Roob’s Eagles Observations: Why hasn’t Howie Roseman re-signed anyone yet? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Thoughts on why Howie Roseman hasn’t re-signed anyone yet, Nolan Smith’s jump from Year 1 to Year 2, and a look at AJ Brown’s chances of making a third straight Pro Bowl.
It’s a week 16 edition of Roob’s 10 Random Eagles Observations and I can’t even imagine a week without Roob’s Observations!
1. We’ve spent so much time talking about how efficiently Jalen Hurts throws the football, but he’s quietly very good with the ball too, and we’re not talking Brotherly Shove or short-yardage plays, but in the open. field. Hurts looks fast, which hasn’t been the case late in the season in recent years as he has dealt with lower leg injuries. The pattern we’ve seen in the past is that Hurts is fast and explosive in training camp and perhaps the first half of the season before the wear and tear takes its toll and he loses that dimension to his game. But Hurts has managed to keep his ankles and legs healthy this year and it shows. He had a 35-yard run in the Panthers game – 2i.e-the longest of his career – and a 23-yard pass Sunday against the Steelers. Since becoming a full-time starter in 2020, he has had just one run of at least 23 yards in December. So two of his three longest runs in December have come in the last two weeks. The Eagles know that if they want to win a Super Bowl, they need Hurts to be close to 100 percent healthy, and they have gone to great lengths to do everything possible to make that happen. That’s a nice byproduct of running the ball 37 times per game. Every Sunday you keep Hurts out of harm’s way with 37 plays. The Eagles even put Hurts on a carefully designed program during the mini-bye after Thursday’s game against Washington aimed at strengthening his legs and lower body, and it appears it has paid off. Hurts looks healthy and he looks fast and that makes him more dangerous than he has been late in the season since he was a rookie. That’s good news for the Eagles and bad news for whoever they play.
2. If the Eagles finish the season with the No. 1 pass defense in the NFL, they will become the first team ranked No. 1 in pass defense with two rookie defensive backs starting eight or more games since the 1955 Steelers. That Steelers team went 4-8 and finished in 11th placee overall out of 12 teams in overall defense, but they were No. 1 in pass defense with rookie starters Richie McCabe at corner and Dick Doyle at safety. McCabe only started five more games during his Steelers career and Doyle never played for the Steelers again. Wild guess that Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean will have longer careers with the Eagles than McCabe and Doyle did with the Steelers.
3. Ricky Watters is the only Eagle ever with two 100-yard rushing games in a season against Washington. In Week 6 of 1995, he had 139 yards in a 37-34 win at the Vet, and in Week 13 he had 124 yards in a 14-7 win over RFK. The only other players with 120 yards twice in a season against Washington are Jim Brown with the Browns in 1963 (162 and 125) and Tiki Barber with the Giants in 2006 (123 and 234). Saquon Barkley had 146 in the first Eagles-Commanders match this year.
4. Why hasn’t Howie Roseman re-signed anyone this year? The Eagles have plenty of candidates for contract extensions. Josh Sweat, Zack Baun, Milton Williams and Mekhi Becton are among the Eagles unsigned after this year, and they can’t afford to lose some of them. Isaiah Rodgers and Kenny Gainwell are also out of contract after 2024. Most years, Roseman will sign two or three guys during the season, long before they hit free agency and the Eagles lose exclusive negotiating rights. But he hasn’t done that this year, and if you’re wondering why just look back to 2022, when the Eagles got off to a similarly fast start and Roseman also passed season extensions. At the Combine in Indianapolis after the season, he explained why: “Usually we want to sign guys early and sign guys during the season. And because of how well we started, how well we did and how many free agents we had, we thought it would create a different dynamic if we picked one guy and not another. We understood that this could ultimately cost us money, but we felt it was worth it for the opportunity to potentially win a championship.” The concern was that signing some guys but not others could damage the atmosphere in the locker room. It’s a risky move because guys like Baun and Becton have seen their value increase every week. But locker room chemistry is so important to this team that it makes sense.
5. The Eagles are the only NFL team with two linebackers with three sacks, eight tackles for loss and an interception. The only other year they’ve had two linebackers with those numbers since the NFL started tracking tackles for loss in 1999 was 2013 with DeMeco Ryans and Mychal Kendricks.
6. Nolan Smith’s jump from one sack last year to 5 ½ so far this year is the biggest increase by an Eagle from Year 1 to Year 2 since 1998, when Al Wallace had 6.0 sacks after not recording a sack as a rookie (when he played in only one game). The only other bigger increase from Year 1 to Year 2 was by defensive tackle Andy Harmon, who had 7.0 sacks in 1992 after being held sackless as a rookie in 1991.
7. Can AJ Brown make the Pro Bowl for the third straight season despite missing three games? He should. Justin Jefferson, CeeDee Lamb and Amon-Ra St. Brown are locks, but there are four WR spots in each conference and Brown’s competition for the latter will come from Terry McLaurin and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. With three weeks to go, Smith-Njigba is 85-of-994 with 5 TDs, McLaurin is 68-of-969 with 11 TDs and Brown is 56-of-946 with five TDs. But Brown leads the NFL with his 16.9 yards per catch (minimum 50 catches), and his 12.3 yards per target is almost 1.5 yards higher than anyone in the league. And his 86.0 yards per game is 5e-highest in the NFL and 3rd-highest in the NFC. If McLaurin, Smith-Njigba and Brown all continue at their current pace, Brown will finish with 1,204 yards, Smith-Njigba with 1,207 and McLaurin 1,176. How valuable is Brown? The Eagles are 11-0 this year when he plays (and 38-10 since he got here). The only Eagles wide receiver to make three straight Pro Bowls is Mike Quick, who made it five years in a row from 1983 through 1987. Brown should join Quick this year, and Quinyon Mitchell could certainly improve his chances if he shuts down McLaurin again on Sunday. .
8. Jalen Hurts is 43-11 in 54 starts since Nick Sirianni’s roots grew underground speech.
9. With the Lions, Vikings and Eagles all sitting at 12-2, this marks the first time in NFL history that three teams in the same conference are 12-2 or better after fourteen games. In fact, it’s the first time in nine years that even two have done so – the Panthers and Cards were both 12-2 in 2015. Before that, 2007 (Patriots and Colts in the AFC, Packers and Cowboys in the NFC). The most wins ever by a team that wasn’t No. 1 are 14 by the 1986 Bears, 1998 Falcons and 2004 Patriots, all in 16-game seasons. The 1986 Bears went 14-2 but were seeded secondi.e behind the 14-2 Giants. The Bears lost at home to Washington in the conference semifinals, and the Giants defeated the Broncos in Super Bowl XXI in Los Angeles. The 1998 Falcons went 14-2 and were the No. 2 seed behind the 15-1 Vikings, but went to Minneapolis and defeated the Vikings in the NFC Championship Game before losing to the Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami. Thanks, Dennis Green. And the 2004 Patriots went 14-2 and were seeded No. 2 in the AFC behind the 15-1 Steelers, but won the AFC Championship Game in Pittsburgh.
10. The Eagles are 22-5 in one-possession games over the past three years, a winning percentage of .815. The last team above .800 in a three-year span in one-possession games is the 2012-2014 Colts, who were 19-4 (.826). The Eagles are 7-1 in one-possession games this year, tied with the Vikings and trailing only the Chiefs, who are 10-0. Their only single-possession loss was 22-21 to the Falcons in the Week 2 home opener.
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