen (20.52 in Luzern, Switzerland, in 2018), Raheem Mostert (20.65 in Jacksonville in 2014) and Kary Vincent Jr. (20.71 in Austin in 2017).<\/p>\n
That adds up to 1:22.11. For the record, the fastest time in the world this year is 1:25.12 by German LG Stadtwerke M\u00fcnchen in Munich last month. Eagles win.<\/p>\n
6B. Allen is still the 3rd-fastest hurdler in world history with his 12.84 at Icahn Stadium in New York in June 2022. Allen played two games for the Eagles in 2023 but tore his right ACL in a practice at the NovaCare Complex in December, never played football again and has had at least two surgeries on his knee since.<\/p>\n
He hasn\u2019t officially retired from track, but he\u2019s 31 now and hasn\u2019t raced since since July 13, 2023, when he pulled up with a calf injury in the semifinals of the 110-meter hurdles at the U.S. Championships in Eugene, Ore. Would love to see a healthy Devon Allen hurdling again this spring. One of the best ever.<\/p>\n
7. Common opinion: Jalen Hurts isn\u2019t elite because he doesn\u2019t throw for enough yards.<\/p>\n
Fact: The Eagles are 24-8 since 2022 when Hurts throws for fewer than 200 yards. This year, the Eagles were 2-5 when Hurts threw for at least 200 yards and 9-1 when he didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
8. I\u2019ve seen some projections for Jaelan Phillips\u2019 next contract as high as $27 million per year, which would make him one of the 10 highest-paid edge rushers in the NFL. I just don\u2019t see it. I don\u2019t expect him to get anywhere close to that.<\/p>\n
You never know. It only takes one team to overpay a guy, and I sure never thought Milton Williams would get $26 million per year. But Phillips has never had double-digit sacks in five NFL seasons and he\u2019s averaged 5\u00bd sacks per year. And while he played in 17 games this year, he only played in 12 in 2023 and 2024, so he\u2019s got that injury history. <\/p>\n
Phillips\u2019 best two seasons were his first two \u2013 8\u00bd sacks as a rookie in 2021 and 7.0 the next year. In his five seasons as a pro, his 28 sacks rank 50th in the league.<\/p>\n
Phillips played well after Howie Roseman acquired him at the trade deadline from the Dolphins. He\u2019s tough, physical, sets the edge, makes the guys around him better, gets steady pressure. This is clearly a better defense with Phillips than without him. <\/p>\n
But close to $30 million per year? He\u2019s not that kind of player. I think he\u2019ll wind up closer to $15 million per year and I wouldn\u2019t hesitate to lock him up if the number is reasonable. I\u2019d love to see him back, but he\u2019s not a guy I\u2019d overpay for.<\/p>\n
9. I don\u2019t know what Lane Johnson is planning to do in 2026, but I\u2019d be shocked if he decides to retire solely because of Stoutland\u2019s departure. Johnson is a proud guy and it\u2019s hard for me to imagine him stepping away from the game he\u2019s played at such a high level for 13 years if he\u2019s healthy enough to play and still has a love for the game. He\u2019ll walk away when he knows it\u2019s time, and he\u2019ll do it on his terms.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d be surprised if he wants his career to end on Injured Reserve. He was playing at an all-pro level when he suffered that foot injury, and nobody wants to go out sidelined. He\u2019s a guy who\u2019s very aware of his legacy \u2013 two Super Bowl championships, two 1st-team all-pros and three more 2nd-team all-pros, six Pro Bowls \u2013 and he knows it can\u2019t hurt to add to his Hall of Fame resume.<\/p>\n
I know Lane will miss Stout tremendously, and I\u2019m sure he\u2019s disappointed he\u2019s no longer here. That\u2019s the only NFL position coach he\u2019s ever had. But I don\u2019t think we\u2019re giving him enough credit when we just assume he\u2019s going to retire just because Stout is gone. Maybe I\u2019m wrong on this one, but I\u2019ve been around Johnson a long time, and I\u2019d think he\u2019ll walk away when his body, his heart and his mind say it\u2019s time.<\/p>\n
10. I will never understand why Hurts engenders so much negativity. All the dude has ever done is work his ass off, show respect to the fans and his coaches and teammates, inspire the people around him, never get in trouble, take his team to the playoffs five years in a row, play lights out in two Super Bowls and win MVP in one of them.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s started 82 games and won 57, and only seven quarterbacks in history have won more games after 82 starts. He\u2019s carried himself like a pro since he got here and respresented this city with class and dignity while going to multiple Super Bowls. <\/p>\n
What the hell else do you want from your quarterback?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is the worst time of year. Football season is over, and training camp is still 5\u00bd months…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":753788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2068],"tags":[25,7,6,242,109,2476,14851],"class_list":{"0":"post-753787","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-eagles","8":"tag-eagles","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","13":"tag-philadelphiaeagles","14":"tag-roobs-observations"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116074615395317583","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=753787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/753788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=753787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=753787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=753787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}