The Eagles might be a few steps from a Super Bowl return. Here’s how they can get them right.

The 2025 Eagles season may be over, but the work to retool the roster and position the team for success in 2026 has already begun.

Jeffrey Lurie, Howie Roseman, and Nick Sirianni are tasked with making a variety of staffing and personnel decisions over the next several months in an attempt to return the Eagles to Super Bowl contention next season. The offensive coordinator vacancy is generating the most buzz, but it’s far from the only consequential move they will have to make ahead of training camp in late July.

With the coaching carousel spinning and free agency and the draft looming, here’s where the triumvirate could start with their decision-making:

The Eagles are well into their interview process as they work to identify their next offensive coordinator. Like Kevin Patullo before he was promoted last offseason, some interviewees have never called plays (including Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach Sean Mannion), while others have ample experience (such as former Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy).

Play-calling experience shouldn’t be the sole determining factor. The Eagles ought to prioritize the candidate who, in Sirianni’s words, can help “evolve” the offense and make it a more explosive unit than the one that trotted out on the field last year. That candidate ought to put players in positions to work to their strengths while also implementing modern, fresh concepts. That candidate should also have the autonomy to run the offense he envisions.

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No, the Eagles shouldn’t necessarily seek out a Vic Fangio-type — a veteran coach with no aspiration to move on to a head coaching job — to fill that role. Who would turn down a candidate who puts them in the best position to field a championship-caliber offense simply because of the threat that he would get poached at the end of the season? The Eagles lost Kellen Moore after the 2024 season but they also won a Super Bowl, an outcome they wouldn’t trade given a do-over. Such is life when the head coach doesn’t call plays.

“It’s a great compliment when guys get head coaching jobs from here because it means we’re having tremendous success,” Roseman said on Jan. 15. “As much as you’d like to have continuity and would like to have guys here for a long period of time, we want to win. We have an urgency to win right now. If that comes with the ramifications that we lose good people because they’ve earned head coaching jobs, we’ll live with that.”

Will A.J. Brown remain an Eagle in 2026, let alone finish out his contract that runs through 2029?

No one can read Brown’s mind and determine whether he still wants to be in Philadelphia. He hasn’t spoken publicly since Dec. 8 following the Eagles’ overtime loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. Earlier in the season, though, he voiced frustration with the listless offense and his role within it, both online and in interviews with the media. His concerns, especially given the state of the offense, were understandable.

But his performance hit some rough patches this season, especially in the wild-card loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Brown had three receptions on seven targets for 25 yards, including a couple of drops and a spat on the sideline with Sirianni (the Eagles head coach later said he had been trying to get Brown off the field after the offense went three-and-out).

» READ MORE: Eagles offensive coordinator search: New names hit the list of candidates

Roseman didn’t explicitly rule out a trade when asked about Brown’s future at the end of the season. There would be short-term financial ramifications that come with a trade, either before or after June 1, but the Eagles would experience some salary cap relief in future seasons.

Still, the Eagles are often at their best offensively when Brown is thriving. He remains one of the best receivers in the NFL, which ought to be a boost to a team fighting to keep its Super Bowl window open. It should be in the Eagles’ interest to keep him in the fold, especially given the difficulty of replacing WR1. Hire an innovative offensive coordinator, ensure that Brown is still on board with the new scheme, and move forward.

In a span of approximately eight months, Jordan Davis showed why Roseman made the right decision by picking up his fifth-year option.

The 6-foot-6, 336-pound defensive tackle ascended into a nearly-every-down role in 2025, his fourth season with the Eagles. He played a career-high 61% of the defensive snaps, and perhaps most importantly, his strong performance was consistent from the outset of the season through its conclusion. Davis finished the year with career highs in run stops (50, according to Next Gen Stats) and sacks (4½).

His rare blend of size and athleticism is just one facet of his importance to the team. Davis stepped into a leadership role and helped set the culture in 2025, too.

» READ MORE: Howie Roseman will have a role in remaking the Eagles offense. Here’s his offseason to-do list.

“My leadership style … it’s just mainly keeping the guys together and being an example, being a positive influence and being a positive force in the locker room, on the field,” Davis said at locker clean-out on Jan. 12. “That’s not going to stop. That’s how I live life. That’s not going to stop. I’m excited to see where it can go and where it could go and the potential of it all.”

