Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 5/23/25.
Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links …
Saquon Barkley made a bold claim on Eagles’ placement in NFL’s greatest teams ever – SB Nation
Everyone loves to debate on who the greatest NFL team of all time was. Teams from yesteryear like the 1972 Miami Dolphins (who are still the only undefeated team of all time), the 1985 Chicago Bears, and the 1999 St. Louis Rams, or more modern teams like the 2013 Seahawks. Philadelphia Eagles’ RB Saquon Barkley is ready to throw one more team into consideration: the 2024 Philadelphia Eagles. While speaking on the Exciting Mics podcast (which is hosted by Eagles’ DBs Reed Blankenship and Cooper DeJean), Barkley had this to say about the 2024 Eagles: “I firmly believe when you look at our team that we had last year … I think we’re a top-five team of all time. … If you really look at the season outside of the first four games, it was belt to ass.” Barkley does make an interesting point. After a shaky 2-2 start to the season, the Eagles won 16 of their last 17 games, including a dominant Super Bowl victory. Their point differential over the course of the season was +160 per Pro Football Reference, which would be higher than the Super Bowl champions from 2018-2021 and outclass legendary teams like the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The playoff run the Eagles had really set them into an elite tier, shutting down legendary players and coaches like Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid on the biggest stage.
Saquon Barkley says the 2024 Eagles are a top-5 all-time NFL team. Here’s why he’s wrong. – CBS Sports
Where do the 2024 Eagles rank? As you can see, we wouldn’t slot them in among the NFL’s top five all-timers. Could they give one of the aforementioned teams a run for their money? Maybe. Maybe not. A more reasonable ranking for the 2024 Eagles is probably somewhere between Nos. 10-20 of all time. There’s no perfect science for comparing different greats from different eras, but recency bias shouldn’t mask the fact there’ve been a lot of truly magnificent teams over the years. The 1966 Green Bay Packers won the first Super Bowl under Vince Lombardi. The 1986 New York Giants had an unceasing wrecking ball in Lawrence Taylor. The 1999 Los Angeles Rams were the “Greatest Show on Turf” with a track-team offense. Would the 2024 Eagles have beaten those teams? Again, it’s debatable.
Eagles star calls teams against tush push ‘soft … kind of lame’ – NJ.com
“I think it’s soft, to be honest,” Barkley said. “Everybody can do it. It’s not like it’s a play that we only can do. We happen to have one of the best and biggest O-lines and Jalen Hurts can squat 600 pounds. That’s not our fault. (Buffalo Bills quarterback) Josh Allen is super big but they’re not as successful with it. (Baltimore Ravens quarterback) Lamar Jackson is one of the best running quarterbacks of all time and they’re not as successful with it. It’s not something that everyone can’t do, so for them to try to eliminate it, I think that’s kind of lame.”
Defending Nick Sirianni: Why the Eagles are right to stick with their head coach – BGN
Sirianni will probably get fired after a bad year in a few years. And those who don’t rate him will rush to shout online and on TV, “See? I told you he wasn’t that good!” But that’s not how sports work. Every coach gets fired eventually. Success in the NFL is nearly impossible to maintain. But, here’s the crucial bit, it doesn’t erase what came before. Nick Sirianni has already succeeded. He’s taken the Eagles to a Super Bowl and built a team that consistently wins. I think a lot of the criticism stems from Sirianni’s awkward first press conference. People made their minds up about him right then and there and haven’t changed them since. That’s the unfortunate part of sports media. People don’t want to admit they were wrong. Admitting you’re wrong is harder than just doubling down. So, people will keep saying that Sirianni is overrated and the Eagles’ success is down to everyone else. Jeffrey Lurie said it best in his statement: the Eagles want to build a championship culture, and Sirianni embodies that vision. He empowers the people around him to do their jobs, and that’s exactly what a great leader does.
Where are the Eagles deep, and not so deep, after the 2025 NFL Draft: Offense edition – PhillyVoice
Are the Eagles in good shape here relative to the rest of the league, depth-wise? As long as Barkley is healthy and the Eagles continue to have more leads than deficits in the second halves of games, they are going to skew toward the run game. And when they pass, Brown and Smith will dominate targets, with Dallas Goedert getting most of the leftovers, as long as he’s healthy. There just isn’t much to go around for the other receivers. In that respect, the Eagles’ depth at receiver isn’t as critical as most other teams around the league. But it is a concern. In the five games that Brown and/or Smith missed last season — not including the meaningless Week 18 game — Dotson had 7 catches on 10 targets for 36 yards. He simply must be more threatening than that. Again, it’s not as big a deal within the structure of the Eagles’ offense and roster construction, but the Eagles depth at receiver is not as strong as most other teams around the league.
Bowen: The NFL couldn’t quite muster enough votes to punish the Eagles for winning the Super Bowl, but 22 teams tried – PHLY
Going into Wednesday, I thought: Surely I am missing something. There has to be a good reason for this effort, that I’m not getting. Maybe knowing the players and some of the coaches that have contributed to the play’s success has colored my perceptions. If the ban passes, or even comes close to passing, maybe whatever it is that I can’t see will become more obvious. Then the vote happened, and I looked at those totals. Read the quotes, which didn’t provide any more insight. I thought about what might have happened over the past year-plus that would have taken this unprecedented idea – the NFL, to my knowledge, has never banned a play – from way out on the fringes to the verge of success. Well, the Eagles won the Super Bowl. This is the only answer. Yet events outside sports tell us we live in an age when if enough people want to pretend something is true, it becomes accepted fact. So you will see the banning effort continue, with no acknowledgement of the real impetus, unless the Eagles suddenly get less successful at running the push, and/or don’t get close to defending their title. Then the issue will mysteriously become less urgent.
