Being a Super Bowl contender and developing young talent can be a tough balance to strike, but the Eagles are doing it as well as anyone we’ve seen in recent years. Philly was one of the league’s 10 youngest teams last season, but still came painfully close to winning a Super Bowl.
That should have the entire league on notice. Not only did Philly avoid losing many key pieces in free agency, but they’ve also got a ton of young talent continuing to develop toward their prime.
These three Eagles are ready for true breakout seasons in 2023, and they’ll be a big part of why the Eagles find themselves in Super Bowl contention again.
Eagles Breakout Predictions 2023
1. Jalen Carter
If you think it’s too early to predict Jalen Carter as a breakout star, then you might want to take a look at my case for him winning Defensive Rookie of the Year.
Carter spent much of the offseason as the No. 1 ranked prospect on many analysts’ big boards, and it felt like a miracle when he fell to Philly at No. 9.
There’s always some room for concern that a player is falling for good reasons that fans just don’t know about, but all indications out of the Eagles’ organization so far are that Carter is living all the way up to the pre-draft hype.
It’s so much easier for a rookie to step in and make an impact on an established defense than to try and single-handedly anchor one (a big part of why I like Carter winning DROY over Will Anderson), and that’s going to allow Carter’s talents to shine right from the jump.
2. Jordan Davis
Our 2022 first-round defensive lineman out of Georgia, Jordan Davis looked well on his way to becoming an impact player on this defense before landing on I.R. with an ankle injury.
His season was a disappointment overall, but there was such a wildly clear pre- and post-injury difference that it’s not hard to get excited about his prospects with a full offseason to get healthy.
His solid performance over the first two games earned him a spot in the starting lineup in Week 3, which he held onto all the way through Week 8 when he suffered the injury. It took him some time to get back up to speed after he returned, not playing more than 26% of the available defensive snaps in any game for the rest of the regular season. Philly wanted to get him out there when it mattered though, and his snap shared jumped to 35%+ for two of the three playoff games.
The 335-pounder probably won’t be an every-down player until he develops a better pass-rush repertoire, but we also don’t need him to be that just yet.
Having had a full offseason to heal up and develop his game, I’m ready to see Davis wreak absolute havoc on opponents’ rushing attacks this season.
As a run-stuffing tackle don’t look for his breakout to come in the way of big stats (and he won’t get the credit he deserves around the league because of that), but true Eagles fans will know it was a breakout season anyway.
3. Reed Blankenship
Reed Blankenship may have already broken out in the eyes of Eagles fans, going from undrafted free agent to starting a playoff game, but he was back out of the lineup when CJ Gardner-Johnson returned, and didn’t get to really make that leap.
But now is his chance. I like Blankenship to earn a starting safety role over K’Von Wallace, and even with Sydney Brown rotating in the secondary Blankenship could be close to an every-down player.
From when he took on his expanded role with Gardner-Johnson hurt to when he returned to the bench, Blankenship racked up 36 tackles across seven games, showing great range around the field and only being credited with one single missed tackle.
He wasn’t thrown at much in coverage (a good sign in and of itself), and when he was he allowed only an average of 6.5 yards per target.
Pro Football Focus also viewed him very favorably, giving him an overall grade of 75.8 for the year. For context, that actually put him ahead of both Eagles starting safeties last season.
With so much young talent, it’s hard not to back Philly to make a deep run again in 2023. And if you do that on Caesars Sportsbook, they’ll offer you one of the biggest bonuses in the industry. Anyone who signs up with the exclusive Section 215 link below automatically unlocks their bonus offer, which awards you with a bonus equal to the entire amount of your first bet if that bet doesn’t win, anywhere up to $1,250! So if you bet $100 on an Eagles Super Bowl win and we don’t pull it off, Caesars will automatically award you with a $100 bonus. But if (when) we do win, you’ll get your usual cash payout like normal.