With the Eagles’ regular season starting very soon after a very exciting offseason, I thought it would be a good idea to pick the five guys I’m most excited to watch and explain why.
New Star WR AJ Brown
This is an obvious one. AJ Brown was acquired during the draft from Tennessee in exchange for our 18th overall pick (became WR Treylon Burks) and the 101st overall pick (traded to Jets after and became TE Jeremy Ruckert).
In his three years in the league, he has 185 receptions for 2,995 yards (16.2 average) and 24 touchdowns in 43 total games. To say Howie gave Hurts a weapon would be an understatement. The only problem Hurts will have is picking a guy to throw to deep for a touchdown. Hurts is also a better quarterback than Tannehill is, so you can expect his numbers to be even better, especially because they were very close before he came to Philadelphia.
Year Two Devonta Smith
Devonta Smith had a very solid rookie season. He had 64 receptions for 916 yards (14.3 average) in 17 games played last season. Him becoming the second option (because WR1b doesn’t exist on depth charts) will certainly help him explode this season. He showed a lot of promise last season and being in the same system for the second year in a row helps development significantly.
Rookie Nakobe Dean
Dean was a first-round prospect LB out of Georgia that ended up falling all the way to the third round of this year’s draft due to health concerns. Health concerns that he had no idea existed. It turns out the issue was as minor as his representation was saying and we got a steal. Linebacker was a position of desperate need and we got the best one in the draft in the third round.
Big-name rookies are always an exciting thing to watch, but after listening to Nakobe talk to media and watching him at Georgia, I really think this kid could be special and even snag rookie of the year.
OL Jordan Mailata
What’s more exciting than an Aussie blocking the QB like he’s been in the league for a long time when in actuality he started playing when he got to the NFL? Nothing.
From not knowing why he was being booed when he got drafted (in Dallas) to becoming a crucial piece to our starting offensive line, his development is a big part of our success over the past couple years.
He beat out Andre Dillard for the starting role and never even considered giving it back. Lineman, especially offensive lineman, aren’t the flashiest players in the world, but they are some of the most important parts of a team.
Fancy CB2 James Bradberry
A corner to pair with Slay was another big need for the Eagles and they clearly knew that. The Giants released Bradberry this offseason mainly due to money and he signed with the Eagles days later, citing their system as a big reason why.
He would be a serviceable CB1 but being paired up with Slay feels almost unfair. Watching him in practices against Smith and Brown makes me feel comfortable about our secondary to start the season for the first time in a very long time
There are certainly more players that deserve mentioning, but these are the five I picked out. It should be a very exciting season.
Go birds.
