10 Eagles who have to be much better in 2024

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10 Eagles who have to be much better in 2024

If the Eagles are going to bounce back from their monumental collapse, these select players must be difference makers in the 2024 season.

By Reuben Frank • Published January 24, 2024

 

The Eagles used 67 players this year, and 44 of them started at least one game.

And the list of guys who can look themselves in the mirror and know they did their job to the best of their ability all year is awfully short.

A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, D’Andre Swift. The offensive line. Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham. Jake Elliott and Braden Mann. Anybody else on defense? Kelee Ringo? Maybe a few others. Not many.

So just about everybody on the team has to be better in 2024 if the Eagles are going to look more like the team that started the season 10-1 than the one that finished 1-6. Same with the GM, same with the coaches, same with everybody.

But we’re going to focus on players here, and we put together a list of 10 Eagles who have to be better in 2024. I only included players under contract in 2024 and players who are likely to be back. 

Reed Blankenship

The second-year safety started out fine, but like so many other defensive starters, his play dropped off dramatically the second half of the season. He did lead the Eagles with three interceptions, but his tackling and coverage grew worse as the season went on. Through Week 11, quarterbacks had a 79.9 passer rating throwing at Blankenship, which ranked 13^th out of 46 safeties targeted at least twice per game. After that, it was 135.0, which ranked 48^th out of 51 safeties targeted twice per game. The Eagles are so light at safety – especially with Sydney Brown likely out for the start of 2024 – they need Blankenship to play at a consistently high level next year.

Jalen Carter

Carter was playing at an all-pro level through about a month and a half, but he just couldn’t keep it up, and his play really dropped off the second half of the season. First six games: 3 ½ sacks, five tackles for loss, five QB hits, seven QB hurries, two forced fumbles. Last 11 games, 2 ½ sacks, three tackles for loss, four QB hits and two QB hurries (none the last eight weeks), no forced fumbles. His run defense also dropped off as the year went on. Overall, Davis had an impressive rookie year, and he’s got all the tools to be a Pro Bowl interior lineman very soon. If he could play a full season like he was playing through the Miami game, he’d be an all-pro.

Jordan Davis

Like Davis, his college teammate, we could all see Davis’ drop-off the second half of the season, and Davis’ was even more pronounced than Carter’s. First seven games, he had 2 ½ sacks, two tackles for loss, five quarterback hits and seven QB pressures. The last 11 games, he had no sacks, no tackles for loss, no quarterback hits and three pressures. And like Carter, his work against the run also suffered. Davis said after the season he allowed nagging injuries affect his play too much and he’s got to figure out how to stay healthier and play through nicks and bruises. Davis didn’t play enough snaps to fall apart physically – about 31 per game. He’s going into Year 3 as a No. 13 pick and has to be able to sustain a high level of play throughout a full season. Especially if Fletcher Cox isn’t back in 2024.

Nakobe Dean

This is a tricky one because Dean only played a handful of snaps before he got hurt on opening day, and he wasn’t 100 percent when he came back – before getting hurt again. But the bottom line is the Eagles were relying on Dean to be a playmaking off-ball linebacker while wearing the green-dot helmet, and his play before he was lost for the season was only adequate. Dean is only 23 and should be 100 percent by OTAs after foot surgery. He doesn’t have any injury history and if he can stay healthy he’s virtually guaranteed a starting job in 2024. He’s still an intriguing player because of what he did at Georgia, but he’s going into Year 3 and needs to give the Eagles a full season of healthy, high-level play.

Dallas Goedert

Goedert had 15 games with at least 50 yards in 2021 and 2022 but only two with more than 50 yards this year. His yards per game dropped from 57 the last two years to 42 this year and yards per catch dropped from 13.8 to 10.0. Goedert had the 4^th-most yards of any tight end in 2021 and 2022 but was 14^th this year. He wasn’t awful – he did set a career-high with 59 catches despite missing three games – but he wasn’t the elite tight end that we’ve seen the last several years. Goedert is 29 now, but tight ends can play at a high level well into their 30s and the Eagles Goedert to raise his play back to 2019-2022 level.

