The 2026 offseason will be pivotal for the Philadelphia Eagles, as they face several important decisions.
Besides the obvious A.J. Brown decision looming over the next few months, the Eagles also have some big free agents they will have to decide whether to let walk or bring back. Some of those big names include Jaelan Phillips, Reed Blankenship, and Nakobe Dean.
There are current players on the active roster that Eagles fans need to consider, as well as whether they are worth keeping, trading, or cutting. One in particular has not lived up to the team's expectations after being a draft pick and developing to one day become a starter.
Eagles might need to consider moving on from Sydney Brown
The hope with Sydney Brown when the Eagles selected him in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft was that he would go from being a backup the first two years to moving into the starting lineup in 2025. That didn't quite turn out to be the case.
An injury late in his rookie season ended up putting Brown behind the eight ball in 2024, as he didn't get to play as much in Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio's defense. Through the first two seasons, Brown had 52 tackles, five pass deflections, two forced fumbles, two interceptions, and one tackle for loss in 25 games.
Brown's 2025 season was supposed to be the one where he would replace C.J. Gardner-Johnson and start alongside Reed Blankenship at safety. It turns out the Eagles went with rookie second-round pick Andrew Mukuba instead for Week 1 and never really lost his job. Mukuba would get hurt late in the year, but Brown would end up losing his starting job shortly afterwards to Marcus Epps, who never relinquished the job.
In 17 games, Brown finished with 34 tackles, with most of the work being done on special teams. He took 76% of the special teams snaps while taking 22%. His overall Pro Football Focus grade for the year was 60.
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Brown is entering the final year of his contract and while he is a solid special teams player, he doesn't seem to be the type that will ever be a consistent starter. That might leave the Eagles in an interesting situation about whether he should still be here or whether they should consider releasing him for a better reserve player.