Repeating in the NFL is always tough.
The Eagles are not even two months off their Super Bowl LIX championship and already the significant personnel losses are perceived as daunting.
Significant starters like defensive tackle Milton Williams, edge rusher Josh Sweat, and right guard Mekhi Becton got big money elsewhere, and playmaking safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson was traded to Houston with the idea of opening up some cash on hand for impending extensions.
Notable contributors at cornerback (Isaiah Rodgers), linebacker (Oren Burks), and running back (Kenny Gainwell) are also filing change of address forms after signing elsewhere, as are valuable role players like backup QB Kenny Pickett and swing tackle Fred Johnson.
Penciled-in replacements are either young, largely unproven players being asked to step up or one-year, prove-it options at clearance-aisle prices.
Yet that kind of attrition pales compared to the actual war of attrition in the NFL.
Deep into the 2024 season, most considered top-seeded Detroit the odds-on favorite to reach the Super Bowl on the NFC side until a stunning laundry list of injuries became too much to overcome even for the absurdly talented Lions.
The Eagles’ medical staff reminded people just how healthy the organization was in 2024-25 at the team’s Super Bowl victory parade.
Six of the top eight teams in FTN Fantasy's (formerly Football Outsiders) adjusted games lost category made the postseason and the Eagles, at No. 2 overall, won it all.
San Francisco, which came into the season as a perceived significant contender and finished with a losing record, was dead last in AGL.
The top seven teams in AGL missed the playoffs and the highest AGL for a playoff team was the Lions, although their attrition was lopsided.
Detroit’s explosive offense not coincidentally ranked second in the fewest adjusted games lost. The defense was dead last at No. 32 in AGL.
The Ravens were the only team deemed as healthier than the Eagles last season and were a significant contender on the AFC side before bowing out to Buffalo in a close game during the divisional round.
To show the randomness of injuries, the Eagles were No. 23 in AGL during a 2023 season that ended in disappointment after failing to reach expectations.
A regression to the mean with injuries in 2025 for the Eagles could be far more daunting than any of the personnel losses.
