What the advanced stats say about the Eagles’ starters on defense

The defense was a strength for the Eagles for most of the 2025 season, though not so much in their playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

The Eagles got to 11-6 and won the NFC East in part because of their ability to win low-scoring games. Their defense bailed the offense out in a few marquee victories, like their 10-7 win over Green Bay, their 16-9 victory over Detroit, and when they squeaked by Buffalo, 13-12.

» READ MORE: Eagles’ key offensive players were better (or worse) than you might have thought, the advanced stats say

Vic Fangio’s unit lost a few key players from 2024 and dealt with an injured Jalen Carter, but still managed to finish fifth in points allowed per game despite a pretty tough schedule.

What does that mean for 2025, with a handful of key players set to be back? Here’s one compelling advanced stat for each starter, the second in a two-part series that previously analyzed the offense:

Let’s start with Mitchell, a first-team All-Pro selection in his second NFL season.

Mitchell emerged as one of the best cover corners in the NFL in 2025, as evidenced by his 42.4% catch percentage allowed, according to Next Gen Stats, a mark that led all corners who played a full season. Mitchell is so good it’s worth including another number: He led all NFL corners with an average target separation of 1.8 yards.

If you were ranking the list of spots on the depth chart you were least worried about, CB1 would probably be at the top.

From one All-Pro to another. DeJean was named first-team All-Pro at nickel, and it’s worth noting that because that distinction is a key one. The Eagles like DeJean in the slot, and DeJean said it’s a spot he’d probably like to remain in.

Why? There’s enough data out there now to suggest that it’s his best spot.

After logging just nine snaps at outside corner during his rookie season (1.5% of his total snaps), DeJean, whom the Eagles kept on the field in their base package, aligned outside on 30.1% of his snaps in 2025.

He fared much better in the slot, where he allowed a .574 completion percentage and 5.9 yards per target, according to Next Gen. Both of those numbers ranked well below the league-average marks of .695 and 6.8, respectively. DeJean allowed a similar .588 completion percentage when he lined up outside, but his 10.9 yards per target ranked seventh among defenders to have faced at least 15 such targets. He was susceptible to the deep ball when facing top receivers outside.

Just ask George Pickens.

We’ll count Jackson as a starter since the Eagles played more nickel than base and needed another outside corner not named DeJean on the field quite often.

It wasn’t always Jackson’s job. The second cornerback spot was a position with a lot of intrigue in training camp and even early in the season. It was Jackson’s job, then it wasn’t, then it was again.

Jackson was targeted at a higher clip (26.5% of his coverage snaps) through the first eight weeks of the season than any other cornerback in the NFL. After that, though, Jackson was targeted on just 16.5% of his coverage snaps while allowing a completion percentage of .585, slightly below the league average. He did not give up a touchdown during his last five games of the regular season or the playoff game.

Jackson, 30, is a free agent, and the Eagles may need a new cornerback opposite Mitchell next season. But Jackson’s play showed that even an aging and average player can be put in that spot, and the defense won’t fall apart, no matter what the preseason narrative about a certain spot on the depth chart is.

Baun proved he wasn’t a one-year wonder in his second season with the Eagles, who plucked him out of free agency last offseason and turned a player who had mostly been an edge rusher and special teamer into one of the best off-ball linebackers in the NFL.

Baun didn’t earn All-Pro honors like he did in 2024, but he was still really good in 2025. While his tackle total dropped from 151 to 123, his pass deflection number rose from four to seven, and he intercepted two passes in 2025, up from one in 2024. Pro Football Focus ranked Baun as the fifth-best linebacker in the NFL, and the second-best coverage linebacker.

His ability to cover ground may be his best trait. Baun was seventh in the NFL with 17 hustle stops, which Next Gen Stats defines as a tackle during a successful defensive play when a player covers 20-plus yards of distance from snap to tackle.

Has Dean played his last game with the Eagles? And, to that end, can Jihaad Campbell replace Dean’s production?

Because Dean was pretty productive in 2025 after he worked his way back on the field following surgery to repair a patellar tendon injury he suffered in the wild-card round a year ago.

