June 15, 2026
Coming off a Super Bowl win in 2024, expectations were high for the 2025 Philadelphia Eagles, who finished a disappointing 11-6 with a one-and-done performance in the playoffs.
The Eagles have had some of their best seasons when a handful of players outperform expectations. Conversely, they've have down seasons when some of their better players didn't perform to their standard. Here we'll look at some of the players who had down seasons last year, and project whether they'll bounce back or not in 2026.
Much of the dysfunction surrounding the Eagles' offense in 2025 was at least partly out of Hurts' control.
• They were the slowest team in the NFL to get out of the huddle and to the line of scrimmage.
• Pre-snap procedural penalties were a season-long issue.
• They rarely schemed their receivers open for easy throws/catches, and instead relied on their receivers to constantly have to win contested catches.
• Route concepts were remedial at best, as they ran a historic number of hitch routes, complemented by four verts.
• There was rarely any discernible play sequencing, in which one play early in the game might set up another play later in the game.
• Personnel decisions were often maddening, such as the reliance of tight end Grant Calcaterra to serve as a run-blocking specialist, when that is the biggest weakness in his game; or the refusal to get the effective Tank Bigsby involved in the rushing attack in any meaningful way.
• They would line up in tight formations, bringing receivers close to the offensive line, thus triggering the defense to bring more defenders into the box and then running out of those looks into brick walls.
I could go on.
But certainly, Hurts had his issues as well. He was not a threat as runner, largely because he didn't want a lot of designed quarterback run plays in the game plan (per sources), and some old quirks — like a league-low usage of the middle of the field — reemerged.
Hurts is going to be under heavy scrutiny in 2026, like he has at other times in his career. As usual, he'll have another new offensive coordinator to work with. In the past, Hurts has responded when he has been under fire. He has not really had two consecutive down seasons, at least relative to expectations. But, if he doesn't have a bounce-back season, would it really be that surprising if the team considered other options?
Rebound or regress? I've learned not to bet against Hurts when he feels like he has something to prove. And certainly, the scheme can't be worse than it was a year ago, right? Rebound. 📈
Heading into 2025, there was almost no way Barkley was going to match what he did in 2024, when he had one of the best running back seasons in NFL history.
As we identified in our Eagles dumpster fire post last summer, Barkley got an astronomical 482 touches in 2024, playoffs included. That was the third-highest number of touches in a single season since 2000. There have been 17 players who have had 430 or more touches in a single season during that span. Here are those players, with their yards per carry during their heavy workload season, and their yards per carry in their follow-up seasons:
| Year | Player - Touches | YPC | YPC - next season |
| 2014 | DeMarco Murray - 497 | 4.7 | 3.6 📉 |
| 2000 | Eddie George - 488 | 3.7 | 3.0 📉 |
| 2006 | Larry Johnson - 475 | 4.3 | 3.5 📉 |
| 2000 | Edgerrin James - 474 | 4.4 | 4.4 (same) |
| 2003 | Ahman Green - 461 | 5.3 | 4.5 📉 |
| 2012 | Arian Foster - 460 | 4.1 | 4.5 📈 |
| 2004 | Curtis Martin - 457 | 4.6 | 3.3 📉 |
| 2002 | LaDainian Tomlinson - 451 | 4.5 | 5.3 📈 |
| 2005 | Shaun Alexander - 448 | 5.1 | 3.6 📉 |
| 2000 | Jamal Lewis - 444 | 4.4 | DNP (knee) |
| 2003 | Ricky Williams - 443 | 3.5 | DNP (retired) |
| 2006 | Steven Jackson - 436 | 4.4 | 4.2 📉 |
| 2004 | Corey Dillon - 434 | 4.7 | 3.5 📉 |
| 2018 | Ezekiel Elliott - 433 | 4.7 | 4.5 📉 |
| 2017 | Le'Veon Bell - 431 | 4.0 | DNP (contract dispute) |
| 2003 | Edgerrin James - 431 | 4.1 | 4.6 📈 |
| 2002 | Ricky Williams - 430 | 4.8 | 3.5 📉 |
Only three of the above players saw their yards per carry increase after their heavy workload seasons. That trend held true for Barkley, who went from 5.8 yards per carry to 4.1.