Cooper DeJean and Reed Blankenship take a friendship test – PE.com
The Exciting Whites find out just how well they know one another. Will they bond over their success? Or will there be drama on the field as a result?
Eagles selling “Push On” shirts as Philly fans celebrate tush push remaining legal – PFT
Eagles fans are in a mood to celebrate after the attempt to ban the tush push failed, and the team is capitalizing with a sale of new marchandise. The top item at the Eagles’ Pro Shop today is a T-shirt with an image of quarterback Jalen Hurts prepared to take a snap in the tush push formation, with the words “Push On” at the top. Instead of saying “click here” to buy the shirt, the website says “Push Here.” The Eagles posted similar “Push On” messaging on their social media, with posts that have hundreds of thousands of likes.
Eagles linebacker Nakobe Dean takes up ballet to help in road to recovery – NBC10
BalletX, Philadelphia’s premiere contemporary ballet company, has picked up a new recruit. As Eagles linebacker Nakobe Dean recovers from a knee injury he suffered during the playoffs last season, he has taken up ballet to become lighter and more agile on the football field. “There’s way more flexibility, of course. Way more mobility,” Dean said of the results of his ballet training. “It’s definitely something that’s helping with my rehab.” “You just feel a change immediately. After you stretch, you’re not as tight or as sore,” he added. Keelan Whitmore, the rehearsal director of BalletX, said the ballet exercises will help improve Dean’s muscles and muscle memory.
Picking the most underrated NFL players at every position – ESPN
Tight end: Zach Ertz, Washington Commanders. It looked like Ertz’s career might be over after he played only seven games for the Cardinals in 2023 at age 33. But he had a big comeback season with the Commanders in 2024. Ertz caught 66 passes for 654 yards and seven touchdowns, emerging as one of rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels’ go-to receivers. Ertz also ranked 10th among tight ends in my DYAR (defense-adjusted yards above replacement) metric. He had an 85.7% run block win rate, one of the best figures among starting tight ends, too. The Commanders re-signed Ertz to a one-year, $6.25 million contract for 2025. They didn’t add any other tight ends in free agency or the draft, signaling that they’re keeping him in the starting role.
Washington Commanders Hidden Gems: 3 Secret Superstars on the 2025 roster – Hogs Haven
Clearly, this was a pivotal year in Kinlaw’s career, and he did his level best to prove that he still had something to offer. Maybe not at a seventh-overall level, but with five sacks, 30 total pressures, 27 solo tackles, 24 stops, four tackles for loss, and two forced fumbles, the Jets version of Kinlaw impressed the Commanders enough to give him a three-year, $45 million contract with $30 million guaranteed. That’s a lot of lettuce for a guy who’s still defining his palette at this point, but Peters said after the signing that Kinlaw is still a raw ball of clay who has played at different weights — as low as 275 with the 49ers, and at 320 with the Jets last season — and that the Commanders see Kinlaw as a player who can both penetrate and anchor from multiple gaps at around that 320 mark.
S Malik Hooker named Cowboys most underrated player – Blogging The Boys
Safety Malik Hooker hasn’t been a star in his four seasons with the Cowboys, but he’s been a consistent, reliable presence in the secondary. The nine-year veteran enters 2025 with a clear path to continuing in his starting role, and perhaps without enough appreciation for his contributions. Analytics site Pro Football Focus certainly thinks so, recently naming Hooker as Dallas’ most underrated player ahead of the upcoming season. Hooker was one of three defensive backs from the NFC East to get recognized by PFF, joining Giants CB Andru Phillips and Eagles S Reed Blankenship. The Commanders’ player was TE Zach Ertz, who just turned in a very productive year in Washington despite turning 34 last November.
Evan Neal will — finally — move to guard for the New York Giants – Big Blue View
For several months signs have pointed toward Evan Neal transitioning from right tackle to guard for the New York Giants. A post from Paul Schwartz of the New York Post confirms that is indeed what will happen when the Giants begin OTAs next week. After three difficult seasons at right tackle, the No. 7 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft will line up at right guard this spring. If he shows an aptitude for the position, perhaps he could supplant 35-year-old Greg Van Roten as the starter at that spot. That would allow the Giants to get some return on investment for picking Neal so early in the draft. It would also turn Van Roten into a quality guard-center backup.
Thoughts on Brock Purdy’s $265 Million Contract Extension – Over The Cap
In any case this is a monster year for the 49ers. They have invested a lot of money this year on and have a lot of roster space occupied by 3rd+ contract players. That is a risky way to build in the NFL. They need Purdy to continue his growth to get to the level where more people think he is capable of carrying a football team. Fairly or unfairly he is going to get blamed if they don’t win even if it is because the injury bug hits the 49ers older players or players just look a step slower. This is definitely one of the teams I am most interested in watching this year because of all of the expectations that they should have on them.
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