PHILADELPHIA — If I told you in August that the Eagles would win Super Bowl LIX but afterward they would lose Milton Williams, Josh Sweat, Kenneth Gainwell, Oren Burks and Mekhi Becton, your response would have been a resounding:

“Who cares?”

The performances of that quintet, as well as a few others, outpaced expectations, but none of them was the best player on the team. Despite their productive 2024 seasons, none of them was even the best player at his position, nor, in most cases, the second-best, despite their fine seasons.

Even after the first week of free agency denuded the Birds roster to a degree, the reasons for optimism in 2024 are the same reasons for arrogance in 2025.

No matter how many players leave the Eagles for other teams, the Eagles still will be the best team in the NFL in 2025. They should win Super Bowl LX as easily as they won its predecessor.

That’s because their cornerstones are players in their prime who’ve shown no indication of decline. Tackles Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata and running back Saquon Barkley have no equals. The best receiver in Eagles history, A.J. Brown, is on his way to the Hall of Fame.

Further, and more importantly, the Eagles are loaded with even more players who haven’t sniffed their ceilings. The Eagles’ future isn’t just bright for next year. It’s bright for the next five years.

There is no general manager in the NFL who wouldn’t trade his roster for theirs.

Certainly, there’s no guarantee that the older players will remain elite, but all of them treat their bodies like temples, so you’ll get their best.

Similarly, there’s no guarantee that the young players will get better, but there’s no logical reason to think they won’t.

Let’s start at the top.

QB1

In his fourth season as a starter, Jalen Hurts had a career-best 103.7 passer rating and a career-low five interceptions, tied his career high in adjusted average yards per attempt (8.42), and remained a standout runner who scored 14 touchdowns on the ground. When the games mattered more he got even better: 108.6 playoff passer rating, 10 total playoff touchdowns, and Super Bowl MVP.

Hurts’ passer rating in four playoff runs: 95.4.

Tom Brady’s passer rating through his first four playoff runs: 89.4. Brady worked hard and got better.

Hurts works even harder, so he will, too.

DT1

The most impressive stat in Jalen Carter’s Pro Bowl sophomore season wasn’t his 4 1/2 sacks, his 12 tackles for loss, or his two sacks in the postseason. It was his 84% usage rate. He took more snaps as a second-year player than the defensive tackle he replaced, Fletcher Cox, took in any of his 12 seasons. He took the second-most snaps per game of any defensive tackle who played at least 16 games. He was double-teamed constantly. And still, he got better. So did his former and current teammate.

DT2

Jordan Davis followed a third straight so-so regular season with a spectacular playoff run, logging three of the five best performances of his career in the postseason in wins over the Packers, Commanders, and Chiefs. He had 31/2 sacks in his career before he collected two sacks in the playoffs, which will give the Eagles every reason to exercise his fifth-year option in May to keep the Georgia Boys together.

DE1

The best thing that could have happened for the Eagles’ near future was the exclusion of its recent past. Brandon Graham’s Week 12 injury meant more playing time for second-year defensive end Nolan Smith, who finished with 6 1/2 sacks in the regular season and collected a league-high four sacks in the playoffs. He looked great in Weeks 15, 16 and 17, too, giving him a seven-game run of excellence that should continue into 2025.

WR2

The Nick Sirianni era began, really, with the drafting of DeVonta Smith in 2021. With the ascent of Hurts and Brown, the arrival of Barkley, and the continued dominance of the offensive line, it’s easy to forget that Smith won the Heisman Trophy and broke DeSean Jackson’s record for receiving yards by a rookie. He’s gotten better every year. Barkley made the passing game the team’s second option, but Smith led the Eagles with a career-best eight touchdown catches in 2024 and added a backbreaker in the Super Bowl.

CBs 1 and 1A

Rookie second-rounder Cooper DeJean ranked first in overall defense among cornerbacks who took at least 800 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus, and he had a pick-six in his first Super Bowl.

Rookie first-rounder Quinyon Mitchell ranked seventh, but he played almost 200 more snaps and generally faced much better receivers, considering he played outside and DeJean played nickel. Mitchell had an interception in the NFC championship game.

Center of attention

No young player outperformed expectations like Cam Jurgens. After sitting as a rookie and playing guard in his second year, Jurgens replaced mentor Jason Kelce and rewarded Kelce’s investment in his education with a Pro Bowl berth, an honor Kelce didn’t receive until hs fourth season.

Kelce wound up with seven.

Expect Jurgens to beat that number.

No team returns intact, especially a team that wins. They Eagles have lost their third-best defensive tackle, behind Carter and Davis; their third-best defensive end, behind Graham and Smith; their third-best linebacker behind Zack Baun, whom they re-signed, and Nakobe Dean; and their fifth-best offensive lineman, and maybe their sixth-best, considering Tyler Steen was playing ahead of Becton until Steen got hurt.

They replaced Gainwell with free-agent monster AJ Dillon, whose arrival made the Tush Push, already virtually unstoppable, completely unstoppable, and second-year back Will Shipley showed signs of Gainwell’s third-down proficiency. Third-year defensive tackle Moro Ojomo might not be Williams today, but Williams didn’t develop into an NFL force until his third season. Jalyx Hunt had two sacks in his first four playoffs games. Sweat had 1 1/2.

It doesn’t matter as much that the Eagles need to replace lost talent with new talent.

What matters is that the massive talent already in Philadelphia makes what should be natural strides of improvement.

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