5 Things The Eagles Need To Do To Repeat As Champions

The Eagles are Super Bowl Champions. For the next year, the Vince Lombardi Trophy belongs to Philadelphia. But as Tom Brady once said, the best ring is "the next one." As awesome as that Super Bowl was, and as great as the parade we just had was, it sure would be nice to do it all again next season.

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A lot of things had to go right to make the great team we watched this year. They hit on nearly every single free agent and most of their draft picks. If they are going to repeat, Howie Roseman will need to have another great offseason.

They have a few key free agents, and they won't be able to keep them all. Josh Sweat, Milton Williams, and Zack Baun were all key pieces of the Eagles defense, and are all set to hit the market.

Their offense is getting more expensive as extensions they gave some of their stars start to kick in, with increasing cap numbers. But if anyone is up to navigating those obstacles, it is the GM who has built two almost completely different Super Bowl rosters.

Of the several UDFAs, Baun is priority number 1. It is hard to see them turning another seemingly minor signing into an All-Pro. His play against the run, in coverage, and occasionally as a Blitzer, is a massive reason why the Eagles defense was so great this year.

The Eagles have proven at this point they can find Defensive Tackles and Edge Rushers. They also already have other great players there to help make up for the potential losses of Sweat or Williams. But at LB they do not know if Dean will even be available to start the season, Oren Burks is a FA, and they have not seen enough from Jeremiah Trotter Jr to trust him as the starter.

Luckily all signs point to Baun staying. Every beat reporter we have had on 97.5 has said the same thing, the Eagles are prioritizing keeping Baun. So this first thing might be taken care of easily. But it is still something that has to be done. Losing Baun would completely change the outlook of this D, and replacing him would be much harder than replacing one of the other key FAs.

Josh Sweat was a big reason why the Eagles defense was so good in the Super Bowl. 2.5 sacks and 7 total pressures. He easily could have won Super Bowl MVP.

But he is also a pending free agent. And after tallying 8 sacks in the regular season, and 2.5 in the Super Bowl, it is easy to see him getting a big contract. The question is will it be here, or elsewhere?

If it is not here, then the Eagles' biggest need will be finding another Edge Rusher. After him they have Nolan Smith, Jalyx Hunt, and Bryce Huff. Smith proved he is ready to be the guy in the playoffs, and Hunt has shown a lot of potential, but after this season, the Eagles can't bank on Bryce Huff stepping up.

You can't get by with just 2 dependable guys on the Edge. Frankly getting by with a 3 man rotation for most of this season was amazing.

Pick 32 of the draft would be a good place to look for another Edge Rusher. A free agent could also work, but if they can't afford Sweat, that would also mean they can't afford most of the top options in Free Agency.

Finding a way to keep Sweat would be the best option.

Milton Williams was sneakily one of the best DTs in the league this year. Playing next to Carter helped, but Williams was second in pressure rate among qualified DTs this season. And like Sweat, he showed up in a big way for the Super Bowl with 2 sacks including a strip sack.

At DT they have a bit more depth to play with if they lose Milton Williams. They obviously have Jalen Carter, but then also Jordan Davis, Moro Ojomo, and Thomas Booker.

Still, they are going to want another guy. Jordan Davis is very good at what they ask him to do, but is not an every-down player, at least not yet. Moro Ojomo likewise has been very good in a limited role.

If Williams leaves, which right now feels like the eventual result, they are going to want more depth. That might come in the form of a role player, with Davis and Ojomo stepping into bigger roles. If they lose Sweat and Williams, Edge Rusher is the slightly bigger need. But adding another capable DT to the mix would certainly be a must as well.

In 2021 the Eagles drafted Devonta Smith, Landon Dickerson, and Milton Williams. In 2022 they drafted Jordan Davis, Cam Jurgens, and Nakobe Dean. In 2023 they added Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, and Tyler Steen. Last season they drafted Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, and Jalyx Hunt.

Howie Roseman is on an All-Time Heater. It is a big part of the reason why they can have such an expensive offense, and yet still have the best defense in the league. But there is no rest of the weary. As great as Howie has been in the draft, he needs to keep hitting those HRs if they are going to turn this 1 win into a dynasty.

The offense has very few, if any, immediate needs. But RT could soon become one. Lane is coming back, but who knows for how many more seasons. The Eagles might want to plan ahead like they did with drafting Jurgens before Jason Kelce retired.

The defense will have more immediate needs. We already discussed DE and DT with Sweat and Williams potentially leaving. Getting more young, and cheap, stars along that line would go a long way to keeping this defense at the top of the league. The foundation is there with Carter, Davis, Smith, DeJean, and Mitchell locked up for the next couple of years at least on rookie contracts. But to become the rare team that forms a dynasty, they will need even more help.

Kellen Moore is gone. So now for the 3rd straight offseason, the Eagles will begin the search for an Offensive Coordinator. The favorite to get the job right now is Passing Game Coordinator Kevin Patullo, who has been with Nick Sirianni going back to his time in Indianapolis.

