After fielding one of the very best teams in franchise history in 2024, the Philadelphia Eagles have to do it all again in 2025, retooling their roster around an amended collection of players expertly assembled by Howie Roseman.
Gone are players like CJ Gardner-Johnson, Mechi Becton, and Darius Slay, all of whom played important roles in their Super Bowl win, and in their place are new and familiar faces who will be tasked with filling their voids while keeping Philadelphia’s talent pipeline alive.
Will it be easy? No, but then again, in the NFL, what really is? All a team can do is trust they have let the right players leave at the right time, or at least have the depth needed to overcome a mistake or two along the way, like, say, signing Bryce Huff to a massive contract. While the Eagles may not have any outright holes on their roster, they do have a few interesting positional competitions that should prove compelling down the stretch as Nick Sirianni and company settle on their initial 53-man depth chart, including at the back end of Vic Fangio’s defense.
3. Free safety
After fielding a good mix of veteran and rookie contract players in 2024, the Eagles are embracing a youth movement in a major way in 2025, with only one player, Zach Baun, signed to a long-term veteran contract worth over $9 million a year.
That number could have been two, however, if the Eagles hadn’t decided to trade Super Bowl hero CJ Gardner-Johnson to the Houston Texans for Kenyon Green and some Day 3 draft capital.
While that deal has been debated ad nauseam, with most fans landing on the side of it being a bad deal in the short term, regardless of your opinion, the move does create a hole at the safety spot next to Reed Blankenship that needs to be filled heading into the fall.
Technically, Fangio has noted that this position is truly open, with players like Tristin McCollum and Andre’ Sam theoretically in the mix but when it comes right down to it, this looks like a two horse race between former Day 2 picks, with 2023 third round pick Sydney Brown going to war with rookie second round pick Andrew Mukaba for the starting spot.
On paper, Brown and Mukaba are relatively similar players, with the duo both slightly undersized safeties with plus athleticism who fly around like heat-seeking missiles even if they don’t always connect with their targets. Brown has one more year of experience in Fanguo’s scheme, even if he didn’t play much in 2024, but Mukaba holds the advantage in versatility, with the Texas safety playing slot cornerback at Clemson alongside future Eagles teammate Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and Will Shipley.
Could Mukaba become more of a safety in 2025 as Brown ends up a full-time safety? Potentially so, but the Texas product was explicitly drafted to play safety in Fangio’s scheme, while Brown was drafted under this previous regime, which should give him the edge at the position heading into training camp.
2. Right Guard
Turning things to the offensive side of the ball, the biggest question mark the Eagles have to answer is who will line up between Cam Jurgens and Lane Johnson at right guard.
In one corner, the Eagles have Tyler Steen, the incumbent who was widely considered a favorite to win the spot last year before he suffered an injury setback during camp and was ultimately replaced by Mekhi Becton, who never looked back on the way to a Super Bowl win. While Steen was historically bad when he did see the field, recording a bottom-5 PFF rating with struggles against he run and the pass, he has been given plenty of chances to fill the role this fall and is now widely considered the favorite to win the spot.
And on the opposite side of the ring? Well, that would be every other player the Eagles have under contract on the offensive line; a field consisting of home-grown picks, free agent additions, and trade acquisitions for good measure.
Initially acquired in the CJ Gardner-Johnson trade, some fans thought Kenyon Green could be the player who put up the greatest fight vs. Steen, but he barely cracked the second team during Philly’s initial practices. Matt Pryor is a former Eagles draftee who rejoins the squad after years bouncing around the league, presenting the team with a mix of veteran experience and Stoutland University alumni status, but he, too, never really broke out during the spring.
Factor in draftees like Trevor Keegan, Drew Kendall, Myles Hinton, and Cameron Williams, and there is no shortage of options who will be looking to take Becton’s spot this fall.
Who will ultimately win out in this battle royal? Well, it’s hard to say, really, but Roseman has certainly given the coaching staff options, and could procure even more if he feels the strategy still isn’t right heading into the fall.
1. Outside Cornerback
While no player has really broken out at right guard heading into the summer, the same can not be said for the outside cornerback spot opposite Quinyon Mitchell, as Kelee Ringo has proven why the Eagles have three promising young DBs, not two, who are coming into their own.
That’s right, while Cooper DeJean may end up playing outside cornerback on base downs this fall, it would appear Ringo is the frontrunner to beat out veteran free agent addition Adoree’ Jackson, incumbent reserve Eli Ricks, and rookie Day 3 pick Mac McWilliams for major playing time.
Originally drafted in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL Draft out of Georgia, Ringo is somehow only 22, has two years of professional experience on his resume, and remains as athletically gifted as ever, standing 6-foot-2 with a sub-4.40 40 time and long arms.
Could another member of the Eagles’ defensive backs group shine in a previously unimaginable way, forcing Fangio to reconfigure his plans like DeJean did last fall and move everyone around for good measure? Sure, Mukuba could establish himself as an elite interior defender instead of a traditional safety and force DeJean outside full time, or the Iowa product could simply excel in his new role and limit how often Ringo can see the field. But for now, this appears to be Ringo’s job to lose, which is good news for Philadelphia into the future.
