Philadelphia Eagles Mid-Season Awards

Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

We have reached mid-season and the Philadelphia Eagles are 6-2. This gives us an excuse to give out some mid-season awards as we look back over the first half of the season.

Offensive MVP: Jason Peters

Eagles left tackle Jason Peters has been his usual phenomenal self, he’s the best player on this Eagles team. The Eagles have struggled all season long on the offensive line with injuries and Lane Johnson’s four game suspension but Peters has started every game. It was a tough choice between Peters and receiver Jeremy Maclin but I went with Peters as I don’t think the Eagles would have been able to do anything on offense without him for these first eight games.

Defensive MVP: Connor Barwin

There’s a number of players I could have selected here but I think linebacker Connor Barwin deserves it.

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Barwin is vital to this Eagles team, he sets the edge very well and has also showed his pass rushing skills this season. Barwin leads the Eagles with eight sacks on the season. I was tempted to give this to Malcolm Jenkins or Fletcher Cox but I’ll stick with Barwin, I don’t think the Eagles can replace him if he goes down.

Most Disappointing Offensive Player: Nick Foles

I am a big fan of Eagles quarterback Nick Foles but he hasn’t played very well for the first half of the season. It hasn’t all been Foles’ fault, I expect that he would have got a lot better these next few weeks with Evan Mathis and Jason Kelce if he did not get injured. However, Foles will probably not play again this season, I expected a lot more than 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions this season. LeSean McCoy and Riley Cooper have also been very disappointing.

Most Disappointing Defensive Player: Marcus Smith II

I know that linebacker Marcus Smith II was a project when the Eagles took him in the first round. Still, only playing 50 snaps all season long is pretty awful. His pass rushing skills looked terrible throughout the preseason and there’s been little improvement when he’s played in the regular season. The Eagles have changed his position now from outside linebacker to inside linebacker, I am not sure that’s a good sign.

Best Free Agent Signing: Malcolm Jenkins

This one is easy, Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins has played at an extremely high level this season. Jenkins pass coverage has been what we hoped for, he looks great in coverage and also has a few big time interceptions on the season. What has impressed me the most is his play in run defense however, I have seen Jenkins play in the box and make important tackles on opposing running backs. I did not think he was capable of doing this.

Best Rookie: Jordan Matthews

The Eagles 2014 draft class has been disappointing so far. Second round receiver Jordan Matthews hasn’t been great but he has certainly been the best and has showed a lot of potential. Matthews has over 32 receptions on the season as well as 313 yards and three touchdowns. Expect him to have a better second half of the season as he worked with quarterback Mark Sanchez in training camp a lot.

Biggest Surprise: Cody Parkey

How good has Eagles kicker Cody Parkey been? He’s made 15 out of 16 field goals on the season, including a couple of 54 yarders. His kickoffs have been even better, he has 30 touchbacks on 48 attempts this season. Previous kicker Alex Henery had 37 touchbacks on 90 attempts last season. That is a huge upgrade. The Eagles were extremely lucky to get Parkey and I’m surprised by how good he’s been despite being a rookie.

Best Game: Week 3 – Washington Redskins

Yes, the Eagles did shut out the Giants and beat them 27-0 and that was awesome. However, week three’s 37-34 win over the Redskins is my favorite game of the season so far. It had everything, big plays, interceptions, players getting ejected and of course it was a win over an NFC East rival. It was easily Nick Foles’ best game of the season, he kept getting hit and hit but he refused to stay down and led the team to a close win. The fact they had DeSean Jackson playing also made the win a little bit sweeter.

Do you agree/disagree my choices? Let me know below.