Philadelphia Eagles’ New Year’s Resolutions For The 2016 Season
By Ryan Quigley
It’s almost 2016 and if there’s one NFL team that could use a few New Year’s resolutions, it’s definitely the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Philadelphia Eagles are in a bit of a bad time right now. Head coach Chip Kelly has been fired, not only leaving the Eagles without a coach, but without a general manager as well (unless Howie Roseman takes over again, which would be a huge mistake). Now, the Eagles are officially in rebuild mode.
Thankfully, the end of the NFL’s regular season is baring down upon us, and with that comes the start of a brand new year. 2016 is inching close and closer and people all over America are beginning to create their New Year’s resolutions, which the Eagles should have plenty of. Here are some key New Year’s resolutions the Eagles should be aiming for.
Find a head coach
This can be considered low-hanging fruit for the Eagles, but this is obviously a very important step to making 2016 a not-quite-as-miserable year as it can be. Whether we’re talking about hiring Hue Jackson, Sean McDermott, Adam Gase or Sean Payton, the Eagles are in desperate need of a new man in charge. Owner Jeffrey Lurie stated in a press conference Wednesday afternoon that he is looking for a smart, strategic coach with good communication skills and the ability to connect with the players. Who will that guy be? It’s hard to tell, but if one thing’s for certain, it’s that the Eagles need to find that guy right away.
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Get a franchise QB
It’s not out of the question to believe that the Eagles’ franchise QB is already on the roster. After a rough start to the season, Sam Bradford was beginning to look like a guy the Eagles could ride with in the long haul. However, Chip Kelly’s firing has pretty much thrown that notion off track. Bradford is a free agent at the end of the year and it is hard to imagine he will want to remain with a team that is in the early stages of a rebuild, so it would seem the Eagles are going to need to find another quarterback, barring an unforeseen sequence of events. Whether it’s through free agency, the draft or the creation of an artificial intelligence that the Eagles are somehow able to disguise as a human athlete, Philadelphia must find a franchise QB before the start of the 2016 season.
Sign the core pieces long-term
Don’t look now, but Fletcher Cox is in the final year of his rookie contract. Cox has easily been one of the most dominant defensive players over the last two years and losing him would set the Eagles back even further than they already have been. And let’s not forget about Malcolm Jenkins, who only has one year left on his contract. Jenkins has been one of the leaders of the Eagles since joining the team in 2014 and has completely turned the Philly secondary around in that short timespan. Philadelphia cannot afford to lose the small amount of players who have consistently made positive contributions to the overall performance of the team. The Eagles must identify who the key players are and sign them long-term, that is if they even want to remain in Philadelphia.