It's easy to dive into overreactions after a loss like the Philadelphia Eagles suffered on Thursday night. But that's not productive, and those knee-jerk reactions are rarely grounded in reality. That doesn't mean you can dismiss all the concerns, as a loss like this brings to light the opposite scenario: that winning games can suppress some genuine concerns.
And at this point in the Eagles' season, it's time to be honest: general manager Howie Roseman carries a ton of blame for these struggles.
Roseman, one of the NFL's best GMs, gets a ton of credit for the incredibly deep and consistent roster that Philly has boasted over the last few years. But while it's the drama around the team's stars grabbing all the headlines, the sudden lack of depth and consistency on the roster is a much more concrete concern.
Eagles' 2025 Offseason Moves Already Falling Flat
The Eagles didn't have the cap space to keep all of their key free agents, of course, but just take a look at the list of departures and a few things will quickly jump off the page:
Player | Position | New Team | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Milton Williams | DL | Patriots | $26.0 million |
Josh Sweat | EDGE | Cardinals | $19.1 million |
Darius Slay | CB | Steelers | $10.0 million |
Mekhi Becton | OL | Chargers | $10.0 million |
Isaiah Rodgers | CB | Vikings | $5.5 million |
Oren Burks | LB | Bengals | $2.5 million |
Kenneth Gainwell | RB | Steelers | $1.8 million |
Avonte Maddox | CB | Lions | $1.4 million |
Fred Johnson | OL | Jaguars | $1.3 million |
Britain Covey | KR | Rams | $1.1 million |
And now compare this to the Eagles' additions:
Player | Position | Average Salary | Games Played for Eagles |
|---|---|---|---|
Azeez Ojulari | EDGE | $3.0 million | 2 |
Joshua Uche | EDGE | $1.9 million | 6 |
Adoree' Jackson | CB | $1.8 million | 5 |
Kylen Granson | TE | $1.8 million | 6 |
Kendall Lamm | OL | $1.5 million | 4 |
Charley Hughlett | LS | $1.4 million | 4 |
Matt Pryor | OL | $1.4 million | 6 |
A.J. Dillon | RB | $1.3 million | 6 |
Patrick Johnson | EDGE | $1.3 million | 5 |
Avery Williams | RB/KR | $1.2 million | 0 |
Harrison Bryant | TE | $1.2 million | 0 |
Terrace Marshall | WR | $1.2 million | 0 |
And of course, we can also tie in the trade additions of Jakorian Bennett, John Metchie, and Tank Bigsby.
Joshua Uche was obviously a huge win, but he's basically the only name on the list that hasn't been a whiff. And the way these combine with the losses at a few key positions stands out especially starkly.
Cornerback
Pro Football Focus grades may not tell the entire story about a player, but it's hard to ignore how this group stacks up so far in 2026. Below are their PFF overall grades and their rankings among 169 qualifying cornerbacks:
- Isaiah Rodgers: 82.2 (4th)
- Darius Slay: 66.0 (47th)
- Avonte Maddox: 64.9 (53rd)
- Adoree' Jackson: 43.7 (95th)
- Jakorian Bennett: 29.7 (167th)
And Kelee Ringo grades out better than you might expect, but at 63.1 (66th), he still trails all three departed corners.
There were no departures at tight end, but it was obviously a position where the Eagles needed depth behind Dallas Goedert, who hasn't played every game in a regular season since his 2018 rookie year. Again, whiffs.
Tight End
Goedert is having himself a strong season so far, but the complete lack of contributions behind him leaves this offense incredibly fragile. Again, PFF grades among 68 qualifying players at the position:
- Dallas Goedert: 72.6 (12th)
- Cameron Latu: 55.5 (not enough snaps to rank)
- Kylen Granson: 48.1 (62nd)
- Grant Calcaterra: 40.1 (68th)
Harrison Bryant was shipped off in the John Metchie deal before he ever got to play a snap for the Eagles, leaving them hurting at a position of need while adding a WR who so far has 18 yards on 4 receptions through six games.
Kick Returner
With kick returns getting a massive boost in importance with this offseason's rule changes, smart teams would be at the forefront, bringing in help to adapt to the new era.
Kenneth Gainwell and Isaiah Rodgers were the Eagles' leading kick returners last season, and Britain Covey has shown a lot of potential as a returner (albeit on punts). All three of them departed in free agency.
The Eagles' solution was to trade for Tank Bigsby early in the season — a move that has totally flopped with Bigsby being benched. Roseman caught a break when Britain Covey failed to make the Los Angeles Rams' 53-man roster, though, so maybe he can salvage this one by calling Covey up from the practice squad.
Do head coach Nick Sirianni and offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo need to get things figured out on the offensive side of the ball? No doubt. And if they do, the concerns around the Eagles' top-end talent will disappear. We'll all forget the A.J. Brown drama. The "is Saquon Barkley washed?" conversation will disappear. Quarterback Jalen Hurts will still get plenty of national hate, but Eagles fans won't be worried about him.
The deeper flaws in this iteration of the roster will remain. Even with cornerback Quinyon Mitchell healthy, there's nobody in the building to solidify that CB2 spot on the outside. Goedert might avoid injury for the rest of the year, but the options in two-TE sets will remain terrible. The Eagles will have to scramble to solve their kick return issues, and if any injuries do start popping up, the lack of depth is going to be exposed.
Roseman deserves all the credit he gets for his work building the Eagles' roster over the years, but he deserves just as much scrutiny for this year's issues.