Eagles captains earn high praise on roster blending veteran leadership, youth

They say ’30 is the new 20′. It isn’t. It’s the same old 30. Injuries we sometimes suffer while sleeping and sudden muscle strains aside, there’s a grace that comes with reaching three decades of life. One just wakes up one day after being 29 years old and realizes that they have been hanging around on this planet for three decades. It’s kind of cool. It isn’t that way for players on the Philadelphia Eagles roster however.

If nothing changed between now and the beginning of training camp, nine of the 90 men on Philly’s current roster will have eclipsed the 30-year-old threshold. Remember, James Bradberry reaches that age on August 4th.

While that may not seem like a huge issue, anyone who is over 30 and playing pro football is sometimes treated like they should already be pondering retirement. We don’t appreciate these old geezers as we should sometimes. One of our favorite publications is doing its part to change that as they gave them a tip of the cap rather recently. In the process, for of the Eagles captains from the 2022 NFL season earned some high praise, and deservedly so.

The Eagles’ roster features a nice blend of youth and season veterans. A handful of the latter were given some high praise very recently.

Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, Jalen Hurts, Jake Elliott, Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox, and Darius Slay… Those were the names of the Philadelphia Eagles’ captains for the 2022-2023 NFL season. All were deserving. Five of those men are over 30.

The ‘core four’, i.e. Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, Brandon Graham, and Fletcher Cox, all share a special bond. They have all played for Andy Reid, Chip Kelly, Doug Pederson, and Nick Sirianni, but what this list may not demonstrate is this Eagles roster is more than a group of ‘old guys’.

Philly’s roster is a mix of youthful energy and veteran presence. The young guys have re-energized the vets. The O.G.s have given the youngsters wisdom. Jalen Hurts is a young guy with a veteran mentality. It all works together. Thankfully, with the Birds, most of these old guys can still play.

Pro Football Focus recently introduced its ranking of the top players over 30. Four of the aforementioned team captains earned a spot on the list. Here’s who made the cut and where they ranked.

• Jason Kelce (10)
• Lane Johnson (11)
• Brandon Graham (13)
• Darius Slay (29)

Bradberry will climb onto this list once he blows out the candles on his next birthday cake. That is our opinion, but here’s where we can agree.

After losing some of the important cogs on both sides of the ball during the most recent free-agency frenzy, executive vice president/general manager Howie Roseman found a way to hang on to much of his core. He has a nice blend of veteran presence and youthful exuberance and energy. Both will lead to wins in 2023. We can’t wait to see this team on the field together for the first time.