Philadelphia Eagles
Head Coach: Chip Kelly (10-6 overall in Philadelphia)
Last Year's Results: 10-6, eliminated in the Wildcard Round by the New Orleans Saints
Projected Starters:
(My Player Rankings Guide:
E - Elite Starter: Franchise changing player at his position
HQ - High Quality Starter: One of the best in the game at his position
GS - Good Starter: If this guy's on your team, he's likely starting and you should be perfectly fine with it
AS - Average Starter: This guy is OK, but if possible, I'd be looking for an upgrade
BAS - Below Average Starer: This guy should not be starting, but he will because he's the best option
??? - Not enough information regarding this guy and the jury is still out on him
R - Rookie: Pretty self-explanatory
PS - Poor Starter: This guy shouldn't be starting for your football team. NO EXCUSES!)
OFFENSE:
QB: Nick Foles (GS)
RB: LeSean McCoy (E)
RB: Darren Sproles (GS)
WR: Jeremy Maclin (AS)
WR: Riley Cooper (GS)
TE: Brent Celek (GS)
C: Jason Kelce (HQ)
RG: Todd Herremans (GS)
LG: Evan Mathis (E)
RT: Lane Johnson (GS)
LT: Jason Peters (E)
DEFENSE:
DE: Cedric Thornton (GS)
DE: Fletcher Cox (HQ)
DT: Bennie Logan (AS)
LOLB: Connor Barwin (AS)
ROLB: Trent Cole (HQ)
ILB: DeMeco Ryans (BAS)
ILB: Mychal Kendricks (AS)
CB: Bradley Fletcher (AS)
CB: Brandon Boykin (HQ)
SS: Nate Allen (AS)
FS: Malcolm Jenkins (AS)
SPECIAL TEAMS:
K: Alex Henery
P: Donnie Jones
Schedule:
vs. Jacksonville
vs. @ Indianapolis
vs. Washington
vs. @ San Francisco
vs. St. Louis
vs. New York Giants
BYE WEEK
vs. @ Arizona
vs. @ Houston
vs. Carolina
vs. @ Green Bay
vs. Tennessee
vs. @ Dallas
vs. Seattle
vs. Dallas
vs. @ Washington
vs. @ New York
Predicted Finish: 10-6 (5-1 in division), make playoffs
Team Analysis: Last year was a good year for first-year head coach Chip Kelly. Kelly left the Oregon Ducks in a somewhat shocking move (Kelly was constantly flip-flopping between a return to college or a jump to the NFL) and returned home to the Northeast to help turn the Philadelphia Eagles into a winner again. Well, after just one season in Philly, Eagles fan are flying around in anticipation as to what Kelly can continue to do with this team. The Eagles hired Kelly amid a bunch of skepticism. People were insistent that Kelly's fast paced offense wouldn't work in the NFL because NFL defenders are much speedier from sideline-to-sideline than college players are (and that's true for the most part...) and that Kelly's offense was just a "gimmick". Well, after terrorizing the NFL last year and leaving NFL defenders everywhere with their hands on their hips on any given play, other NFL head coaches are not only seeing Kelly's offense work in the NFL, but they are having a hard time stopping it. I didn't personally see Kelly having that tough of a transition into the NFL because when you have guys like Bill Belichick, Urban Meyer, and Jon Gruden coming to Oregon to learn stuff from you....I'd consider that person a pretty knowledgeable guy.
Now that Philly's got the brains of the operation in place, they need a working body to make it all run properly. Last year there were tons of questions at the QB position for the Eagles, but Nick Foles had a tremendous year and pretty much squashed any worries that Philly fans had regarding his stance on the team. Foles improvement from year 1 to year 2 was significant enough to get Philly fans excited. After playing in just 7 games in his rookie season, Foles had a stellar year last year. He only played in 13 games, but Foles completed almost 65% of his passes and threw for 27 touchdowns with only 2 interceptions. While I would like to see him throw the ball more than he does, Chip Kelly's offenses have never been built around the passing attack. Either way, it seems like Philly has found "their" guy for the foreseeable future. The rest of the offense is pretty damn good as well. LeSean McCoy is arguably the best running back in the game and will continue to shine under Kelly. The addition of Darren Sproles in the off-season could also have dangerous results for other teams. He's the perfect fit for Kelly's offense and may have his best year ever. The Eagles also have an excellent offensive line and while they could use some upgrades at wide receiver after losing DeSean Jackson in the off-season, you could do a lot worse than the duo of Jeremy Maclin and Riley Cooper (Philly fans are also hoping second-round pick Jordan Matthews and third-round pick Josh Huff can compete for a starting spot). Philadelphia doesn't really have any holes on offense and they will be one of the highest scoring teams in the NFL and Chip Kelly will be sitting there with a giant smile on his face the entire time.
Defense on the other hand is a bit of a different story for Philly. While they rank "excellent" on the offensive side of the ball, the defense ranks out as "average", which is pretty much on par with every team Kelly has coached. Let's face it though. This team is going to go as far as the offense takes it and as long as the defense is right about average, this team will be the team to beat in the NFC East. I like the Eagles' to not only repeat as NFC East champions, but if Nick Foles can continue to improve and the offense stays healthy, I'd go as far as to call them a sleeper team to win it all. Chip Kelly winning a Super Bowl in just his second-year in the NFL? Hey, stranger things have happened......
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