The Eagles were once again one of the most injury-plagued teams in the NFL in 2020 | Early Birds
Eagles players lost 128.1 games to injuries and coronavirus-related absences, which was third most in the NFL.
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Good morning, Eagles fans! Happy Wednesday. The last time we hit your inbox, you were probably wondering if the Eagles were ever going to sign a free agent. I am here to remind you that good things come to those who wait, which is exactly what the Eagles did. Anthony Harris, Joe Flacco, and Andrew Adams are all in the fold now on relatively low-cost deals, appropriate for a team that’s looking at a rebuilding season and the biggest dead-cap hit in the history of the league.
Harris, the Eagles’ newest starting safety and biggest signing so far, checks the durability box quite well, missing only three games since the 2016 season. More on why that’s important later.
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— EJ Smith (earlybirds@inquirer.com)
Snakebit
At the end of the 2019 season, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman conceded that “hope isn’t a strategy” when addressing the team’s consistent struggles to keep players healthy. Later that offseason, he revealed that one of the team’s priorities when adding players through the draft was whether they could stay healthy.
“The last two years, the injuries have really hurt our football team,” Roseman said after the 2019 season. “There is a part of that that is natural during the game. Injuries are going to happen. But we have to figure out a way to get better here.
“We can help from a front-office perspective by looking at the players that we bring in. Hope is not a strategy when it comes to injuries. When you bring in guys that are injured, it obviously increases the risk that they will get hurt again.”
It was likely always going to take more than one year to undo the team’s injury woes, but last year’s results were concerning nonetheless. Roseman still opted to bring back a handful of injury-prone veterans such as Alshon Jeffery, DeSean Jackson, and Jason Peters. It should come as no surprise, but Football Outsiders has once again ranked the Eagles as one of the “leaders” in games lost to injuries.
According to the website’s metrics, Eagles players lost 128.1 games to injuries and coronavirus-related absences, which was third most in the NFL. Discounting games lost because of COVID protocols holding players out, Eagles players fared even worse, losing 126.1 games, which ranked 31st in the league, behind only the San Francisco 49ers.
Again, these stats shouldn’t be some giant revelation. The team’s midseason injury reports were consistently littered with starters, and the offensive line featured 14combinations in 16 games because of season-ending injuries to Lane Johnson, Brandon Brooks, and Peters. Even younger players with a track record of durability at their previous stops, such as Jalen Reagor and Javon Hargrave, missed a handful of games.
Sometimes being toward the bottom of Football Outsiders’ rankings is a sign of better times ahead — the randomness of injury-marred seasons can lead to a regression to the mean the following year — but the Eagles have been at the bottom for four years and counting. In the last three years, only the 49ers and New York Jets have lost more games to injuries than the Eagles.
What you need to know about the Eagles
Flacco is finally going to play for the team he grew up watching, as the Eagles signed the Audubon, N.J., native to serve as their backup quarterback next year. Les Bowen has the story.
Harris on Tuesday had his first news conference since signing with the Eagles late last week. As Bowen reports, the veteran defensive back offered an idea of what new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon’s scheme will look like.
What did I and the rest of the Eagles’ beat-writing crew think of the Harris signing? Find out here.
Nick Sirianni’s first team is starting to take shape. Mike Sielski offers a friendly reminder: Don’t be too hard on the new head coach if his first season is a forgettable one.
The Eagles’ front office doesn’t seem to have closed the door on taking a quarterback with the sixth pick in next month’s draft. Jeff McLane explores the team’s options at the most important position.
What if the Eagles decide to pass on a quarterback in the first round of the draft? Paul Domowitch breaks down the pass-catching prospects who could be available to them.
Also from Domo: The Eagles waited too long to trade veteran tight end Zach Ertz.
Carson Wentz spoke for the first time since being benched after the Eagles’ Week 13 loss to the Packers, which Bowen recapped. As Marcus Hayes explains, the quarterback decided back then that he’d force his way out of Philly.
From the mailbag
Could the Eagles still go with a QB in the first round even after the Flacco signing? — from Dan May (@dannmaal) on Twitter
Good question, Dan. I don’t think the Flacco signing has much bearing on whether the Eagles draft a quarterback. Roseman wouldn’t rule out the possibility of the Eagles’ addressing the position early in the draft during his news conference last week, instead pointing out the organization will always be “quarterback driven.” The Eagles will need at least one more quarterback before the start of training camp, and could still take one in the first round of next month’s draft.
If they do, the Flacco signing still makes plenty of sense. The prospective rookie quarterback, whoever that might be, would benefit from Flacco’s mentorship the same way Hurts would as the starter next season.