Eagles News: NFL secondary rankings have Philadelphia in the top four

4) Philadelphia Eagles. This secondary had the highest collective PFF run-defense grade of any team last year, and Tariq Woolen now joins to establish one of the league’s strongest groups alongside Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell, who ranked second in completion percentage allowed behind Christian Gonzalez. By allowing Reed Blankenship to walk in free agency, Philadelphia has shed its largest liability from last season — his 42.8 PFF grade was the lowest of any Eagles starter.

Unlocking the “best version” of Woolen is no simple task. This offseason was a microcosm of his career — with peaks during OTAs, when he looked like the team’s best defender, and the valleys on Day 1 of the Eagles’ joint practice in New England, when A.J. Brown and the Patriots wide receiving corps torched him (before Woolen redeemed himself with a pair of interceptions on Day 2). Fangio perhaps put it best when asked about Woolen in early August. “At times he can get a little lazy or sloppy with his technique and have a bad down or two, but he’s still showing everything that I think he can do,” Fangio said. “He’s just got to get in such great shape and calloused to football that those don’t happen.” Graham has a different interpretation of Woolen’s work ethic — and believes that, under Fangio’s defense and direct coaching style, he’ll earn an even bigger contract next season. “I think that Riq makes stuff look so easy sometimes that you almost think it’s lazy — but it’s really not,” Graham said. “I know Vic coaches hard … but he’s probably Santa Claus compared to me. Because [Fangio’s] still talking to pros. I coached extremely hard. So I don’t think that type of stuff bothers him. But I think there is a next level … I think he’s a $15 to $20 million per year corner, long-term.”

The drop-off in receivers would be a bit less worrisome if the tight end situation was better. But after Goedert, who is now 31, there is absolutely nothing. Like Lemon, second round pick Eli Stowers was expected to come in and serve as a secondary pass catcher to Goedert. But Stowers’ summer has been brutal, appearing totally overmatched at this level. It is entirely possible he won’t even be activated on game days this year. That leaves the Eagles with run-blocking specialist Johnny Mundt and frequent practice squad player E.J. Jenkins as the back-ups. If Goedert goes down with an injury, something that happens almost every year, the tight end position will be totally and utterly useless in the passing game. The bottom line: someone outside of DeVonta Smith needs to step up this season. The Eagles need a receiver to emerge from this muddled pack to be Hurts’ reliable No. 2. They need a chain-mover, someone to pile up 700-800 yards this year and give opposing defenses someone else to think about other than Smith. Without it, I don’t see how this offense can function.

3) Eagles (11-6 in 2025): After having watched the Eagles practice all summer, I get asked quite a bit what I think of the team, in sort of a big picture way. And, well, they’re going to be a good team again. They have a high floor because the defense is going to be awesome. I’d be pretty stunned if they didn’t win double digit games again. The offense? I have no idea. There may not be a wider range of outcomes for one side of the ball in the NFL than this offensive group. We saw in 2024 how good they can be, and then in 2025 how bad they can be. I really don’t know.

Bold prediction for 2026: Jonathan Greenard will record at least 0.8 sacks per game. I’m framing it that way because it’s unclear when Greenard will be back from a pec strain in the offseason. Once he’s on the field, I expect big things from Greenard playing alongside the rest of the defense, even after a down year in Minnesota. For context: 0.8 sacks per game translates to 13.6 sacks if he were to play all 17 games.

Biggest concern — Wide receiver. The Eagles’ reconfigured wide receiver depth chart was hard to ascertain this summer with DeVonta Smith and Makai Lemon missing three weeks of team drills. They need to avoid this looking like 2021, the season before A.J. Brown’s arrival. Smith showed clear upside that year, except the help around him kept the passing offense from reaching the level it needed. There’s a chance this all works as designed, with Smith looking like the bona fide No. 1 receiver, Wicks taking a leap with more opportunity in a familiar offense and Lemon showcasing the type of dynamic run-after-catch ability that made him such a threat at USC. Hollywood Brown and Elijah Moore offer experienced depth while Darius Cooper continues the development curve on display this summer. That’s the ideal scenario. Replacing Brown’s production in the aggregate makes sense on paper. It’s still possible they miss Brown more than fans might realize — and this looks like the season that compelled the Eagles to acquire Brown in the first place.

