February 05, 2026
Each year the NFL televises its "NFL Honors" award show, during which it recognizes the league's best players, performances, and plays from the season. That's tonight.
The Eagles had four players up for five awards last year. No Eagles players are up for awards this year, although Vic Fangio is up for Assistant Coach of the Year.
Here we'll do an Eagles-only version. This awards-style post will be a little kinder than the one we published on Monday.
Mitchell became a legitimate star player in 2025. He had no regular season INTs, but per PFF, he allowed just 36 completions on 82 targets for 389 yards, and 0 TDs allowed (58.4 passer rating), with 17 pass breakups while often following the opposing team's best receiver.
He did finally give up a TD in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs, but he also had 2 INTs and a forced fumble that prevented points in that game.
This award certainly isn't going to anyone on the offensive side of the ball!
The Eagles had one of the best defenses in the NFL, which was particularly impressive given the extreme frequency that the offense went three-and-out. Frankly, the offense wasted a Super Bowl type of season from Fangio and the defense.
Brandon Graham literally "came back" from retirement, so he would be a reasonable choice as well, but here we'll go with Dean, who played a bigger role in the defense than Graham after recovering from a torn patellar tendon injury.
In 10 games, Dean had 55 tackles, 4 sacks, and 2 forced fumbles, while establishing himself as one of the best blitzing linebackers in the NFL.
From Week 7 on, Hunt filled up the stat sheet in a variety of ways. In the Eagles' final 11 games, he had 38 tackles, 6.5 sacks, 19 QB hits, 3 INTs (including a pick-six), a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and 3 pass breakups.
He became a highly versatile player who can rush the passer, play the run, and probably most notably, drop into coverage extraordinarily well for an edge defender.
There aren't any obvious choices here, but I'll go with Smith, who led the team with 1,008 receiving yards, but unlike his receiver counterpart A.J. Brown, Smith was not a walking distraction all season.
It's a little silly to write about Quinyon Mitchell twice, so let's go with DeJean, who, like Mitchell, has also cemented himself as a star player. On the season DeJean had 93 tackles, 16 pass breakups. 2 INTs, and a forced fumble. He is one of the best tackling cornerbacks in the NFL, and a versatile defender who can reasonably play outside corner, slot corner, safety, and even linebacker-like roles.
The Eagles selected defensive players with their first five picks of the 2025 draft, so there isn't a lot to choose from here. It's pretty much either Drew Kendall or undrafted WR Darius Cooper. I have a hard time giving it to Cooper, who was called for a crucial taunting penalty against the Commanders that knocked the Eagles out of a goal-to-go situation, with a Tanner McKee INT following thereafter.
Kendall only played 89 snaps on the season, and he seemed fine-ish, I guess. I like his chances of being a long-term contributor better than Cooper's. So, I dunno, I'll go with him. 🤷♂️
In the Eagles' first seven games before Dean returned to the starting lineup, Campbell had 43 tackles, an INT, a forced fumble, and a couple of pass breakups. If he had started the whole season, he likely would have accumulated stats that would have competed with some of the other rookie finalists for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.
But beyond his play on the field, I was impressed by Campbell's maturity after he was (honorably) demoted. He didn't complain, and he was prepared and ready to play again when Dean got hurt later in the season.
Moro Ojomo probably made the defensive play of the night in Green Bay when he called out the Packers' play on a 4th and 1 near the end of the game. You can hear him yell "INSIDE ZONE THIS WAY! INSIDE ZONE THIS WAY!" before the snap, and then he got immediate penetration into the backfield. Jacobs had nowhere to go, and the Eagles took over the ball on downs. Video via @BenjaminSolak:
That was a pretty cool, clutch play from Ojomo in a huge moment.
This one was pretty easy:
In an otherwise disappointing season, the ending to the Eagles-Rams game was quite something.
After scoring a TD, new dad Dallas Goedert rocked the baby to sleep, then held the baby up like in The Lion King, and then... spiked the baby, lol.
I remember legit laughing out loud at that in the press box.
As a disclaimer, we should first note that the Raiders inarguably had the worst offense in the NFL in 2025. They couldn't run the ball, they couldn't protect their quarterback, they were playing their backup quarterback, and they only had one good pass catcher.
So, it was anticipated that the Eagles' defense would probably have a good day, but they shut the Raiders out, and shutouts are hard to come by in the NFL. The last four Eagles shutouts:
The Eagles went almost 18 years in between shutouts from 1996 to 2014.
But perhaps even more impressively, the Eagles D only allowed 75 yards – 46 came on the ground and 29 through the air. Yes, the Raiders' offense sucked, but that was still as dominant a defensive performance as there was in the NFL this season.
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