Players like Davis are hard to find. It would behoove Roseman to extend him early, just as he has with other key players in recent years, in an effort to prevent him from testing the open market.

Speaking of fifth-year options, Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith are eligible to have theirs exercised this offseason. Roseman will have until May 1 to make that decision on his 2023 first-round draft picks.

The Eagles ought to pick up both, even though Carter and Smith saw their 2025 seasons impacted by injury. Roseman may even consider extending Carter as early as this offseason, provided he’s convinced Carter’s shoulder issues won’t be long-term concerns.

Even though Carter finished the season with a career-low 7.7% pressure rate, according to Next Gen Stats, he played his way into a potential raise in Year 5. Carter was named to his second Pro Bowl on the original ballot this season, which places his fifth-year option in the highest salary tier possible at his position. His fifth-year base salary would be equivalent to the defensive tackle franchise tag value in 2026, which is projected to be $25.6 million, according to Over The Cap.

Smith’s fifth-year option is projected at approximately $15 million, the lowest salary tier among outside linebackers.

In the creative writing business, this step would be referred to as “killing your darlings.”

The Eagles have 18 pending unrestricted free agents and Roseman can’t keep them all, nor would he want to bring them all back due to poor performance from certain members of that group. But even some of the team’s more talented, beloved players likely won’t stick around, especially Nakobe Dean.

Roseman has displayed a preference in the past to reward his homegrown talent with extensions. In a vacuum, Dean would be a worthy candidate, given he rebounded from a major injury and proved he’s still a starting-caliber talent in 2025. But with Jihaad Campbell waiting in the wings, Roseman may want to let his 2022 third-rounder out of Georgia walk. Campbell and Baun are a strong starting pair and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. is a capable backup.

» READ MORE: Your updated guide to the 2026 Eagles offseason: A new coaching vacancy, and the search for the next OC

What about Jaelan Phillips, the 26-year-old outside linebacker whom the Eagles acquired from the Miami Dolphins at the trade deadline? Phillips led the team with 34 pressures after he joined in Week 10, according to Next Gen Stats. But he turned just two of those pressures into sacks, good for a 5.9% pressure-to-sack conversion rate (10th lowest among 97 defenders with at least 15 pressures since the trade deadline).

Unless the Eagles can bring Phillips back on a team-friendly deal, they may have no choice but to allocate money elsewhere. Spotrac projects Phillips’ market value at $17.3 million annually.

Among the pool of pending free agents, a couple of candidates for extensions stand out who might not break the bank — Reed Blankenship and Braden Mann.

Blankenship, the 2022 undrafted free agent out of Middle Tennessee, was a captain and a key communicator in the Eagles secondary in 2025. He wasn’t flawless, as evidenced by his late holding penalty in the wild-card loss to the 49ers that eventually led to a touchdown.

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Still, the 26-year-old safety has a solid body of work over the course of four seasons. His departure would leave a leadership hole in the secondary and a question mark alongside Drew Mukuba, who is still in the process of proving himself as he rebounds from a fractured fibula that ended his up-and-down rookie campaign.

Of course, whether Blankenship returns will depend on his asking price. The Eagles were eager to get C.J. Gardner-Johnson’s contract off the books this time last year, and he was making $9 million per year. Blankenship has a market value of $7.2 million per year, according to Spotrac’s projection.

Mann, the 28-year-old punter, is also set to become a free agent at the start of the new league year. He undoubtedly earned himself a new deal, potentially with the Eagles, as he averaged a franchise-best 49.9 yards per punt in 2025.

Even though Jake Elliott had a rough stretch of games in 2024, making 19 of 25 field goal attempts in the final 10 games of the season (76%), the Eagles stuck with him as their kicker in 2025.

This offseason could be different. Once again, Elliott had a shaky showing over a 10-week span during the regular season, going 13-for-20 (65%) on his field goal attempts. Elliott also missed a critical extra point while battling the wind in the wild-card loss to the 49ers. His 74.1% field goal percentage on the season was his second-worst rate of his career (73.7% in 2020, although he only attempted a career-low 19 field goals that year).

Elliott may have some equity given his otherwise robust nine-year Eagles career, but it’s fair to wonder if that equity has run out given his struggles in consecutive seasons. It might be time to evaluate other options at kicker in training camp if Elliott’s best days are behind him.

After a Lisfranc injury in his right foot curtailed his 13th season with the Eagles, does right tackle Lane Johnson still intend to play in 2026?

