Eagles Week 1 snap counts: Intriguing theories and some surprises

One game is in the books. 17 weeks and 16 games remain. The Philadelphia Eagles certainly don’t make things easy on themselves, do they?

The days that follow any opening weekend in the NFL can often be filled with overreaction, but more common than that is the following theory: A win is a win.

Here’s the hard truth. If Philly plays the next game in the manner that they played the first, they’ll lose the home-opener as they have a better opponent on the schedule, the Minnesota Vikings.

Let’s look at the snap counts for both the Eagles’ offense and the defense following Week 1’s victory.

We knew the Eagles would bring Nakobe Dean along slowly but three defensive snaps? We didn’t see that coming. There were tough moments to watch in this one, but Philly’s defense came up big in moments as well, including a moment where Ktzir White and James Bradberry combined for the unit’s biggest play. Here are the defensive snap counts.

The defensive line

• Josh Sweat, defensive end – 49 (71%)
• Brandon Graham, defensive end – 29 (42%)
• Derek Barnett, defensive end – 12 (17%)
• Fletcher Cox, defensive tackle -39 (57%)
• Javon Hargrave, defensive tackle – 38 (55%)
• Milton Williams, defensive tackle -33 (48%)
• Marlon Tuipulotu, defensive tackle – 29 (42%)
• Jordan Davis, defensive tackle – 22 (32%)

The linebackers

• T.J. Edwards, linebacker – 69 (100%)
• Kyzir White, linebacker -51 (74%)
• Haason Reddick, linebacker -47 (68%)
• Patrick Johnson, linebacker – 8 (12%)
• Nakobe Dean, linebacker – 3 (4%)

The secondary

• James Bradberry, cornerback
• Darius Slay, cornerback – 67 (97%)
• Avonte Maddox, cornerback – 58 (84%)
• Marcus Epps, safety – 69 (100%)
• Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, safety – 67 (97%)
• K’Von Wallace, safety – 2 (3%)

We saw Josh Sweat drop into coverage a few times, and admittedly, if we never saw that again, we’d be fine. Jordan Davis got 22 snaps. Some think that was too low of a number. Fear not, conditioning is not the issue as he explained to members of the media in the locker room following Week 1’s win.

Let’s move over to the other side of the ball.

Jalen Hurts wasn’t perfect, but he was good enough. He’ll improve as the season moves along, but admittedly, we’d like to see him spread the ball around more. His offensive line was up to the task as the starters played 100% of the snaps. Here’s a breakdown for the entire unit.

The offensive line

• Jason Kelce, center -77 (100%)
• Jordan Mailata, left tackle – 77 (100%)
• Landon Dickerson, left guard – 77 (100%)
• Isaac Seumalo, right guard – 77 (100%)
• Lane Johnson, right tackle – 77 (100%)

The running backs

• Miles Sanders, running back – 40 (52%)
• Boston Scott, running back – 14 (18%)
• Kenneth Gainwell, running back -23 (30%)

The wide receivers

• A.J. Brown, wide receiver – 67 (87%)
• DeVonta Smith, wide receiver – 74 (96%)
• Quez Watkins, wide receiver – 41 (53%)
• Zach Pascal, wide receiver – 17 (22%)

The tight ends

• Dallas Goedert, tight end – 71 (92%)
• Jack Stoll, tight end – 28 (36%)
• Noah Togiai, tight end – 11 (14%)

After an offseason elbow procedure, Jason Kelce played every snap of the first game. Why are we surprised? That dude is a machine. We know he won’t play forever, but it feels like he could if he decided to.

It’s good to see the Eagles’ offensive line is healthy. Fingers are crossed that this is a familiar theme throughout the season. If so, Shane Steichen’s unit is on;y going to get better.