With spring practices in the rear view mirror, we are entering the darkest period of the NFL calendar. Let's do a mailbag or two to pass the time, shall we? And as always, thanks for doing half the work. (Part I here.)

Question from @john4 (via Bluesky): Would you take the 2026 Eagles secondary over 2022?

OK, so, in 2022 we're talking about Darius Slay, James Bradberry, and Avonte Maddox at corner, with Chauncey Gardner-Johnson and Marcus Epps at safety. Great group.

In 2024, they had Quinyon Mitchell, Slay, and Cooper DeJean, with CJGJ and Reed Blankenship at safety.

And, of course, in 2026 it's Mitchell, Riq Woolen, and DeJean at corner, with Andrew Mukuba and Epps at safety.

In chart form:

All great groups.

• I'll take 2024 No. 1. Mitchell and DeJean weren't finished products to start the season, but by the time the playoffs rolled around they were monsters. Meanwhile, Slay had an underrated, great season, while CJGJ and Blankenship combined for 10 INTs.

• Give me 2026 at No. 2. Mitchell and DeJean are already All-Pros, and could be even better if they convert more PBUs into INTs. Woolen is coming off a few disappointing seasons in Seattle, but he had a very encouraging spring. I think Mukuba can play, but he has to prove he can stay on the field.

• And then I'd have 2022 No. 3. Slay and Bradberry were awesome that season, but DeJean vs. Maddox isn't fair.

• If we're including 2017, they're No. 4, obviously. The secondary wasn't the strength of that team.

At some point this offseason, we'll compare the Eagles' 2026 offense and defense to their recent Super Bowl teams. But for now, here's a visual of the Eagles' starting defense, and their individual accolades.

Red = At least one career All-Pro
Orange = At least one career Pro Bowl
Green = No All-Pro or Pro Bowl nods

More than half the defense has gotten All-Pro or (legitimate) Pro Bowl recognition.

One of the above players in green (Jordan Davis) just signed a new contract worth $26 million per year in new money. Two of the other players -- Moro Ojomo and Jalyx Hunt -- are ascending players who could soon be making north of $20 million per year as well. And the remaining two are second-year players who could reasonably make a jump in Year 2.

Disclaimer: Because Ojomo is a more important player than Marcus Epps, I showed the Eagles' base defense above.

Question from mkibler0521: Others, including yourself, have mentioned the possibility of Howie making a trade for a safety. Grant Delpit has been the popular name. Despite Epps being a perfectly capable starting safety do you consider a move like that likely?

Aside from re-signing Epps, the Eagles didn't add a starting-caliber safety in free agency, and they didn't use an early draft pick on a safety. They did add other guys like J.T. Gray (FA) and Cole Wisniewski (7th round draft pick), and they re-signed slot corner / safety hybrid Michael Carter.

At a minimum, Epps is a solid backup at this stage of his career. He knows where he needs to be, and he has Fangio's trust.

However, he isn't going to provide much in the way of splash plays. He hasn't had an INT since 2021, and in seven NFL seasons, he has just 3 career INTs and 2 forced fumbles.

Epps could certainly be "capable," but "capable" is also probably his ceiling.

My assumption during the early part of the offseason was that the Eagles would trade for a starting-caliber safety sometime after June 1. However, after Fangio announced that Cooper DeJean was moving to safety in the base defense -- along with his praise for Epps -- it became a better bet that if the Eagles trade for a safety it'll be during training camp if/when they aren't fully sold on what they're seeing at that position as a whole.

Personally, I believe that a safety who can create turnovers would really complete this already outstanding defense.

Question from @premoveobserver (via Threads): In my eyes, Clint Hurtt has been an underrated piece to the team's recent success with his development of the young D-linemen - the defensive Stout. With Vic not leaving for a couple years now and Hurtt's title change already in place, do you see Hurtt staying to take over as DC, if you even see him as a candidate?

I agree that Hurtt is building a list of players who have excelled under his watch:

• Milton Williams had his best season in 2024 after Hurtt was hired by the team.

• Jordan Davis got into shape and had a great season in 2025.

• Moro Ojomo has become a legitimately good starter after he was a seventh-round pick.

The player who has gotten Hurtt in some headlines this offseason is Uar Bernard, who Hurtt will be tasked with developing over a multi-year process. But for me, the guy who is infinitely more important in terms of reaching his ceiling is Jalen Carter.

As for Hurtt's potential for taking over for Vic Fangio as the team's DC whenever Fangio retires, Hurtt has prior experience as a DC with Seattle, though I can't claim to know much about his scheme there and how it would translate to the team's personnel. But I do think it's instructive that the team was targeting other guys when they thought Fangio was leaving.

Question from @Generichandleguy (via Bluesky): Are the Eagles already too late to the Shanahan offense party? I’m concerned that they’re only now on board with something that was innovative years ago. Is there evidence that defenses have begun to or are already adjusting?