But Patullo does not have play-calling experience. In 2023 they hired Brian Johnson, who also lacked play-calling experience. It did not go well. That is not all on him, Sirianni played a big role in that. It is why they pulled Sirianni from play-calling duties and brought in someone experienced like Kellen Moore to run things.

Given how well that worked out, they should try and copy the formula, and bring in another experienced playcaller to run the offense, while Sirianni can focus on what he does best. I.E. managing the team, and making in-game decisions.

Kevin Patullo might be doing a great job as the pass game coordinator. But he has not called plays, or been in charge of an offense, at the NFL level. For that reason, Patullo might not be the best option.

That is not to say it can't work. Maybe Patullo would be great at it. But maybe a name like Jim Caldwell, who has proven time and time again he can run an NFL offense, would make more sense. Maybe a name like Frank Reich. But whoever it is, it should be someone we know can run an offense, not someone we hope can run an offense.

Jalen Hurts loves to say "Job's not done." Well for now it is. There will eventually be more work to do. They can start to have dreams of starting a dynasty. But for now, we can celebrate. The 2024 Eagles are Super Bowl Champions.

It was one of the most special seasons any Philly sports teams have ever had. As a city, we are used to being underdogs. We are used to having to scratch and claw. The first Super Bowl the Eagles won, they were the ultimate underdogs. They had a backup QB playing, along with several other backups, and they were facing down Tom Brady. The team literally wore underdog masks.

That was not the case this time. They might have been slight underdogs on the betting line, and people in the media picked the Chiefs to win. But everyone paying attention knew how good this team was, and they went out and proved it.

It was an absolute rout of the Chiefs to stop the 3-peat ensued. They made Patrick Mahomes have the worst game of his career. Jalen Hurts picked apart Spags' defense. By the 3rd quarter, the Chiefs were crying uncle, and fans were leaving their homes early to make sure they could get to Broad Street to celebrate.

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We are not going to forget this anytime soon. It might go down as the greatest season in Philly Sports history. The biggest competition would be the 83 Sixers, but a lot of current fans, myself included, were not alive to witness that.

Now that it is over, we are about to parade down Broad Street again. But before we do that, let's look back on the magical season that it was. The biggest moments, the eye-popping plays, and the times we started to learn that this team was destined for greatness.

Eagles- Browns was close at the end. They were up just 4 points with under 2 to go. If they had to punt, things feasibly could have gone sideways. The Eagles did something some might call ill-advised, they took a deep shot. Traditional thought says you should run it there, run the clock, and force the Browns to use their final timeout. Or at least if you are going to throw it, go with something safe. Instead, they went deep, but it worked.

The perfect throw, the perfect catch, the perfect way to end the game. It was a good reminder that Hurts and Brown have an amazing deep-ball connection. Did going for that make sense in that moment? Not really. If it had failed, there would have been loads of complaints, but the fact it worked, and sealed the win, made it an amazing moment worthy of this list.

The Eagles completely outplayed the Jacksonville Jaguars. But some questionable decisions by Nick Sirianni, and an incredibly questionable fumble return for a TD, made it a 1 score game at the end. The Jaguars moved down the field to the 14-yard line and were a TD away from erasing the Eagles' lead. But then Nakobe Dean did this.

At this point, it was not yet completely clear how great the Eagles were. If this game had gone sideways, things could have played out much differently. But the Eagle survived, thanks to Nakobe Dean making an incredible play on the ball in the End Zone.

The Saints game was a bit of a mess. The defense played great, and the offense moved the ball, but the Eagles still trailed 12-7 late because Nick Sirianni routinely left points on the board, Jake Elliott missed a FG, and Jalen Hurts turned it over twice in or near FG range. Meaning that at the end of the game, with under 2 minutes to go, the Eagles needed a TD. Dallas Goedert did not score that TD, but he did set it up by doing this.

Saquon Barkley ran it in the very next play and then got a 2 point conversion for good measure after that. By the way, it didn't crack this list, but shout out to Reed Blankenship who truly sealed the win with a pick 2 plays later.

This whole list could have been Saquon moments. But I had to include some other players, so I cut it down to just 4 Saquon moments. The first of which is him breaking 2000. Should this be higher?

Maybe, considering only 8 other players have ever done it. But 4 of the 5 plays ahead of this were playoff moments, which makes them better, and the other is perhaps the greatest thing I have ever seen on a Football field, so Saquon making history somehow only came in 6th place. If you think that is crazy, I kind of agree with you, but I am stubborn enough to stick with it.

There are so many long Saquon runs that it is hard to decide which ones to pick. Given the time and moment, and the pure esthetic of the field being coated in snow, I went with this one.

At the time we thought it was the end of the game. Things got a bit tight from there, and we will get to a play that followed a bit later, but this run was a thing of beauty, it was true art. It also did end up being vital for the win given the Eagles only won by 6 points.

We have the Double Doink, but what about the Double Stuff arm? Dallas Goedert made Carrington Valentine his little brother when the Packers came to Philly for the Wild Card game.