Aaron Moorehead had some pretty good advice for rookie receiver Makai Lemon about taking care of his body: “Whatever Smitty does, you do.” He probably didn’t even need to speak it. Because as DeVonta Smith enters his sixth NFL season in 2026, he is undoubtedly the guy in the Eagles’ new-look receiver room — the unquestioned WR1 after playing the last four seasons partially in the shadow of A.J. Brown. After months of speculation, the Eagles finally traded Brown to the Patriots back on June 1, which has allowed Smith to slide up into his new role as the Eagles’ top receiver. That is an important role on the field, but carries weight in the facility too. Moorehead said he challenged Smith this offseason to take over that role — “and he was ready for that.” “He’s not afraid to say something if it’s not right,” Moorehead said recently. “He’s kind of always been like that. I think that’s the Alabama (Nick) Saban in him. But I think even more so now, he’s able to take charge. He’s done a great job as far as leadership goes in the room, just helping everybody. That’s even Hollywood (Brown), who’s an older guy. It doesn’t matter.

After 14 years on Wall Street, Berry was officially hired as the Eagles’ director of football operations and strategy. Berry’s familiarity with numbers helped him transition into an NFL front office, working with the salary cap, contracts, and analytics. Roseman expected Berry to learn everything behind football operations, including college scouting, pro scouting, and player development. “I’m incredibly grateful that he’s been my boss and that he’s such a visionary and so open-minded and so creative,” Berry said of Roseman. “Being around him and working with him, it’s really hard not to pick up some of those things and those awesome qualities.” Berry was promoted to assistant general manager this offseason in just his third year with the organization. Roseman is known to look for leaders from different backgrounds to be part of the organization. To Berry, that’s “part of the beauty.” “It allows us to prevent groupthink,” Berry said. “And you can get to the best solutions possible because everyone’s coming from different perspectives and different experiences. A lot of my role is being able to work across multiple departments, being able to take the information and take the analysis that we’re doing in a bunch of different verticals and use that and bring it all together to support Howie as a decision-maker.”

If the feelings of the fans mean anything, maybe this is truly a different offseason for the Dallas Cowboys. We’ve grown accustomed to being angry at Jerry and Stephen Jones for moves made, or not made, during any particular offseason. This year there is a little different feel around the team. The Cowboys didn’t go overboard in free agency, but they made some very good signings. In the draft they stole Caleb Downs and look to have hit gold with Jaishawn Barham. And they were ruthless in renovating the personnel on defense.

The Athletic: “The Commanders missed their opportunity to build a contender during Jayden Daniels’ rookie contract window”

Runyan receiving an extension like this could be considered a shocking development. The 29-year-old entered the spring in the final year of his contract. Many figured this would be his final season with the Giants, and that he would face a challenge for his starting left guard job. Instead, Runyan took almost every snap in the spring and summer as the first-team left guard. Daniel Faalele, thought to be a Runyan challenger after four years playing for John Harbaugh with the Baltimore Ravens, was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Josh Ezeudu was also traded. Evan Neal was cut. Runyan has a connection to the Harbaugh family. He played four seasons at Michigan for Jim Harbaugh, John’s brother.

The only thing more foolish than trying to predict the NFL is trying to predict the end-of-season awards in the NFL, but what can I say, I’m a fool. In truth, making these predictions early as an archive to catalog what we believed before the season began, then go back and see how much changed over the course of the year. In 2025 it wouldn’t have been a major stretch to think that Matthew Stafford would win an MVP, or that Christian McCaffrey would take home Comeback Player of the Year honors — but the idea that Jaxon Smith-Njigba would be offensive player of the year, or that second round pick Carson Schwesinger would win defensive rookie of the year really took us by surprise. Without further ado, let’s dive into the people we think could get individual honors at the end of the season, and a little about why.

Commissioner Roger Goodell has agreed to terms with NFL owners on a contract extension through the 2030 season, the league announced Sunday. ESPN’s Adam Schefter initially reported the extension. Goodell’s current contract was set to run through March of 2027 after signing an extension in October 2023. It is now set to expire on March 31, 2031. His newest extension comes with negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement — with the current one also expiring in March 2031 — and broadcasting deals forthcoming, along with a potential move to an 18-game season.

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