Eagles Sign John Ross, Continue To Collect Former Top 10 Picks

As one WR retires, the Eagles replace him with another former 1st-round pick. Devante Parker is out, but in comes John Ross. Adam Schefter broke the news that the Eagles were signing WR John Ross on Thursday.

John Ross wowed people at the NFL Combine in 2017 by running a record 4.22 40-yard dash. the problem was he hurt himself running it. Injuries would become a trend for his whole career.

Ross has played only 37 games in 5 seasons in the NFL. He also has only 957 career yards. The career, even when healthy, never lived up to being the 9th overall pick.

Ross spent his first 4 seasons with the Bengals. In 2021 he spent one season with the Giants. Since then, he has been out of the league. But he recently worked out with the Eagles, and they liked what they saw enough to give him a shot in camp.

He is a long shot to make the actual roster though. Between the injuries and lack of production, there is a reason he hasn't played since 2021. Making the team will be an uphill battle. Even with the Eagles' backup WR spots being up for grabs, he will likely be at the very back of the Camp depth chart there until he proves otherwise.

But he is yet another former top-10 pick that the Eagles added this offseason. Saquon Barkley is the one that stands out the most. But Devin White was also a former top-10 pick, even if he is more of a reclamation project whereas Saquon Barkley was a big splash.

Now you can add John Ross to that. But if White is a reclamation project, Ross is a lottery ticket. Cheap, but very unlikely to turn into anything. He will attend camp, and they will see what they have. But it has been a long time since he ran that 40, and his elite speed never led to anything before now. So don't expect that to change now,

The Eagles schedule is out. From week 1 to week 18, we know who, when, and where they will be playing. it could still change a bit if the NFL flexes games., but for the most part, we know the details about all 17 of their games.

In the past, the schedule makers have not been too kind to them. That took the form of a crazy gauntlet last season where they played the Cowboys twice, the Bills, the Dolphins, the Chiefs, the 49ers, and the Seahawks. Luckily they avoided that this year.

But tough stretches were not the only ways they inconvenienced the Eagles. There were rough road trips, difficult travel, and huge rest disadvantages, just to name a few things. Did they manage to avoid that this season?

Is this Schedule easier than last year? Did they get an advantage when it comes to rest for the first time in years? How much do they have to travel this season?

The Eagles face 0 teams coming off their bye week this season. That is huge. They had a few last year, and had their own bye week nullified by playing the Chiefs coming off the bye. They still won that game, but it robbed them of an advantage most other teams get.

The Eagles will get to sleep in their own beds for the last 6 weeks of the season. There are no road trips after the week 12 game in LA where they leave the East Coast. The furthest they travel is to Washington DC. A short bus ride away.

Being able to avoid plane trips, or time zone changes for the last month and change of the season is a big deal.

In that same vain, 4 of their last 5 games are at home. The downside to that is they travel a lot in the first 3 months of the season. But it pays off when at the end of the year, where they are the most tired, they hardly travel at all. Agan, the one trip they do make, is to DC. 

We talked about some good things with the Eagles Schedule, time to get negative. The Last 14 Super Bowl Winners had their bye week week 7 or later. 9 of the last 14 had it week 10 or later. The Eagles get theirs week 5.

It is not an ideal time to have it. You don’t need the rest as much after 4 weeks. You do want it after 8 or 9 games though. O not only does their bye week come when they don’t need it, but they will now play 13 straight weeks to close out the season. Not ideal.

The Eagles will travel 22,576 miles this season. The Brazil trip, which is nearly 10,000 miles round trip, does a lot of the heavy lifting there. But they also fly cross country to Los Angeles.

Take those out, and they only have about 8000 miles the rest of the season. Thats two rough road trips, but the other 15 games are much easier travel wise. And for the Brazil trip, the Packers travel is just as difficult, so it evens out.

Case in in point, the Eagles change Time Zones 12 times all season. That includes only 4 road trips total where they leave the Eastern Tim Zone. Brazil, New Orleans, Cincy, and LA. They stay on the East Coast in the other 13 games. And every time they do leave the east Coast, it is only for 1 game. So no long road trips out in the West this season.

Only the Chiefs change time Zones fewer times than the Eagles do this season. Per Sharp Football Analysis.

Going off of last year’s win totals is an imperfect method of determining strength of schedule. Teams have changed too much to judge off of last season. Going off off win projections isn’t perfect either, but it is likely more accurate than 2023 records.

11 of the Eagles' 17 opponents have a win total of 8.5 or lower. Only 6 teams, The Packers, Bengals, Ravens, Falcons, and the Cowboys twice, have a win projection that would see them finish over .500.

The Browns, Jags, and Rams over-under is set at 8.5. Their other 8 opponents, are 7.5 or lower.

The last couple of seasons, the Eagles were the victims of a weird schedule quirk. Balancing rest advantage vs rest disadvantage is hard for the NFL to do. Often, teams end up getting screwed over. The Eagles were once of those teams the past two seasons, where they had several games with major rest disadvantages.

This season, pending any games being flexed, they have +279 extra hours of rest vs their opponents.

On the topic of rest advantage, they only have 1 game where they have a rest disadvantage of more than a day. Meanwhile there are 4 games where they have a rest advantage of more than a day. Not playing any teams off the bye helps that. But they also have only 1 Monday Night Game, and they don’t play any teams coming off of a Thursday Night game.