5 irreplaceable Philadelphia Eagles who are not named Jalen Hurts

There’s a reason why we keep talking about Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, and the teams they play on. It becomes impossible to compete at a high level consistently if your favorite NFL team hasn’t found its franchise quarterback. Thankfully, the Philadelphia Eagles have something in this Jalen Hurts fellow.

The expected growing pains have come, but the Birds are on fire. They’ll continue to fly as high as their QB1 can take them. If he continues to elevate his level of play, Philly is going to be good for a long time. Thankfully, he won’t have to do all of the work. A great team has been built around him.

Jalen Hurts isn’t the only player the Philadelphia Eagles can’t afford to lose.

Jalen seems to be ahead of schedule as he continues to establish himself as an MVP candidate. Football is a team game, and players come and go. Let’s hope everyone has caught on to the obvious.

This is someone worth working with and there are at least a couple of handfuls of guys that the Eagles can continue to build around moving forward. They have helped this team become a legitimate contender, and as of right now, they’re among the ranks of several Birds that Philadelphia can’t live without.

Here are five that come to mind when we move past the usual suspects like . There are so many others that we can mention, but we definitely wanted to shine a light on this bunch.

Perhaps one of the more underappreciated players in league history, Lane Johnson has a legitimate argument for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It just feels like he’s been punished for whatever reason because he has had other legends as teammates, Jason Kelce and Jason Peters for instance.

One can also make the argument that right tackles aren’t valued as highly as guys that play on the left side. No Eagles fan has to be reminded of Lane’s talent, however.

This team has historically been better with him than without him. Just rewatch that game versus the Dallas Cowboys if you need any evidence.

If the Philadelphia Eagles lose C.J. Gardner Johnson and A.J. Brown long-term the Eagles have problems. That may not always be the case, but it’s certainly the case right now.

Think back to a few months ago, and recall all of those stories that you read and heard about the Eagles lacking talent at the safety position. You haven’t heard that as often since the season started, have you? You can thank solid play by both Marcus Epps and C.J. Gardner Johnson for that.

Neither man is the prototypical safety. C.J. is a slot corner/safety hybrid, but he’s also five-foot-eleven and 210 pounds. Epps has all of the heart necessary to play the position, but he has to throw his pads on to crack the 200-pound threshold. Occasionally, he’s going to get run over (and he has been at times).

C.J. has 31 tackles, three interceptions, and four pass breakups through six games. He’s on a prove-it deal, but here’s what he’s already proven.

If he’s forced out of the game and the Birds are forced to rely on K’Von Wallace (because they refuse to play Reed Blankenship for some reason), this unit goes from good to a question mark in a flash.

A.J. Brown has been as good as advertised. Whether the ball is tossed in his direction or not, just having him on the field opens the door for his other teammates to make plays.

We’ve seen what the passing game looked like without him. We can all agree on the fact that it wasn’t pretty. DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert will continue to have success with Number 11 drawing so much attention.

Yes, a coach is on the list. At this point, Jeff Stoutland should be allowed lifetime tenure with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Coach Stout has been with the Eagles since 2013, and after Chip Kelly was given his walking papers, each of the next two head coaches, Doug Pederson and Nick Sirianni, saw fit to keep the game’s best offensive line coach on their respective staffs.

Frankly, he should be allowed permanent residency until he decides that he no longer wants to do this.

Darius Slay is one of the best players in the NFL at the cornerback position. He’s also going to turn 32 years old on New Year’s Day, so there’s no guarantee of how long he’ll be able to maintain his level of play. Still, two things are certain.

One, he’s so good that we know he’ll be productive for at least one or two more seasons. Second, with there being uncertainty about the futures of three long-time leaders past this season (Jason Kelce, Fletcher Cox, and Brandon Graham), Big Play’s leadership will be needed even more if one of those guys isn’t back and especially if all of those guys aren’t back.