Although the first pre-season game is over three months away, it's never too soon to be talking Eagle's football. Already there has been drama swirling in the NovaCare Complex. A disgruntled quarterback, a new head-coach, and a ton of question marks are left headed into training camp... Issue #1...
1. Sammy Sleeves
The Eagles had just traded for the number 2 pick in the 2016 Draft and we were finally about to draft our future franchise quarterback. We also had a bridge quarterback who, still in my opinion, has the chance of having a breakout year under Pederson's new offense. In the perfect world, Bradford would take the reigns and pull the young Eagles team into the playoffs A team would come knocking on the door and would hand us a handsome fee for Sammy at which point Carson Wentz, with a year under his belt, would take over as the signal-caller in Philly. That was all possible until the quarterback who ranked 26th in QB rating in 2015, decided he had done enough to be the man without any competition. Only time will tell if Bradford will show up to the mandatory practices. If not, we might be seeing Wentz under center much faster than we thought.
2. Is This Jordan Hick's Defense?
In half of the 2015 season, after injuries to Kiko Alonso and Demeco Ryans, Hicks made 50 tackles, recovered three fumbles, forced one and intercepted two passes including one interception return. His biggest hit came against Dallas in which he sacked Tony Romo breaking the Cowboys quarterback's collarbone. Now, with Ryans and Alonso no longer in midnight green, it is Hicks who will man the middle of the Defense. Although he did historically well in his rookie season, it is a whole other ballgame being the man in charge for all 16 games. Luckily the Eagles Defense has players like Fletcher Cox and Malcom Jenkins as well as veteran Connor Barwin to take some of the pressure off the young linebacker.
3. End of the Road Coming Soon?
With new and young talent developing also comes the issue of aging for many key players in Philadelphia. The big 3 who are potentially at the brink of their careers in Philly are Jason Peters, Connor Barwin and Darren Sproles. All three of these players have been staples in the offense, defense and special teams. Together the three have earned 9 Pro-Bowl selections. Trade talks have involved all of them especially Barwin over the past year. With increasing wear and tear, this could be the last year we see Peters, Barwin and Sproles in Eagles's Green.
