Second-year Eagles playing on defense that can be key contributors

The Eagles have budding young stars on defense, and it’s going to be fun to watch these guys grow up together.

There may not be a professional sports league that’s better than the NFL at being forward-thinking or making the necessary changes to ensure the continued improvement of its game. Pro football’s brain trust figured out a long time ago that, despite the fact that there are fan bases that revere spectacular defensive effort (Philadelphia Eagles fans for example), more often than not, casual viewers don’t want to see a game end with a 6-3 final score. It’s for that reason that many of the league offices’ rule changes favor every team’s offense, but fear not.

The Birds figure to create some highlight-reel moments on defense this season thanks, in part, to the addition of some respected veterans (James Bradberry, Haason Reddick) and some new faces (Jordan Davis, Kyron Johnson, and Nakobe Dean), but Philly should be happy with their draft class from a season ago.

We’re still getting to know those guys, but we’re encouraged by their potential. Here’s a look at five second-year Eagles. Expect big moments from all of them as we move through the regular season.