Great question. The Rams had the No. 1 offense in the NFL both in yards and points in 2025. The 49ers were 7th in yards and 10th in points, despite a laundry list of injuries. So, no, I don’t think opposing defenses have successfully shut down that scheme.

My concern would be more like when the Eagles and other teams around the league were trying to find Vic Fangio knockoffs who simply didn’t compare to the real thing. Fangio disciples like Jonathan Gannon, Sean Desai, Joe Woods, and Joe Barry all struggled to come up with answers when opposing offenses started to get familiar with ways to beat Fangio’s scheme. Fangio could adjust on the fly; some of those other guys could not. There are Fangio success stories though, too, like Brandon Staley.

We’ve seen other Shanahan/McVay knockoffs fail. It’ll be interesting to see if Sean Mannion can teach, implement, and run the scheme as well as McVay and Shanahan have, but also adjust when necessary. That’s a tall ask. So, we’ll see.

Question from @Greg3481: Was Sean Mannion hired to be an eventual replacement to Sirianni if the offense looks impressive, but the team overall is underperforming?

I think they were just looking for someone who could fix the offense, and certainly, given some of the other coaches they seemed to have high interest in (Mike McDaniel, for example), they wanted a coach from that Shanahan/McVay tree.

Is there a scenario where Mannion is doing a great job running the offense but Sirianni is holding the team back in some way, and Jeffrey Lurie opts to promote Mannion to head coach? Sure. But I don't think that was their thinking when they made the hire.

Question from @old_chester: What percentage of sports reporting (from a local level to a national level) is fact-based vs. speculation or opinion-based?

Personally speaking, if I'm reporting something, like from a source I trust (example here), I'm not putting it out there unless I have the nut flush. That stuff is fact.

There are other times where I have good information that I won't put out as sourced fact, but I might state as opinion, perhaps a little more confidently than normal if I've seen enough evidence that what I'm putting out will happen (like here). I think that's how many of the locals operate, in any city, really.

National reporting is an entirely different animal. NFL teams and agents are basically just trading scoops to national reporters for positive public relations and other outside information. Some locals will do that, too, but it's less rampant. Their information is generally trustworthy, but it also comes with annoying fluff commentary like, "Great deal negotiated by Drew Rosenhaus." 🤮

Question from me, to my daughter: In the last mailbag, it was noted that we went to Tampa Busch Gardens and Universal Orlando. What were your rankings of the roller coasters at each park?

Busch Gardens Tampa

1) Iron Gwazi: Best coaster definitely, nice drops, very smooth, really cool inversions. I liked the part where you hang upside down for a few seconds, bonus points for being purple. 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

2) Montu: Fast, high G's, very smooth, probably one of my favorite inverted coasters.

3) Cheetah Hunt: I liked the constant increases in speed, nice view, nice drops, cool theme.

4) Congo River Rapids: Pretty cool and fun. Some dumb kid squirted us but that doesn't count against the ride.

5) Sheikra: Pretty cool, I liked the double stop and drop thing, nice drops, but not much else to it.

6) Cobra's Curse: Better than I expected it to be, cool elements/theme, ride didn't have much to it. I think something flew into my eye.

7) Tigris: Pretty cool, not much to it other than it being fast, very short.

8) Skyride: Cool, not much to it other than the view, cost an extra $20.

9) Phoenix Rising: Pretty boring, blue for some reason, didn't help that the lap bar was digging into my thigh.

10) Kumba: Very shaky and rough. I think something flew into my eye (again). All I was thinking was how I wanted to get off of it.

Additional awards: 

• Best theme/elements: Cobra's Curse
• Best track: Tigris
• Best inversions: Iron Gwazi
• Best drops: Sheikra
• Best cars: Cheetah Hunt
• Best restraints: Montu
• Best elephants: Skyride

#JimmyNote: You could see elephants from the Skyride, lol.

Universal

1) Velocicoaster: Probably the second-best rollercoaster I've ever been on (after Iron Gwazi). Very intense, I liked the drop at the end and the corkscrew over the water. Fog was cool.

2) Hagrid: Pretty smooth, constant increases in speed were really fun, lots of cool elements like the unexpected drop and the part where you go backwards. The motorbike was cool.

3) Ripsaw Falls: Drenched. Theming was pretty cool, the drop at the end was cool.

4) Hulk: I got a bit dizzy at the beginning, but it was fine otherwise. Basically Kumba but not as bad.

5) Popeye: Drenched. More exciting than Congo River Rapids, though.

Additional Awards:

• Best theme/elements: Hagrid
• Best track: Velocicoaster
• Best inversions: Velocicoaster
• Best drops: Velocicoaster
• Best cars: Hagrid
• Best restraints: Hagrid
• Best lighting: Hulk

#JimmyNote: Iron Gwazi was indeed no joke: 

You can actually get a pretty good workout just clenching your entire body in fear. On-ride pic:

Captain America there is having the time of his life, while I look like the 😬 emoji. Also, my kid has a future in rollercoaster blogging.

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