‘Pro Bowl is fine. But we want the Super Bowl’: Eagles stars still striving for more

Haason Reddick and his Eagles teammates were caught slightly off guard Wednesday when coach Nick Sirianni gathered everybody for a team meeting.

After each player took his seat inside the auditorium at the NovaCare Complex, Sirianni rattled off six Eagles who were selected to the 2024 Pro Bowl Games: running back D’Andre Swift, wide receiver A.J. Brown, left guard Landon Dickerson, center Jason Kelce, right tackle Lane Johnson, and Reddick.

Additionally, the Eagles have nine Pro Bowl alternates: quarterback Jalen Hurts, tight end Dallas Goedert, left tackle Jordan Mailata, right guard Cam Jurgens, defensive tackle Jalen Carter, defensive end Josh Sweat, cornerback Darius Slay, punt returner Britain Covey, and kicker Jake Elliott.

» READ MORE: Eagles earn six Pro Bowl selections

In a 24-second video that was published by the team across social media, cameras captured the reactions of each player as Sirianni called out their names. Kelce, a seven-time Pro Bowler, released a subtle smile. However, aside from him, the entire group lacked emotion.

As his name was called for the second consecutive year, Reddick remained a statue. The 29-year-old edge rusher was in no mood to celebrate his latest accolade.

“I think it’s a combination of the things that have happened over the past couple of weeks, December, in its entirety,” Reddick said.

The Eagles went 1-4 in December with losses to the San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Seattle Seahawks, and Arizona Cardinals. Their lone victory came against the New York Giants, whom they’ll meet again in the regular-season finale at 4:25 p.m. Sunday at MetLife Stadium.

Reddick continued: “We’ve got guys that expect more. We have guys that believe we could be better than what we are. We want to see the team get to that point. So the Pro Bowl accolades, it’s all wonderful, it’s a great thing to have. But at the end of the day, we made it to the Super Bowl last year and we didn’t win. Most of the guys that made the Pro Bowl this year were part of that Super Bowl loss. We expect more. We want more.

“The Pro Bowl is fine. But we want the Super Bowl.”

Reddick has registered double-digit sacks in four straight seasons. He leads the Eagles with 11 sacks in 16 games this season and has also registered a career-high 70 quarterback pressures.

Swift earned the first Pro Bowl selection of his four-year career. The Philadelphia native, who was acquired in an offseason trade with the Detroit Lions, has rushed for a career-high 1,049 yards. Led by running backs and assistant head coach Jemal Singleton, the Eagles have produced Pro Bowl tailbacks in consecutive years, with Swift following in former Eagle Miles Sanders’ footsteps.

The 24-year-old Swift said he briefly celebrated with his parents, but overall, he shared a similar sentiment to Reddick.

“It’s a great accomplishment for everybody that got voted in,” Swift said. “But we know there’s a lot of work to be done. I can’t speak for everybody else, but that’s probably why we had [subdued reactions].”

Kelce swayed from the group’s overlapping mood as he expressed excitement for his fellow linemen.

“For me, I was happy to see Lane Johnson and all the other guys get that recognition,” Kelce said. “Obviously we’re in the mindset right now of, we’re trying to get better and work on things. But I was happy to see the guys get recognized and other people who are alternates. I’m for sure happy for those guys.”

Since the team’s loss to the Cardinals, Kelce has openly acknowledged this week that he might have played his final home game at Lincoln Financial Field. The Eagles currently possess the NFC’s No. 5 seed; barring a Dallas Cowboys loss to the Washington Commanders, the Eagles will be on the road for the entirety of their playoff run.

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Similar to how he has over the past several years, Kelce, 36, will likely weigh the possibility of retirement whenever the season concludes.

“I don’t know if [losing to the Cardinals in the team’s last home contest] fuels anything going forward to get this right,” Kelce said. “I think what fuels me going forward is being better as a team and trying to reach the potential that I think this group has.

“We have a lot of great players. We have a lot of great coaches. We’re in a stretch right now where we haven’t played good football. We get another opportunity to go out there this week to prove to ourselves, and go out there and have fun together.”