In 2025, however, Barkley had 346 touches, or 136 fewer than he did in 2024. He also played behind an offensive line that was without Lane Johnson for eight games and a pair of interior linemen in Cam Jurgens and Landon Dickerson who did not play to their standard due to injury.
He'll also be in an offensive scheme that has produced a whole lot of big running back seasons in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Rebound or regress? Barkley won't ever have another season like he did in 2024, because, I mean, that's an incredibly high bar. But also, subjectively speaking here of course, he did not have the same explosion in 2025 that he had in 2024, in my opinion. That's not to say that he wasn't explosive. He just didn't seem to have the same extreme turbo-charged juice he had in 2024.
Still, he should be more efficient in 2026. We'll call this one a half rebound. 📈
After playing through a back injury during the Eagles' Super Bowl run in 2024, Jurgens had a procedure last February to alleviate nerve pain. He missed most of training camp, and acknowledged during the regular season that he wasn't fully recovered from that procedure. It showed on the field, as Jurgens did not play to his standard, despite being voted into the Pro Bowl.
"I've done that before," OL coach (and former player) Chris Kuper said of going straight from the training table to football. "I know that's really hard and you don't get to work on your body."
This winter, Jurgens went to Colombia to get stem cell treatments, and he is also a little further away from his back surgery. He was a full participant in spring practices, which is a good sign.
Rebound or regress? Back injuries are tricky, especially for offensive linemen, but Jurgens is certainly healthier now than he was this time last year, and should rebound to some degree. 📈
Dickerson battled through an assortment of injuries in 2025, some known, like an August meniscus injury that required "a minor procedure," and some that he kept to himself.
There were so many times in locker rooms after games when Dickerson looked like he had just been through a really rough day, physically, perhaps more consistently with any one player than I've ever witnessed in my 13 seasons covering the team.
But if we're being honest, Dickerson has pretty routinely looked banged up throughout the season going back further than just 2025. It merely accelerated last season.
Dickerson had a long injury history as a college prospect heading into the NFL:
Though Dickerson has avoided major injuries through his first five NFL seasons, he has accumulated a lot of wear and tear.
Rebound or regress? I'm more confident in Jurgens' chances of returning to form than Dickerson's. 📉
Johnson was still an elite player when he was healthy last season, but he missed eight games with a Lisfranc injury.
Really, he doesn't belong on this list, however, I've seen a common sentiment that it should just be expected that he's going to miss a lot of games every season going forward, and I wanted to push back on that a bit.
While that was certainly true of the final years of Jason Peters' Eagles career, it feels a little premature with Johnson. He missed just four games due to injury the prior three seasons combined:
| Season | Games missed (injury) | Snaps |
| 2022 | 2 | 1176 |
| 2023 | 1 | 1038 |
| 2024 | 1 | 1190 |
We're not talking about an "injury-prone" player here. Johnson keeps himself in great shape, and in my opinion does not deserve that label because of one injury.
Rebound or regress? Rebound. 📈
On the plus side, Goedert is still a good receiver, as he had 60 catches for 591 yards, and he broke the franchise tight end record with 11 regular season TDs while playing in a broken offense in 2025. He was a rare bright spot in the Eagles' passing game, at least in the red zone. He also only missed one game due to injury in 2025 after missing 15 games in the previous three seasons combined.
On the downside, in the past Goedert was considered a complete tight end without any obvious flaws, but he was not a good run blocker in 2025. He is also now 31 years old, and tight ends don't typically age well.
He makes this list because he had such a drastic drop-off in blocking efficiency.
Rebound or regress? It's concerning that Goedert was a poor blocker last season despite staying healthy. That's perhaps an indication that he is in decline. We could see his decline accelerate a bit in 2026. 📉
After an All-Pro season in 2024, Carter's 2025 season got off to a weird, bad start, when he was ejected Week 1 against the Cowboys before either team ran an offensive play after he spit on Dak Prescott. He then proceeded to have a disappointing season, collecting 33 tackles, three sacks, and seven batted passes in 11 games. However, he did block kicks in games against the Rams and Bills that the Eagles might have otherwise lost.
