CT’s Top 3: Most Pressing Questions For The Eagles Defense
Today’s the day folks! The Philadelphia Eagles are reporting to Training Camp at the NovaCare Complex, with their first practice scheduled for tomorrow. It’s the unofficial, kind of official, start to football season, and with all of the questions surrounding this organization, it couldn’t have come soon enough.
While today is technically the start of camp, we still have one more day to wait for true Eagles news, so for one more taste of mid-summer content, today on Kincade And Salciunas we got into another couple of lists from the national media, ones that have the roster as high as #2 in the entire NFL.
It’s a fair question posed by Andrew Salciunas in that clip: how can this roster be so highly touted with so many questions on the defensive side of the ball? To highlight the fairness of his, and others’, concern about that unit of the team, let’s go through my biggest 3 questions on the Eagles defense right now.
Connors 3 Pressing Questions About the Eagles Defense
1.) Can they generate any pass rush?
The calling card of the paramount example of what a Nick Sirianni-led football team was what the 2022 Eagles team was able to produce in getting after the quarterback. Securing a whopping 70 sacks as a team, (15 more than the next closest defense) that version of the birds wreaked havoc on the pocket like few others have.
While this year’s team will most likely not come close to equaling that level of production, they have questions to answer in the wake of Haason Reddick’s departure this offseason. Can Bryce Huff, Josh Sweat, Nolan Smith, and others on the edge get the job done? It will be a huge determining factor of success level.
2.) Who starts at CB2 opposite Darius Slay?
There’s no doubt that “Big Play” Slay will be the top corner on the outside when the 2024 season starts for the Eagles, but there is plenty of question about who will start on the opposite side. The Eagles spent 2 premium picks in this year’s draft on defensive backs, selecting Quinyon Mitchell of Toledo (22 overall) and Cooper DeJean of Iowa (40 overall).
Mitchell seems to be a probable choice, but starting a rookie is a bold choice. Could it be James Bradberry, or Kelee Ringo, or Isaiah Rodgers? There are very few choices to rule out right now
3.) Can Nakobe Dean play at this level?
The linebacker position is thin. That isn’t changing anytime soon, and Dean having a solid season probably won’t be enough to change it either. What it can do, though, is change the dynamic of the future of the position. The Eagles have been behind the 8 ball for years at linebacker, and Dean was supposed to remedy that when he was selected out of Georgia.
Unfortunately, injuries and slow development have hampered him from reaching those expectations. This certainly feels like a major campaign for Dean to determine his future with the team.
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