Eagles Defense Is Full Of Question Marks Heading Into 2024
Last year, the Eagles defense was pretty terrible. They were near the bottom of the league in nearly every category. Especially over the last 6 games where they couldn’t even stop the Giants or Cardinals.
This off-season, they made some improvements. It started with signing CJ Gardner-Johnson and Bryce Huff. But they also went defense-heavy in the draft, taking Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper Dejean.
That said, the Eagles defense is still full of question marks. They may be younger, and more athletic, but they are counting on a lot of unproven players to take a big leap if they are going to get back to being a Super Bowl-worthy defense.
No Sure Thing At Edge Rusher
Let’s start with the Edge-Rusher room. The Eagles had perhaps the most consistent edge rusher from the last 4 seasons. Hasson Reddick had 4 straight seasons with at least 10 sacks, but they traded him away.
The guys left on the roster, have 3 combined seasons of double-digit sacks. One is Brandon Graham, and at 35 it is unlikely he will repeat that. The other two are Josh Sweat and Bryce Huff.
Josh Sweat fell off sharply in the 2nd half. He was very productive in the first several games through, ranking near the top of the league in Pressure Rate. Was his drop off due to fatigue with 250 more snaps in 2023 than he had in 2024? Or was it him getting overexposed?
For Bryce Huff, it was his only truly productive season. He was at the top of the league in pressure rate. many think that his sack numbers will only go up as he plays more snaps. We saw that is not always true with Sweat though. Sweat got more snaps, and his sacks went down.
Huff will have to prove he is 1) more than just a flash in the pan, and 2) can hold up in a full-time role.
Then there is Nolan Smith who has a huge upside but has never been productive in college or in the pros.
Eagles Defense Is Relying On Youth
Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean, Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper Dejean, Kelee Ringo and eventually Sydeny Brown. A lot of 1st, or 2nd-year players, are going to play big roles on the Eagles defense.
There is a lot of upside there, but none of them are proven NFL Stars yet.
Carter looked like one early his rookie season, but both him and Davis hit a wall. Will they hold up over a full season this time?
Mitchell and DeJean look like great players, but they are rookies. We have seen rookie corners come in and be stars right away recently. We have also seen many great players have growing pains in year 1. Those were great picks, but because of the position the Eagles are in, they are going to be relying heavily on rookie corners next season.
Then there is Dean. I loved him coming out of College. But because of injuries, we have yet to see him do it at this level. Linebacker in general has no sure answers. Devin White is a former top 5 pick, but there is a reason he was available for cheap.
The Eagles Defense Has Huge Upside, But A Lot of Questions
This Eagles defense could be great. If they are, the Eagles will be in an amazing spot with a lot of young players on rookie contracts.
But they are taking a big risk relying on that youth. They invested heavily on the offensive side of the ball. To compensate for that, they had to with a lot of youth/inexperience on defense.
Having Vic Fangio will help, and there is certainly more talent there now. But if you look around the Eagles’ defense, players we can say are sure things are few and far between.
The Eagles defense is going to be better in 2024. It would be hard to be any worse. Fangio gives them a higher floor too, but whether or not they will be good, or just middle of the pack is up in the air. There are questions about this Eagles defense we might not know the answer to until late next season.
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Ranking all 17 Games on the Eagles Schedule in 2024
2 – Week 13 @ Ravens
Like I said, this is personal. I have a TON of family in Balitmore. There is also a big Lithuanian community in Baltimore. I need Philly to win this one. It is also a great quarterback battle and a late season matchup between two great teams which helps put this so high on the list.
3 – Week 8 @ Bengals
Eagles vs Bengals was my Super Bowl pick for last season. It won’t be my pick this year, but I do think the Bengals bounce back in 2024. Between the quarterback battle and my prediction that didn’t come to fruition last year, this was a game I was excited for when the opponents first came out.
