Philadelphia Eagles: 5 storylines to follow for 2018 training camp

3. Eagles dealing with new kind of pressure

For the first time ever, the Eagles will head into training camp as defending Super Bowl champions, and while this may seem exciting to think about, it also brings a new kind of pressure the team isn’t used to dealing with. Since Philadelphia is coming off their first title in franchise history, most of the players aren’t used to the feeling of being defending champions, and as a result, the Eagles will be playing with targets on their backs all year.

Talent wise, Philadelphia certainly has what it takes to make another run at the Super Bowl since they will be loaded once again on both sides of the football. But unlike last year when nobody was expecting much from a competitive standpoint, all the other 31 teams will view the Eagles as the top team to beat when it comes to the thought of hoisting that Lombardi Trophy come February in Atlanta.

Luckily, last year’s Super Bowl run was the perfect example of how great of a job Philadelphia did at handling the pressure of playing all three games as underdogs, even during the two games at Lincoln Financial Field as the No. 1 seed in the NFC. So if Pederson was able to help his players handle that pressure, here’s to hoping the same will be done for defending the title.