Last season was a tale of two halves for the Philadelphia Eagles. After a dominant 10-1 start to the year, Philadelphia imploded on the way to an early playoffs exit along with a great bit of turmoil within the franchise.
The Eagles had an impressive offseason headlined by the addition of Saquon Barkley and some notable coaching shakeups. They will look to avenge last season’s shortcomings and approach this season with lofty goals.
There is good reason to believe in Philadelphia. They enter the season with the 6th-best odds to win it all at +1500 on DraftKings Sportsbook. They trail only the Kansas City Chiefs, San Francisco 49ers, Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions, and Cincinnati Bengals, respectively. Philadelphia also holds the 3rd-best odds to win the NFC at +600, are the favorites to win the NFC East at -120, and have -250 odds to make the playoffs outright. Their season-long win total sits at 10.5 games with the over being favored at -130 odds.
Eagles to Win the NFC East (-120)
The revolving door of coordinators has been the biggest red flag surrounding the Philadelphia Eagles. Jalen Hurts enters his 4th season as the Eagles’ primary starter and will be working with his third offensive coordinator. Specifically, he has had five different offensive play callers—former head coach Doug Pederson took on this role his rookie year while Nick Sirianni spent half of the 2021 season with the play sheet in hand.
While not quite to the same extent, the defense has still struggled with a similar level of inconsistency. Last season, the organization made a mid-season change to demote defensive coordinator Sean Desai and elevate Matt Patricia into the driver’s seat of the defense. They now enter this season with Vic Fangio as defensive coordinator along with his staff.
Despite the lack of continuity, the Eagles are 34-17 in games that Jalen Hurts has played in. Over the last two years, they are 25-7 in the regular season with Hurts at the helm. The knee issue that seemed to linger with him down the stretch appears to have cleared up in the offseason, and Hurts is expected to bounce back to the MVP level, dual-threat quarterback he has proven to be in the past.
The Eagles will return with one of the best wide receiver duos in the NFL with A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, both of whom having eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards last season. Saquon Barkley will also provide the offense with a new element that the Eagles never had before. They’ve notoriously undervalued the running back position over the years, but have decided to open their wallets and hand the former New York Giants’ standout a three-year deal valued at $37.75 million and $26 million guaranteed. Expect the screen game to be utilized in new ways around Hurts and for Barkley to be hungry to return to his Pro Bowl form.
Defensively, the Eagles brought back C.J. Gardner-Johnson on a three-year deal. His absence was notable last year. The Eagles opted to avoid the drama with Haason Reddick—who recently requested another trade before even reporting to Jets’ training camp—and brought in Bryce Huff to replace him. Huff is coming off a 10-sack season and will be a solid option among the deep Eagles’ defensive line. The linebacker position has continued to be a point of concern. Fortunately, The Eagles handed Devin White a one-year prove-it deal that could hopefully end up fixing their defensive issues. The former Pro Bowl LB and Super Bowl champ is hungry to show what he still has and will be a name to watch.
Outside of the Eagles, there are far bigger questions in the NFC East. While you can make the case that the Washington Commanders are in the best spot as an organization they have been in quite some time, they are still coming off a disappointing 4-13 season and will roll out rookie Jayden Daniels as the starting quarterback. The New York Giants had notable losses on both sides of the ball and will be hoping that this is the year it finally clicks for Daniel Jones after he went down with an ACL tear last year. The Dallas Cowboys remain the biggest threat to the Eagles, but has had an offseason riddled with public contract negotiations that have yet to be resolved with both Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb. They are also fighting an uphill battle against Father Time by relying on Ezekiel Elliott as the primary running back who is approaching 29 years old with maybe too many miles on his legs.
The Philadelphia Eagles are not a perfect football team, but the floor of what they will be feels significantly higher than any of their NFC East counterparts. Expect Jalen Hurts to return to MVP form and lead this Eagles team to another double-digit win season. There is too much talent on the overall roster and too many concerns with the other organizations not to jump on the -120 value.
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