Pro Football Rumors
The defending Super Bowl champions experienced what many winners tend to see in the offseason, losing several key pieces like defensive tackle Milton Williams, pass rusher Josh Sweat, offensive guard Mekhi Becton, linebacker Oren Burks, running back Kenneth Gainwell, and cornerbacks Darius Slay, Isaiah Rodgers, and Avonte Maddox.
For some of these positions, the Eagles were well prepared with recently drafted players or designed trades addressing the new vacancies. Some positions, though, are still up in the air, with camp battles likely on the horizon, as highlighted by Jimmy Kempski of the PhillyVoice.
Replacing Becton is going to be a challenge at the forefront of the team’s position decisions. Tyler Steen, a third-year guard out of Alabama, was in competition with Becton for the starting job at right guard last year. An injury in the preseason knocked him out of the running, but Becton had been running away with the job already at the time of the injury. Steen does have three starts in his two years of play. To push Steen, Philadelphia traded for Kenyon Green, sending C.J. Gardner-Johnson to Houston in exchange.
Green has started the majority of games in two of his three seasons — he missed the 2023 campaign with a shoulder injury. In 2022, Pro Football Focus (subscription required) graded him as the worst guard (with enough qualifying snaps) in the NFL, ranking 77th of 77. Last year, Green improved, but only slightly, coming into the rankings at 76th of 77. Luckily for Green, though, Steen did register enough snaps last year to qualify for the rankings and came in just one slot higher at 75th. While a few other players from the field of backups could also be in consideration for the job, the team hopes that they will be able to develop better results out of Steen or Green in the same fashion that they helped turn Becton’s career around.
Philadelphia’s top two cornerbacks are pretty set with Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell solidly in place. DeJean is likely to be the primary option to fill the slot in nickel packages, so the question of who will step up as CB3 has been a point of focus early in the offseason. At the moment, Kelee Ringo is looking like the favorite to land the job. Ringo had a decent rookie campaign but saw a demotion to CB5 or 6 with the arrivals of Mitchell and DeJean. Ringo’s biggest competition for the position is likely veteran Adoree’ Jackson, though rookie fifth-round pick Mac McWilliams and reserve corner Eli Ricks could be longshots for the role.
The team’s first-round pick this year, Jihaad Campbell, will be an interesting name to watch in the preseason. Campbell was drafted as a linebacker but split his time at Alabama between the off-ball position and an edge rushing role. Because of this, Campbell could step in as a starter next to Zack Baun as an off-ball linebacker or compete for a role in a pass rushing group that doesn’t...
