We really shouldn’t even be able to come up with 10 disappointments this early in the season. But here we are.
There are worse places to be than 2-2 a month into the season and maybe considering the insane travel – the Eagles have already flown 14,044 miles and we’re only at Week 5 – and all the injuries – they’re fortunate to be where they are with what should be a more manageable part of the schedule coming up.
Still … when you consider yourself a Super Bowl contender and you’ve already blown a last-minute lead to the Falcons at home and gotten embarrassed by long-time nemesis Tampa, that’s a disappointing start.
We thought we would rank the Eagles’ 10 biggest disappointments through the first month of the season and while you can question the order, you can’t question that all 10 of these players – 11, really – have underachieved to varying degrees the first month of the season.
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Notable that the top four are all Howie Roseman offseason acquisitions, three are recent 1st-round picks on the list, four are former Georgia Bulldogs, two are members of the outstanding 2018 draft and one is the most important guy on the team.
1. Bryce Huff: Roseman thought he was getting a younger, cheaper version of Haason Reddick. Huff had 10 sacks last year – only one fewer than Reddick – and he’s four years younger. And he is cheaper than what Reddick would have cost. But a month into the season, Huff has the same stats as Reddick – who still hasn’t reported to the Jets. Huff got $51.1 million over three years with $34 million guaranteed. The idea was he would play on all downs, even though he had never done that. But not only has he been ineffective on running downs, he’s had no success getting to the quarterback. Huff is the only NFL edge rusher who’s played at least 100 snaps with no sacks and one or fewer tackles.
2. Devin White: The Eagles thought they got a steal when they signed White to a one-year, $4 million contract with $3 ½ million guaranteed. Here was a 26-year-old who was a starter on a Super Bowl team in 2020, a Pro Bowler in 2021 and a very effective inside linebacker as recently as 2022. White was given a starting spot when training camp began, but he lost it to Nakobe Dean after a lackluster training camp and has been inactive for all four games so far. White didn’t even make the trip to Tampa Sunday because of what the Eagles said were personal reasons. Will he ever play for the Eagles? Good question.
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3. Jahan Dotson: Another former 1st-round pick who has yet to make an impact. Dotson, the 16th pick in the 2022 draft, cost Roseman a 3rd-round pick in August, but all he’s got to show for three starts in place of A.J. Brown is five catches for 25 yards. The only other NFL wide receiver to play 100 snaps without surpassing 25 yards this year is the Titans’ Treylon Burks, who was taken two picks after Dotson in the 2022 draft. Burks has 24 yards on 138 snaps. Dotson has 25 yards on 200 snaps.
4. Chauncey Gardner-Johnson: C.J.G.J.’s first stint with the Eagles was highlighted by interceptions. Six of them in 12 games. His second stint so far has been highlighted by missed tackles. Eight of them in four games, according to Pro Football Focus. That’s 4th-most among defensive players at all positions. But CJGJ has also been a liability in coverage. Opposing quarterbacks are 8-for-13 for a whopping 176 yards and an NFL-high four touchdowns when targeting Gardner-Johnson. They have a 145.0 passer rating when throwing at C.J.G.J., 5th-worst of 136 defensive backs who’ve been targeted at least 10 times. The only defensive back to allow more touchdown passes through Week 4 since Stathead began charting them in 2018 was 49ers cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon with five in 2018.
5. Nolan Smith: Coaches always talk about that big jump players make from Year 1 to Year 2, but so far that jump hasn’t happened. Smith, the 30th player taken in last year’s draft, has averaged about 26 defensive snaps per game this year but has just one sack, one hurry, one tackle for loss and three quarterback hits (all last year) to show for his first 21 NFL games. The Eagles have had some notorious edge misses in the first round. But even Marcus Smith had more sacks in his first 21 games than Smith (1 ½) and so did Jerome McDougle (2.0). Jon Harris also had one. Mike Mamula had 11 ½.
6. Jalen Carter / Jordan Davis: I’m making the two young Georgia 1st-round interior linemen a ticket, and they’ve been disappointing to varying degrees. Davis is in Year 3 now and despite occasional flashes he just hasn’t made anywhere near the impact the Eagles hoped, especially against the run. You keep waiting for him to become a more consistent player, but so far in four games he’s got two solo tackles, three assists and two missed tackles in 130 snaps. He’s got a sack and a hurry, but pressuring the quarterback will never be his strength. He should be a big-time two-gapper and once in a while you see a really impressive rep where he’s able to push around an opposing offensive lineman, but we just haven’t consistently seen it. Davis has been disappointing in a different way because when you see astonishing performances like we saw vs. the Saints you want to see something resembling that player all the time. Maybe not taking over a game like he did in New Orleans but making a true impact from the interior of the defensive line. Carter has been OK, but he's just been unable to show his vast potential on a regular basis. And a top-10 pick he needs to.
7. Jalen Hurts: Now in his fifth season, Hurts has done some good things this year. He drove the Eagles to six scores on their last nine drives in the win over the Packers. He gave the Eagles a late lead vs. the Falcons before the defense blew it. He rallied the Eagles to a last-minute win over the Saints. He’s completed 68 percent of his passes, highest by an Eagles quarterback after four games since Randall Cunningham in 1992. But the turnovers have been brutal. Seven so far, 2nd-most in the league. Five of the seven have been the direct results of poor pocket awareness. And three have come in the red zone. By any metric, Hurts has been one of the 10 worst starting quarterbacks in the NFL. Not what the Eagles need from a guy who had a record-setting Super Bowl just 20 months ago.
8. Nakobe Dean: You could shrug off the missed tackles if Dean was making big plays all over the field like the Eagles expected. But he’s not. The fourth Georgia guy on this list has been ineffective not only as a run defender but in coverage, where opposing QBs are 13-for-16 for 143 yards when targeting him. According to Stathead, he’s allowed 9.1 yards per target, which is 5th-worst among 47 linebackers who’ve been targeted at least 10- times, and the 143 yards allowed are 7th-most among linebackers. If you’re a linebacker and you’re struggling both in coverage and against the run that’s not ideal.
9. Avonte Maddox: After two injury-plagued seasons, Maddox has stayed healthy throughout camp and the first month of the season, but he just hasn’t looked like the same guy as before this rash of injuries. Maddox was an outstanding slot corner for the Eagles for several years, but he’s just looked a step slow so far this year. Maybe all the injuries have taken a toll and had a cumulative physical effect on Maddox. and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio acknowledged on Tuesday that rookie Cooper DeJean is getting close to being able to move into the full-time slot role.
10. Josh Sweat: Like Maddox, Sweat was a 4th-round pick in 2018 and he’s had a good run with the Eagles, making the Pro Bowl in 2021, recording a career-high 11 sacks in 2022 (and 1 ½ more in the postseason) and recording 35 sacks from 2019 through 2023 while also piling up 45 tackles for loss, 81 quarterback hits, seven forced fumbles and a pick-6. But he just hasn’t looked right since the middle of last season. He had gone 11 straight games without a sack before finally picking one up Sunday in Tampa (with the Eagles down 14 points at the end of the third quarter). Sweat is still only 27, and he’s due to become a free agent at the end of the season, so we’ll see what happens, but whoever signs him next won’t have to pay much if his production doesn’t pick up.
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