This story was initially going to be more of a draft summary. But then I decided to make it about an individual team, my team. The Philadelphia Eagles, their draft, coaches, and owner. We’re going to start with the draft and jump back to their Superbowl win, Jeff Laurie firing Doug Pedersen after the 2020 season resulting in Nick Sirianni becoming Head Coach
The Eagles made more moves through trade they did with drafting new players. They started the 2022 draft with 2 first round picks, the 15th and 18th overall pick. They traded the 18th and 101st overall picks for wide receiver AJ Brown. The contact sees him in Philly for 4 years earning him 100 million dollars with 57 million guaranteed. AJ Brown only played one full season with the Titans out of his three years in the league. Certainly concerning, however, he was 1000+ yard seasons 2 out of his 3 years. Assuming he can stay healthy, he is going to be a welcomed asset along side Devonta Smith and the Eagles receiving corp.
While I agree with the trade to obtain AJ Brown, this next pick is a little harder to understand. Head Coach Nick Sirianni traded picks; 15(first round), 124(fourth round), 162(fifth round), and 166(fifth round), to move up to the 13th overall pick. He did all this in order to draft a defensive tackle Jordan Davis. The Eagles do need to make improvements to their defense, but for a rookie defensive tackle, I’m not convinced. From there, we took an offensive lineman in the 2nd round, a linebacker in the 3rd, and both a defensive end and a tight end with the final two picks they had in the draft.
How did the Eagles get here? In 2018 they won the Superbowl. 2019 they made it to the playoffs with a 9-7 season, but lost in the wildcard game with Carson Wentz at QB. This was also only the second time in four years Carson Wentz finished an entire season and had his best season(stats wise) with the Eagles. Enter owner interference in the 2020 season when the Eagles drafted QB Jalen Hurtz. Doug Pedersen made it clear on a number of occasions that Carson Wentz was the starter he wanted. Why would he then draft a high profile QB? Owner Jeff Laurie began to push head coach Doug Pedersen into getting a new quarterback. Even I was never convinced that Carson Wentz would be able to get us to another Superbowl, not because he didn’t have the tools on the field but because of his tendency to get injured. The 2020 season saw Jalen Hurtz in games that were either secured or out of reach. Carson wasn’t injured that season but was benched in week 12 in favor of Jalen Hurtz.
The rest of the roster was ravaged by injury in the 2020 season including the offensive line which saw up to 12 different lineman starting games. That is not Carson Wentz’s fault, nor a good time to bring in a rookie QB. The change at QB was at the urging, or meddling, of owner Jeff Laurie. Once it was clear he was no longer the starter, Carson was willingly traded to Indy. Shortly after the 2020 season owner Jeff Laurie made a statement that Doug Pedersen was no longer head coach. He cited some BS to accompany his attempt to hide that Doug Pedersen didn’t want to coach unless he(Jeff Laurie) stayed out of player decisions. Something many owners seem to struggle with these days, as evident by the Eagles, Redskins(Commanders) and Cowboys just to name a few.
An owner’s place is in the box. Deciding on a head coach and a GM is the limit to which an owner should be involved in making decisions. Stick to deciding what to serve at the food court and special promotional days to increase ticket sales. Owners stay out of the locker room.
Look for an episode on Mayhem Original, which is my entertainment podcast where I will discuss this with my senior sports correspondent Mizpah in the coming days. Check out my other show The Boiling Point Podcast and share out some episodes.
Johnathan D. Edmonds
The Boiling Point Podcast
Mayhem Media
JDEDESIGNz