This is what the Eagles could be asking Campbell to replace should Dean not be back: Dean’s catch percentage allowed of just 58.3% on targets ranked third among all NFL linebackers who played at least 200 snaps in coverage, according to Next Gen. And Dean was even better as a blitzer. He led all linebackers with a 40.7% pressure rate on his 27 pass rushes and got home for four sacks.

The Eagles will be hoping Carter’s step back is easily explained by the shoulder injuries that limited his production and caused him to miss three games after undergoing procedures on both shoulders in late November.

Carter, according to Next Gen, had a career-low 7.7% pressure rate on the year despite facing fewer double teams (41.7%) than he ever has. Carter generated five pressures against 158 double teams after tallying 12 in 2023 and 15 in 2024. His average time to sack also dropped to 5.32 seconds from 4.85 year over year.

Notably, after Carter returned following his three-game break, he had five pressures and a sack vs. Buffalo and the same output in the playoff loss vs. San Francisco.

Will the shoulder injuries be revisited in the offseason? Will Carter’s slide allow the Eagles to secure him on a long-term deal at a lower price? Lots of intrigue there.

Davis was a revelation for the Eagles in 2025, and a big reason that the defense was so successful even as Carter’s play declined a bit.

Davis showed up to camp in much better shape and improved his play in every area. Mainly relied on as a run stopper in the past, Davis showed his pass rushing chops in 2025. Entering the year, Davis had just 3½ sacks on 559 pass rushes through his first three NFL seasons. This season, Davis racked up 4½ sacks on 355 pass rushes.

The run-stopping ability didn’t go away even though he showed up in July a little more svelte. Davis, according to Next Gen, had a career-high 50 run stops (run defenses that result in a negative play for the offense), which was second among all defensive linemen this season.

Davis is in line for an extension, and his play in 2025 earned him a big new deal that will probably come from the Eagles.

Phillips helped steady the Eagles’ pass rush after he joined the team at the trade deadline, but while he and Jalyx Hunt formed an elite pass-rushing duo — their 61 combined pressures from Week 10 through Week 17 ranked fourth during that span — he had trouble converting his pressures into sacks.

Phillips led the Eagles with 34 pressures after joining the team, but he turned just two of those into a sack. His 5.9% pressure-to-sack conversion rate, according to Next Gen, ranked 10th-lowest among 97 defenders to have generated at least 15 pressures after the trade deadline. Some of that is bad luck. Fangio talks often about the importance of pressures and not getting too hyper-focused on sack numbers.

But the Eagles need a top-end talent at the top of the depth chart to pair with Hunt since Phillips is a free agent. Phillips wants to be back. Is the feeling mutual? We’ll see when free agency arrives.

Hunt became the first player in Eagles history to lead the team in sacks (6½) and interceptions (3).

That’s an impressive stat, but this is a compilation of advanced numbers, so let’s point to this one instead: Hunt ranked seventh among all edge rushers who had at least 100 pass rushing snaps with a quarterback pressure rate of 17.3%.

The third-round pick in 2024 broke out in a big way in his second NFL season, and the Eagles used his safety background to drop him into coverage with success.

Blankenship has been a leader on the defense for the last few seasons, but he’s now a free agent and it’s fair to wonder if he’ll be back next season.

Blankenship has been solid against the run, but he’s not great in pass coverage when he’s targeted. After a 2024 season in which he ranked fifth-worst among safeties with at least 500 coverage snaps with an 81.3% completion percentage allowed, Blankenship had the eighth-worst passer rating allowed (116.8) in 2025, according to Pro Football Focus.

It’s unclear what Blankenship’s market will look like in free agency, but it’s a position the Eagles could probably stand to upgrade.

Mukuba’s first season in the NFL was incomplete. The second-round pick was lost for the season after suffering a fractured fibula in the waning moments of a Week 12 loss to Dallas.

Mukuba wasn’t targeted often in coverage. Before his injury, he was targeted on just 4.2% of his snaps, according to Next Gen. That ranked fifth-lowest among all defenders in the NFL with a minimum of 150 coverage snaps. But when he was targeted, it was on deep balls. He had the fifth-highest total in yards per target allowed (13.5).