How The Philadelphia Eagles’ Offseason To-Do List Got Big, Fast

Less than a week ago, the Philadelphia Eagles stood at the cusp of a championship, powered by an elite quarterback, Jalen Hurts, on a rookie scale contract, while their offense and defense both enjoyed historic seasons powere by the brain trust of Shane Steichen and Jonathan Gannon.

Just days following a 38-35 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII, Philadelphia is left to figure out just how to pay Hurts, who is due for a contract extension, and replace Steichen and Gannon, now each colleagues of Nick Sirianni in the head coaching ranks with the Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals, respectively.

So as general manager Howie Roseman and the Eagles face these and other questions, it feels like getting Hurts paid first is the priority, to hear Roseman explain it to the media on Friday.

“Obviously we want to keep our best players here for the long term,” Roseman said. “And he’s certainly one of our best players. So that’s something we’ll keep all the contract talks internal but we’d definitely like to keep Jalen Hurts here long term.”

For the Eagles, attracting top-level coordinators who likely have an eye on eventually moving into head roles, like Steichen and Gannon, comes down to keeping Hurts as well. Any questions about him as the leader of a championship team disappeared in 2022, with the Super Bowl serving as a punctuation mark. 304 yards passing and one touchdown, along with another 70 yards and three scores on the ground, served as proof positive Hurts could be his most dangerous self on the biggest stage.

So coming in and scheming for Hurts long-term? Well, that’ll be catnip to any offensive coordinator. And a defense that just finished a season with more sacks than almost any team since 1982 will do the same. Notably, Sirianni already told reporters during the season that he has a list of potential successors, but he’s looking for something akin to philosophy, not copycats for his two primary lieutenants.

“There are core thought processes that I have on defense,” Sirianni said. “So, there’s going to be things that, yes, do I like a lot of the things that we’re doing on there? Yes, I do. You think you’re going to see that I really believe in, you know this, that I really believe in the turnover differential, I really believe in the explosive-play differential. There are things of that nature of that defense that I like.

“Then there’s going to be things situationally that are non-negotiables. I guess, to say with me, whether it’s third-and-long, whether it’s tight red zone, whether it’s two-minute, end-of-game plays, whether it’s four-minute defense backed up.

“I’m naturally going to have things that I’m going to require the next defensive coordinator to do. But I also know that I’m hiring somebody to do their job to the best of their abilities, and that’s why I’m hiring them.

“Again, it’s all going to look a little bit different, no matter if you bring Jonathan’s twin brother in, which he doesn’t have — if you brought him in, it’s still going to look a little different when that guy calls it as opposed to Coach Gannon.

“So, there’s going to be little changes, little differences. But, again, I guess my long way of answering that is I’m not opposed to changing. I’m going to do what’s best for the Eagles.”

So yes, continuity, but not identical personnel, either. As Roseman pointed out, the Eagles have plenty of players on the 2022 roster who could seek bigger paydays elsewhere. Naturally, he’s planned for this, too, along with the franchise’s hope, now realized, that Jalen Hurts would play so well they’d have to pay him like one of the elite quarterbacks in the game.

“I think we have obviously a large number of free agents that we knew going in,” Roseman said. “I think when we looked at this team – and we always look at this team over not just this year but over a period of time – we knew we needed to get additional picks. That’s one of the reasons that we made the trade last year was to make sure we have picks going forward.

“And even though maybe we don’t have the amount of picks this year, we have a bunch of high picks. And then next year, we’re going to have a tremendous amount of picks.

“We already have two additional picks from two trades that we made. And just by the sheer number of the free agents, we’re going to have comp picks next year. Even if we signed a bunch of guys, we are going to have comp picks next year.

“So, I think we go into it with that understanding that it’s going to be impossible to keep every single person on this team.”

There is a balance to strike on all of it. March 15, the first day new contracts can be signed, is less than a month away. So having the coaches in place, and the Hurts deal agreed to, will let Roseman determine where he wants to spend, and where he wants to add to his roster with rookies.

The end goal, of course, remains the same. And the highly emotional Sirianni said he’s processed what happened — and didn’t — last Sunday in those terms.

“The wisdom is that I think we were there,” Sirianni said. “We were close. And all that does to me is make me hungrier to get back and that’s about the last time you’ll hear me say get back because what you’re going to hear me say is we’re going to do it one day at a time one day at a time because that’s the right mindset. But that doesn’t stop you from when you see the red and yellow confetti fall or you have a piece of it stuck on your shirt, that you don’t think to yourself, I have to do everything I can to help our guys get back to this moment.”

Just not exactly the same guys.

“It’s not going to be the same team,” Sirianni said. “There’s going to be draft picks. Jonathan [Gannon] is gone. Shane [Steichen] is gone. Different things are going to happen. But you look back. You always cherish that journey. It didn’t end the way you wanted it to, but the journey was special.

“The men involved in the journey were special. The relationships that were built will last forever.”