5 huge upgrades the Philadelphia Eagles can hang their hats on this season

The NFL Draft is a crap shoot. Free agency is a gamble. How many times have you heard that? The latter often includes overspending. Every offseason makes the head spin, and when you add Howie Roseman, the Philadelphia Eagles are fun to watch.

Since we walked into the new league year, we've seen Haason Reddick shipped off. Some are now saying that was a great idea. Bryce Huff was added to replace him.

There were other moves, too many to discuss. Mekhi Becton comes to mind, but how about these five upgrades?

Take another bow Howie!

Saquon Barkley

We're probably spending too much time discussing Saquon Barkley's injury history and less time than necessary mentioning how massive this acquisition might be. Christian McCaffrey's addition to the 49ers roster helped San Francisco soar. Now, Philly may be flirting with a similar upgrade.

What type of impact might Barkley have in this offense? His addition, now deemed legal, potentially represents the same level of powder keg.

In successive seasons, two Eagles running backs earned Pro Bowl mentions (Miles Sanders and D'Andre Swift). Both are good but less talented.

Adding two top-tier corners during the 2024 NFL Draft was massive.

Ask around, and most will tell you they would have been fine with Philly adding Quinyon Mitchell or Cooper DeJean in Round 1 of the most recent NFL Draft. As fate would have it, the Birds were able to land both. That's outstanding.

Most saw Mitchell as the best cornerback in the draft. Philadelphia selected him without having to trade up from the 22nd overall selection when the theory was that was their only option. Talk about a steal.

DeJean, another prospect most thought had first-round talent, was still available in Round 2. The Eagles traded up and landed him with the 40th overall selection. That, by definition, is another steal.

Philly hadn't taken a defensive back in the first round of any NFL Draft since 2002 (Lito Sheppard). They had only taken three during their 90-plus-year history. This time around they add two studs.

We believe that's going to pay off for them. Mitchell and DeJean have all the tools to be successful. Both of these selections should work out for them. It will be fun to watch these two grow up with one another.

Philly finally took the task of upgrading the linebacker corps seriously.

It has long been believed that the Eagles have been notoriously negligent with staffing their linebacker room. We have said that since Andy Reid was in town.

Big Red didn't do much to address his defense's second level, unless of course, Philly was desperate. Jim Schwartz seemingly respected the position even less.

Howie Roseman learned the art of roster building from Reid. You see where this is headed, right? We have to give Howie credit though.

This recent haul is respectable. Devin White... Oren Burks and Zack Baun... Many are excited about Jeremiah Trotter Jr's selection. Add Nakobe Dean to this mix (don't give up on him yet), and there is plenty to discuss.

There are questions, but we haven't felt this good about Philly's linebackers in a long while.

Kenny Pickett is an upgrade over Marcus Mariota and Gardner Minshew... maybe.

We realize there's some 'Magic' in the 'Mustache'. Gardner Minshew does some things well, but Kenny Pickett has a higher ceiling. No, seriously... We all realize that, right?

Marcus Mariota completed a pass to himself once. That's kind of cool, but there isn't much to get excited about in terms of his NFL career. Kenny Pickett may not be polished, but at least he isn't the backup quarterback Philly had last season.

These are the best coordinators the Eagles have had during the Nick Sirianni coaching era.

Nick Sirianni's coaching tenure began with Shane Steichen and Jonathan Gannon as his offensive and defensive coordinators. They both earned head-coaching jobs. Philly then added Brian Johnson and Sean Desai.

Gannon wasn't as bad as many believed him to be, but even still, Desai's tenure, brief as it was, taught us something. The Birds could do a lot worse than Jonathan Gannon. Last year was tough to watch.

Hopefully, the third time will be the charm. Michael Clay, the special teams coordinator, has been with Sirianni since the beginning. He has shown improvement, but adding Kellen Moore as the OC and Vic Fangio as the DC is massive.

Coaches can't do much if the talent they lead is lacking. Philly has a nice roster. That's a good thing, but this is also the best trio of coordinators they have had. It's hard not to be excited.

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