April 19, 2015
Matt Rourke/AP
For the first time in forever, the biggest sports star in town isn't a player.
This is the third April of the Chip Kelly regime, and year three, from a "clarity of who's going to start" standpoint, looks a lot like year one, when the team was coming off a 4-12 record. We'll compare what the roster looked like in April of 2013 with what is looks like in April of 2015 at each position:
• April 2013: The Eagles had Michael Vick and Nick Foles heading into the 2013 draft, and there was speculation that the Eagles could be interested in drafting a quarterback with the 4th overall pick. The Eagles' brass (Jeffrey Lurie, Howie Roseman, and Kelly) all flew to Morgantown, W. Va. to work out Geno Smith. Their QB situation was anything but settled with the Eagles coming off a 4-12 season.
• April 2015: The Eagles have Sam Bradford, who is coming off a pair of torn ACL surgeries and is in the final year of a massive rookie contract. They also have Mark Sanchez, Matt Barkley, and TIM TEBOW(!) in reserve. Like it was when Kelly took over, the Eagles' QB situation is far from settled.
• April 2013: The Eagles' had an elite back in LeSean McCoy, with (at the time) an intriguing number two in Bryce Brown.
• April 2015: The Eagles have an elite back in DeMarco Murray with intriguing backups in Ryan Mathews and Darren Sproles.
• April 2013: Wide receiver was set, with DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin and Jason Avant as the clear 1-2-3 combo. Maclin would eventually tear his ACL and miss the entire season, but heading into the draft, they were set at WR.
• April 2015: The Eagles are anything but set at wide receiver, with Jordan Matthews likely seeing an expanded role in 2015, but question marks at every other spot.
• April 2013: The top two TEs were Brent Celek, who was still a viable threat in the passing game, and recently signed free agent James Casey.
• April 2015: Celek is still with the team, although as more of a blocking specialist, and Zach Ertz potentially emerging as a primary weapon in the passing game to help offset a potentially weak receiving corps.
• April 2013: Four of the starters along the OL (Jason Peters, Evan Mathis, Jason Kelce, and Todd Herremans) were set. There was debate as to whether Herremans would play right guard or right tackle, but either way there was one big hole to fill heading into the draft.
• April 2015: As of right now, again, four of the starters along the OL (Peters, Mathis, Kelce, and Lane Johsnon) are set, but with Peters and Mathis deeper into their 30's. Allen Barbre is penciled in at RG, and Mathis may or may not still be with the team in a couple weeks.
• April 2013: The front three projected starting DEs were Fletcher Cox and Cedric Thornton, with Isaac Sopoaga in the middle at NT. Vinny Curry seemed to be an odd fit at DE in the Eagles' 3-4 scheme.
• April 2015: The front three projected starters are improved versions of Cox and Thornton at DE, with a better NT in Bennie Logan. Curry remains an imperfect fit, but has contributed in obvious passing situations when he has gotten his chances. This is one area where the Eagles are legitimately improved two years later.
• April 2013: The Eagles signed Connor Barwin to play one side of their 3-4, with Trent Cole and Brandon Graham transitioning from 4-3 DEs to 3-4 OLBs.
• April 2015: Cole is gone, with Barwin and Graham are now the projected starters, and 2014 first round pick Marcus Smith looking like he may have been a bad first round draft pick.
• April 2013: The starters were set in DeMeco Ryans and Mychal Kendricks, who had not yet blossomed as a pro.
• April 2015: The Eagles have an abundance of inside linebackers in Ryans, Kendricks, and new addition Kiko Alonso. Kendricks has since become a good player and could be dangled for assets at another position.
• April 2013: The starters were set, with the Eagles having spent in free agency to acquire Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher, with Brandon Boykin serving as the nickel corner. Obviously, the Williams-Fletcher duo did not pan out,
• April 2015: One starter is set, in Byron Maxwell. Then... Who knows? Nolan Carroll? Walter Thurmond? Will they actually give Boykin a shot to win that job, or could he too be dangled as trade bait?
• April 2013: One starting spot was set, with the Eagles having signed free agent Patrick Chung. The other spot was up in the air, with Nate Allen being the best option on the roster heading into the draft.
• April 2015: One starting spot is set, with Malcolm Jenkins at one spot, and a far more steady option heading into the season than Chung. The other spot is completely up for grab, with the oft-injured Earl Wolff the best candidate to start if the season began today.
• April 2013: The Eagles' special teams units the prior season were among the worst in the NFL.
• April 2015: The Eagles' special teams units the prior season were easily the best in the NFL. This is one area Kelly has really made a major positive impact.
Since Chip Kelly took over as head coach, the roster looks a lot different, but the Eagles will be heading into the draft with roughly the same number of holes as they had in his first offseason with the team. Obviously, there is still plenty of offseason left, but as the roster currently stands, on the whole it feels a lot like the Eagles have moved sideways from April 2013 to April of 2015, with the exception of special teams.
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