Carter had shoulder issues throughout the 2025 season. He missed most of training camp with a shoulder injury, and then had a procedure on both shoulders following a bad performance against the Chicago Bears Week 13. It's probably worth noting here that Carter led all NFL interior defensive linemen with 1,068 snaps played the prior season in 2024. Much like a heavy workload probably caught up to Saquon Barkley on the offensive side of the ball in 2025, the same thing may have happened to Carter on defense.
"I think his shoulders are fine," Vic Fangio said in May. "He's had a good offseason of lifting. I think he started that earlier than normal for him and you can see the difference in that regard. I think he's in a better spot now than he was."
Rebound or regress? With all of the talent Carter possesses, it's hard to imagine him having the season he had in 2025. I expect him to rebound in 2026. 📈
Greenard wasn't an Eagle last season, of course, but he'll be hoping to bounce back from a down year in Minnesota, so we'll include him. We'll include Riq Woolen below as well.
Anyway, Greenard had his two best seasons in 2023 and 2024, when he had a combined 24.5 sacks. His career stats:
| Season | Tackles (TFL) | Sacks | FF-FR | QB hits |
| 2020 | 19 (2) | 1.0 | 0-0 | 3 |
| 2021 | 33 (9) | 8.0 | 2-0 | 12 |
| 2022 | 16 (6) | 1.5 | 0-0 | 4 |
| 2023 | 52 (15) | 12.5 | 1-0 | 22 |
| 2024 | 59 (18) | 12.0 | 4-0 | 22 |
| 2025 | 38 (10) | 3.0 | 1-0 | 12 |
Greenard battled through a shoulder injury in 2025, which eventually ended his season and required surgery.
He'll get a fresh start in Philly after the Eagles traded a pair of third-round picks for him while also agreeing to a new deal worth $84 million.
Rebound or regress? Greenard projects as the Eagles' top pass rusher, and he should still have a few prime years left. He'll also likely get more than his share of one-on-one matchups along a very talented Eagles defensive line. 📈
After a breakout season in 2024, Smith entered 2025 as a budding star, and the Eagles' top edge defender. However, he did not have the season that he or the Eagles were hoping for, as he missed five games after aggravating a triceps injury that he suffered in the previous year's Super Bowl. He was also on a pitch count upon his return.
Smith is a very undersized edge defender and he plays a rugged brand of football. His hard-nosed style of play is what is appealing about his game, but it is also detrimental to his health and durability.
Smith appeared to bulk up a bit this year, which if so could theoretically help him absorb / dish out contact with less risk of injury, but could also negatively affect his impressive athleticism.
So, you know, he's a player with a lot of Catch-22's.
Rebound or regress? We may not see the Nolan Smith of 2024 again. 📉
Woolen was a Seahawks fifth-round pick in 2022 who started immediately as a rookie, finishing third in Defensive Rookie of the Year honors, when he had 63 tackles, 6 INTs, 16 pass breakups, and 3 fumble recoveries. He also made the Pro Bowl as a rookie.
However, Woolen was unable to sustain that level of play, and he struggled in 2025, even losing playing time while being floated on the trade block for the better part of the season.
This offseason, the Seahawks re-signed CB Josh Jobe to a three year deal, and let Woolen walk in free agency.
Rebound or regress? Though the Eagles practiced in shorts all spring, Woolen was still a very obvious standout player. He also earned rare over-the-top praise from Fangio, and was a reason the Eagles showed that they don't want Woolen to leave the field when they decided to move Cooper DeJean to safety in their base defense. The arrow is pointing up here. 📈
In 2025, Elliott connected on just 74.1 percent of his field goal attempts, well below the league average. Also from Week 12 on, there were four games — against the Cowboys, Bears, Chargers, and 49ers — in which you could point to an Elliott missed kick and say, "Those points mattered."
Elliott is pretty safely the best kicker in Eagles history, but over the last two seasons, he has simply become too unreliable, and he does not have the power leg that many of the other kickers around the league do.
Rebound or regress? It's hard to confidently predict that it's going to get better. 📉
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