With the start of Eagles’ training camp just 19 days away, Pro Football Focus went through their projections for the best and worst-case scenarios for all 32 teams entering the 2021 season.
For Philadelphia, it’s a tale of two extremes, with PFF not giving the Eagles any benefit of the doubt, even with the best-case scenario being a winning record.
Pro Football Focus’s best-case scenario for the Eagles has the Birds leaning on their offensive line and even with that, they don’t believe Philadelphia will be any better than .500.
How they get there: An offensive line no longer playing musical chairs due to injury makes a big difference. Lane Johnson (88.8 PFF grade in 2019) and Brandon Brooks (92.8 PFF grade in 2019) return at full strength, and Andre Dillard wins the left tackle job, looking like the player Philadelphia was hoping for when they spent a first-round pick on him two years ago. DeVonta Smith shows that any pre-draft concerns over his weight were overblown, too. That all gives Hurts a chance to show that he can be the franchise’s future at the quarterback position.
If the Eagles finish with this record, they’ll likely be maneuvering to draft or trade for an elite quarterback. Here’s what PFF said on the worst case.
How they get there: Philadelphia’s weaknesses on the perimeter remain an issue, and age starts to affect the play of perceived strengths in the trenches.
Second-year quarterback Jalen Hurts cannot lead an effective passing attack one season after 29.4% of his passes were charted as uncatchable, the highest rate among quarterbacks who attempted at least 100 passes last season. And whoever starts at cornerback alongside Darius Slay is targeted frequently when the Eagles are on defense. Avonte Maddox earned just a 37.1 coverage grade in that role last year.
