Bleeding Green Nation
Identifying three secret superstars who can help the Philadelphia Eagles repeat as champs.
Dynasties in sports are funny things.
Back at the turn of the millennium, it looked for all the world that the “Greatest Show on Turf” St. Louis Rams would be the NFL’s next big thing with their win over the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV on January 30, 2000, and their return to the big game two seasons later. Unfortunately for them, the Rams ran into an unexpected two-touchdown underdog in the New England Patriots, and that Tom Brady guy.
With that, the NFL’s future turned on its head for the next two decades.
We all know that on February 9, 2025, the Kansas City Chiefs were on the precipice of becoming the first team to win three straight NFL championships since the 1965-1967 Green Bay Packers. Then, they got themselves bombed by the Eagles, especially Vic Fangio’s defense — a unit that pressured Patrick Mahomes ceaselessly without blitzing once.
The 40-22 final score was not at all indicative of how the Eagles beat up on the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX — Kansas City scored two touchdowns a 1:06 late fourth-quarter stretch, and you could take the 40-6 score before them as the true measure of Philly’s dominance.
So, maybe these Eagles are the NFL’s next dynasty? On paper, the prospects look good.
In Howie Roseman, the franchise has a general manager so adept, other GMs get nervous when his name pops up on the Caller ID. In Nick Sirianni, there’s a head coach who has learned to balance his prickliness with the need to relate to people in meaningful ways. And in defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, there’s the best and most important assistant coach in the league.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts has transcended many of the early bumps that defined his career for a while. And while regression to the mean tells us that we probably can’t expect another historic season like the Eagles got out of Saquon Barkley in 2024, it certainly helps that Barkley will be running once again behind the NFL’s best offensive line.
The defense is getting younger... and quite possibly better. Last season, it was linebacker Zach Baun who was the primary beneficiary of Fangio’s genius. Now, Fangio has two prominent and fascinating tools to play with in first-round linebacker Jihaad Campbell...
...and second-round safety Andrew Mukuba.
If these Eagles are to become the gold standard for the NFL in the 2025 season and beyond, here are three guys who will help them do it. In the continuation of our “Hidden Gems” series, we take a deep dive on one underrated veteran, one underrated free-agent signing, and one underrated draft pick.
Fly, Eagles, Fly? It certainly looks that way.
Middle Tennessee State has been a bit of an unheralded Defensive Back University in recent years, considering that both Kevin Byard and Charvarius Ward went there. The latest in this line of Blue Raiders...