Jalen Hurts

Hurts wasn’t the same guy in 2023 and it wasn’t all his fault. The offense was often an uncreative jumbled mess, his injuries were definitely a factor, the play calling often didn’t help him out and drops were often an issue, especially in the Jets and Cowboys losses. But 15 interceptions is 15 interceptions, even if they weren’t all his fault, and 19 total turnovers is just an unacceptable number. That was 3^rd-most in the NFL this year, behind only Sam Howell (24) and Josh Allen (22). Hurts also had the 2^nd-most touchdowns in the league with 38, so it wasn’t all bad. But late in the season, when the Eagles needed Hurts to be great and help lead the Eagles out of their funk, he wasn’t. When you’re a perennial MVP candidate and one of the highest-paid players in NFL history, you just have to be better than Hurts was. He’s got to improve his decision making, his pocket awareness and his work against the blitz. But he remains a singular talent.

Avonte Maddox

You have to give Maddox credit for playing the last three games of the season after undergoing surgery on a torn pectoral muscle back in September. He hadn’t played in 14 weeks when he got back and he found himself not only trying to shake off the rust but with a new defensive coordinator and playing a new position – safety – in the playoffs. So it was understandable that he wasn’t at his best. But that’s the problem with Maddox. He just misses so much time. He’s played only 13 games the last two years, and he’s missed 36 percent of the Eagles’ games since he was drafted in 2018. When he’s healthy, Maddox is one of the better slots in the NFL. He’s just rarely healthy. 

Haason Reddick

It’s not that Reddick didn’t have a good year. He did. He finished 15^th in the league with 11 sacks and made his second straight Pro Bowl. But after his 16-sack season in 2022 (plus 3 ½ more in the playoffs), it was a bit disappointing. Especially no sacks in the last six games, when the Eagles were looking for anything to jumpstart the defense. Now, part of the issue was the way Reddick was being used. He dropped back in coverage 15 times the last three games after dropping back just three times the first 15 games (thanks, Matt Patricia), and while there’s always a place for zone blitz concepts in any defense, 15 snaps at slot corner might be a little much for a feared edge rusher in a crucial three-game span. But not only did Reddick’s sacks go down, he went from an NFL-best five forced fumbles to none, three fumble recoveries to none, pressures down slightly from 41 to 35. He was good this year, but the Eagles need him back to his dominating 2022 form.

Nolan Smith

He finally started getting some playing time late in the season, but the rookie from Georgia wasn’t able to translate it into production. Of 132 edge rushers who played at least 100 snaps on pass plays, Smith’s 53.7 Pro Football Focus pass rush grade ranked 115^th. He had one hurry and one sack all year. Some of the blame has to go on the coaching staff for not finding ways to get Smith on the field. He played only 61 snaps through Week 10 before getting 143 the last eight games. His 188 total snaps were the fewest by an Eagles 1^st-round pick as a rookie since Marcus Smith played 68 in 2014. Not the company you want to keep. The bigger concern could be Smith’s shoulder injury, which dates back to college and was an issue off and on during the season. First-round pick. He’s got to be a factor next year.

Josh Sweat

One of the great mysteries of this season is what happened to Josh Sweat. Coming off a breakthrough 11-sack season last year, he was off to a hot start with 6 ½ sacks through nine games this year. At that point, he had 24 sacks in his last 32 games. Then he went eight straight games without a sack before picking one up in the wild-card loss in Tampa. He also had 19 QB hits through 10 games and just four in the last seven games. Sweat has always been a consistent player, so his drop-off was surprising. Sweat is making $13 million per year and the Eagles need way more out of him than they got this year. 

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/10-eagles-who-have-to-be-much-better-in-2024/560610/