First, he ran through him to break the initial tackle. Then he threw one stiff arm, only to throw another. The second one didn't even feel necessary, it was just mean. But you have to respect it. It was an exclamation point run, that put an exclamation point on that game.

Few people are harder to tackle in the open field than Derrick Henry. The only RB that might surpass him in that regard is on the Eagles. It would be even harder if you are a rookie corner, a position not exactly known for their tackling ability.

So when Cooper DeJean and Derrick Henry met in the open field this season, most people expected DeJean to be left looking like Wile E Coyote after a run-in with the Roadrunner. That was not the case. In fact in this case it was Derrick Henry laid out on his back.

Henry has 50 lbs on DeJean. This shouldn't have been how that interaction ended. But here we are.

When I think of this season, this memory comes up a ton in my mind. It is an "I Am Here" moment. It was DeJean declaring he is not just some rookie cornerback, he is the real deal. Mind you, it didn't make the list, but he did this same thing to Ja'Marr Chase earlier in the season too.

The guy just has a knack for making open-field tackles. I know the song says "Cooper DeJean is not a safety" but he sure does hit like one.

I had to be something to do with the amazing 55-23 win that sent them to the Super Bowl. The question is which play. One of the 3 fumbles? The game-sealing pick? 1 of Jalen Hurts 4 TDs?

To me, one play described the whole game. Even though it took place quite early, and things were still quite close for a bit afterward, the Saquon Barkey 60-yard TD really defined the difference between the Eagles and the Commanders in an instant.

The Commanders opened the game fighting tough and nail for every yard. They eventually got into the Red Zone, only to settle for a FG despite multiple 3rd Down conversions, and 2 4th down conversions. They did all of that, and then in a blink of an eye it was erased by Saquon Barkley just casually running for 60 yards on the Eagles' first offensive play of a game.

It set the tone for the whole game and made it clear these teams were just in different weight classes. One team was ready for the moment, and was team was not.

The Divisional Round Game was coming down to the wire. The Rams were moving the ball with ease in the snow. Even after the Saquon run we already talked about, the Eagles playoff life was on the line with the Rams in the Red Zone down 6 late in the game. The defense looked tired, and the snowy field clearly was hurting the ability to play the level of D they had all season long. That was when Jalen Carter put the team on his back.

He was not done there though. That set up 4th and long. But the Rams could certainly have converted that, and there were WRs open. But Jalen Carter stepped up again, putting pressure on Matthew Stafford, forcing the errant through, and effectively ending the game.

The Eagles went out on the field, knelt down, and advanced to the NFC Championship game. But who knows if that would have happened, or if the Eagles would even be Super Bowl-bound if Jalen Carter didn't take over on those 2 final plays.

The game was over at this point, which kept this play from being 1 or 2. But this was the moment everyone knew without a doubt that the Eagles were winning the Super Bowl. The defense had just forced a turnover on downs. The Eagles were up 27-0. People assumed the Eagles would run the clock out. Instead, they went for the dagger.

On the first play of the drive, Hurts threw a dot deep downfield to Devonta Smith. In an instant, the Eagles were up 34-0, and celebrations began. Any hope of a miracle comeback was dashed in an instant. 27-0 was a mountain to climb. 34-0 was impossible.

I still don't understand how Saquon Barkley pulled this off. A juke, into a spin move, into a backward hurdle, sticking the landing, then picking up several more yards. It is one of the most eye-popping plays in NFL history.

The image of him leaping over Jarrian Jones is now iconic. People have put it on shirts, I have it hanging up in my room. It is a singular moment that is hard to beat, just because it is probably the most impressive feat any of us have ever seen on a Football field. There was a time when normal hurdles were shocking, but they have almost become commonplace in the modern NFL. But Saquon found a way to make it interesting again.

I can not speak for others, but I don't think I am alone in saying this. The Cooper DeJean pick 6 is what I will think of when I look back on the Super Bowl and this season. It is the Philly Special, and it is Matt Stairs ripping one into the night.

10-0 was not exactly a comfortable lead. Patrick Mahomes had been down 10 in every single Super Bowl he ever won including 57 vs the Eagles. 17-0 is a different animal. Cooper DeJean getting his first-ever interception, on his Birthday, and in the Super Bowl, was great enough. But for him to then return that for a pick 6... it was when I realized this was real. The Eagles were winning this game.

It was preceded by the D-Line getting back-to-back sacks. Mahomes looked rattled. The DeJean pick proved it. The normally calm Mahomes was nowhere to be found. The Mahomes that was out there, had no hope of erasing a 17-0 deficit. This was not the man who had magic running through his veins.  He was a nervous wreck who was hearing footsteps and seeing ghosts.

The DeJean pick 6 will go down as one of the most memorable Eagles plays ever. It passes up the Patrick Robinson pick 6. It passes the many memorable Eric Allen pick 6s. Because while those were great, Dejean did his in the Super Bowl. Cooper DeJean can coast off that play with the fans in Philly for the rest of his life. In 9 months there will be a lot of babies being born who are named Cooper.