Johnson, who turns 36 in May, is technically under contract through 2027. But is he healthy enough to continue playing or is he contemplating retirement this offseason?

Regardless of his decision, Roseman must figure out the succession plan at right tackle. He could have an opportunity to find Johnson’s heir apparent through the draft. The Inquirer’s Devin Jackson identified a handful of tackles (some with guard versatility) the Eagles could target with the No. 23 pick in the draft, including Alabama’s Kadyn Proctor, Utah’s Caleb Lomu, and Georgia’s Monroe Freeling.

Could Roseman look internally to eventually fill Johnson’s role? The Eagles drafted a pair of tackles last year in Myles Hinton (sixth round out of Michigan) and Cameron Williams (sixth round out of Texas). Both players spent a chunk of the season on injured reserve, and only Williams earned playing time, in the season finale against the Washington Commanders. They weren’t blue chip prospects, but Jeff Stoutland has a history of developing lesser-known players into starting tackles (i.e. Jordan Mailata).

For a second straight year, Dallas Goedert enters the offseason uncertain about his future with the Eagles.

The 31-year-old tight end is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the start of the new league year, which could mark the end of his eight-year career in Philadelphia. Goedert was a revelation in the red zone in 2025, scoring 10 of his 11 touchdowns during the regular season inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. Given his scoring ways, though, he might have earned himself a raise on the open market.

With Goedert, Grant Calcaterra, and Kylen Granson all poised to become free agents, the Eagles will likely have to draft a tight end this year and sign one (or two) in free agency. Given the importance of the ground game in the Eagles offense, it is imperative that the TE1 of the future can run block in addition to his responsibilities as a receiver. Goedert appeared to take a step back in his run-blocking performance in 2025, as did most of the unit that paved the way for Saquon Barkley.

Over a span of five years from 2018-22, the Eagles invested loads of premium draft capital into the offensive side of the ball. Roseman hit on a number of early picks, including Goedert (2018), Jalen Hurts (2020), DeVonta Smith (2021), and Landon Dickerson (2021), plus he acquired Brown from the Tennessee Titans in exchange for the 2022 No. 18 overall pick.

Aside from Goedert, each of those players have since been rewarded with contracts that will account for at least 3.4% of the salary cap in 2026 and as much as 10.4% in Hurts’ case. Beginning in 2022, Roseman balanced out what would become his expensive players on offense by adding defensive players on rookie deals, drafting Davis (2022), Carter (2023), Smith (2023), Quinyon Mitchell (2024), Cooper DeJean (2024), and Campbell (2025). Roseman called this the “natural arc” of the team on Jan. 15.

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“I think that when you look at our team, we draft a lot of offensive players, we re-signed a lot of offensive players, [and] we drafted a lot of defensive players that were young on rookie contracts,” Roseman said. “There’s natural transition in what we do.”

It’s time for the draft pendulum to swing back in the direction of the offense. With many of those aforementioned defensive draftees becoming eligible for extensions, Roseman is going to replace costly offensive veterans with players on rookie deals over time.

The Eagles already have an immediate need for a WR3, with Jahan Dotson a pending unrestricted free agent. As previously discussed, the team could also be in the market for a tackle, and even upgrades on the interior offensive line. Plus, with Sam Howell set to become a free agent and Kyle McCord signing a futures deal with the Packers, Roseman may want to add to the quarterback factory through the draft, too, although this year’s class lacks depth.

Still, the Eagles have needs to address on the defensive side of the ball. Roseman is seemingly always good for one edge defender in every draft class. Smith and Jalyx Hunt are the only 2025 active-roster edge rushers who are under contract next year, so Roseman will need to make additions through the draft and free agency.

The Eagles will also be on the market for a CB2, as Adoree’ Jackson is set to become a free agent. Kelee Ringo has one year remaining on his rookie deal, but given his inability to win the starting role in Year 3, it seems unlikely that he will earn the job in 2026. While the Eagles could attempt to identify their next starting outside cornerback opposite Mitchell through the draft …

… the free-agent route worked well enough for them in 2025, and they could go down that path again in 2026. Few NFL teams invest heavily in all three cornerback spots. Given the Eagles’ needs on offense, Roseman could make another Jackson-esque signing (or even re-sign Jackson) to hold them over for another season or two instead of investing premium draft capital at the position again.