NFL salary cap analyst raves over Philadelphia Eagles rapid turnaround

We all came into the Philadelphia Eagles‘ regular season with expectations. Most of them were similar.

We all said this was a rebuilding year. Everyone made mention of this being a year-long audition for Jalen Hurts.

Fans and media alike spent days and nights counting Carson Wentz‘s snap count with the Indianapolis Colts and hoped he’d remain healthy enough to ensure he’d be on the field for 75 percent of Indy’s offensive snaps. That would ensure that the conditional second-round draft choice that Philly obtained in his trade would become a third first-rounder.

It did, and that isn’t all. Jalen Hurts has proven that there’s something special there. The Birds have made strides all season, and in the end, not only were we wrong about this being a rebuilding year, the 2021-2022 Philadelphia Eagles are playoff-bound after just 16 games.

The regular-season finale versus the Dallas Cowboys is, for all intents and purposes, a meaningless game, and even if you knew that Philadelphia would make the playoffs (our staff did predict they’d win nine games by the way), there’s no way that you could have seen that coming.

A Wild Card team that only needed 16 games of the 17-game slate to make that happen? It’s one of the reasons why, recently, Pro Football Focus’ salary cap analyst gave them a huge shout-out.

PFF raves over the Philadelphia Eagles’ turnaround and where they’re headed.

In a recent write-up for Pro Football Focus, their salary cap wiz, Brad Spielberger, detailed his thoughts on NFL teams set to lose the most during the 2022 NFL free-agency period. This one’s definitely worth a read.

The Birds have made strides all season long, but in typical Birds fans fashion, it’s hard for us not to look ahead to 2022 and think about what’s to come. For the first time in a long time, the future looks brighter than it once did, but if you still need some encouragement, Spielberger is there to provide some.

Take a look:

"The Philadelphia Eagles are an impressive outlier on the other end of the spectrum, with almost their entire offense either playing on rookie contracts or being recently extended to multi-year deals. For example, left tackle Jordan Mailata was set to be a free agent after the 2021 season and is now under contract in Philadelphia through 2025 after receiving a four-year, $64 million extension before Week 1. With three first-round picks in the 2022 NFL Draft, the playoff-bound Eagles have executed a truly masterful rebuild in short order."

When he states “the other end of the spectrum”, here’s what he’s referencing. Earlier, during the same thought, he mentions that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lead the NFL in snaps played by pending free agents. It makes the mind wander, doesn’t it?

Is Philly ready to challenge for a Super Bowl? They most certainly are not. Still knowing this team has accomplished what it has and didn’t need the full 18-week, 17-game slate to do so should make you smile. And, how about this?

Knowing that this team will indeed walk into 2022’s offseason with 11 draft picks, three in the first round, and, for the first time in a long time, money to spend on free agents should give you the confidence that better days are coming.