Sometimes, NFL parity works in your favorite team's favor. Sometimes, you wind up with the 2023 Eagles.
Part of what makes the NFL and every Philadelphia Eagles season so great (and so interesting) is pro football's obsession with parity. The salary cap keeps the wealthier teams from simply buying all of the top talent. The teams with the worst records select earlier in the next NFL Draft unless they trade their picks away. Free agency can help the needy squads enjoy a facelift overnight.
Just look at some of what has happened since February. You'll see positive results from so many franchises as evidence of the NFL's efforts to ensure 'every team has a chance'.
Philadelphia was last year's NFC representative in Super Bowl LVII. The Baltimore Ravens finished their regular season with a mark of 10-7, good for a second-place finish in the AFC North. This year, they have seemingly traded places. It's the Ravens who look more dominant.
The Eagles have been replaced at the top of the NFL's food chain by the Ravens, and Philly can only blame themselves.
The Ravens are the cream of the NFL's crop now and the favorites to represent the AFC in the next Super Bowl. It feels like Philly will be lucky to win a playoff game. Still, these teams, in many ways, are similar. Hech Baltimore's head coach is a former Eagles assistant.
The Eagles and Ravens both are home to great quarterback play. There are stars all over the roster. Both are among pro football's class and well-run organizations.
It would seem the Ravens don't need Philly's help to field a winner, but in some ways, Philly assisted them anyway.
Certainly, any alley-oop passes thrown by the Eagles front office in Baltimore's direction are tossed unintentionally, but we can't get three off our minds. Every Ravens win and every Eagles loss grabs our attention. Maybe we're just jealous of what Baltimore is building, or maybe we're on to something.
The Eagles ignore Patrick Queen as a trade option and deal for Kevin Byard instead.
No one's saying we don't like Kevin Byard. He's better than a lot of what the Eagles had in the secondary, but we also should have known something was up when the Tennessee Titans, a team that was starved of talent, were so willing to allow him to walk. Byard has made a few plays, but he's also slower and older than the guy we remember from a couple of seasons ago.
Byard hasn't necessarily plugged the hole in the Eagles' secondary as effectively as Birds fans hoped he would. Shaq Leonard's acquisition hasn't fixed the issues seen at the second level of Philly's defense, but Patrick Queen might have. Raise your hand if you remember when he was a discussion.
Rumor had it that the Ravens fielded trade offers for Patrick Queen. Rumors also stated the Eagles were among the interested parties, both during the summer and at the deadline. Smoke cleared. Dust settled. Queen remained in Baltimore.
We get it. Philly had their minds on Nakobe Dean taking the next step, but Dean has been injured. So far, after 16 regular-season games, Queen has tallied 125 tackles, 3.5 sacks, an interception, and a forced fumble on the season. If you think the Eagles wouldn't have benefited from Queen's acquisition, you're sadly mistaken.
Instead, he's helping the Ravens continue to stack wins while the Eagles STILL need better production from their linebackers.
The Eagles ignore Kyle Hamilton in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Yes, we realize the Eagles' addition of Kyle Hamilton would have meant Jordan Davis is somewhere else. Heck, maybe Davis would have been in Baltimore with the Ravens had he not landed in Philly, and don't get us wrong. We like Jordan. We feel he's going to be a fine Eagle, but the Ravens selected Kyle Hamilton one spot after Philadelphia wrote Jordan's name on a draft card. You see where this is headed, right?
Both made the Pro Football Writers of America's All-Rookie Team, but we can promise you this. If the Eagles draft Kyle Hamilton in 2022, they aren't trading for Kevin Byard in 2023. That would mean they could have possibly focused on piecing a serious trade package together for Patrick Queen instead of trying to figure out how to fill holes at linebacker AND safety.
Hamilton missed Week 17's game versus the Miami Dolphins, but in 15 games this season, he has notched 81 tackles, three sacks, 13 pass breakups, a forced fumble, and four interceptions. When one looks at what the Eagles are getting production-wise from what was supposed to be a superior defensive line rotation, it's hard not to look at the Ravens with envy.
They lead the NFL in sacks and field one of pro football's best young safeties. Philly, meanwhile, continues to struggle on defense.
Philly allows Dennard Wilson to walk and land in Baltimore.
The most disheartening thing we have seen involving the Eagles' late-season collapse has been body language and the obvious lack of direction. Losing DeVonta Smith to injury was painful to watch. Knowing he was lost because he played the role of lead blocker on a screen pass thrown to Kenny Gainwell in a third-and-20 scenario is infuriating.
A.J. Brown isn't talking to the media. We're seeing sideline shots of Josh Sweat with his head in his hands. We keep coming back to one thought and one word. That word is 'coaching'. Philly's staff has been a disappointment, and they lost a good one before the regular season began. Dennard Wilson was allowed out of the door. He moved on to Baltimore, and you guessed it. He has elevated the Ravens' secondary.
Make no mistake about it. Wilson had the respect and trust of his players. Darius Slay constantly discussed his brilliance. Under Wilson's watch as the Eagles' defensive backs coach/passing game coordinator during the 2022–2023 NFL season, Philly's passing defense finished 1st in the NFL while helping the unit as a whole to a #2 rating in the NFL.
James Bradberry earned an All-Pro designation. Darius Slay was named to his fifth Pro Bowl.C. J. Gardner-Johnson was converted from slot corner to safety and led the NFL in interceptions while appearing in only 12 games.
Wilson got the best out of Marcus Epps and helped an undrafted rookie, Reed Blankenship, earn a spot on the roster. We thought Wilson had earned his opportunity to help lead the Eagles as their defensive coordinator. Instead, we watched Sean Desai and Matt Patricia call plays. How's that working out?
We'll leave you with this. Watch Kyle Hamilton and the Ravens' secondary play defense when you have a moment. Dennard Wilson would have been a valuable asset to the 2023 Eagles. Instead, he's in Baltimore, and the Ravens are winning. Friends, we can promise you that's more than a coincidence.