The Eagles desperately needed a better secondary, so Howie Roseman built a better secondary.
It’s that simple.
Many things went wrong in 2023, leading to a catastrophic collapse, but the lack of depth in the Eagles’ secondary topped the list. After the Eagles trimmed their roster down to 53 players, it was obvious how much this unit had changed.
“The offseason is our top priority,” the Eagles general manager said Tuesday afternoon. “I feel like I have to take responsibility for not giving the coaches the best positions in our defensive backfield last year, and I don’t want that to happen again.”
“I’m excited about the guys we have. I’m excited about the opportunities here, certainly in the next 24 hours, to continue to grow this group.”
For the second year in a row, the Eagles kept 11 defensive backs on their original 53-man roster. And for the second year in a row, the average age of those 11 players was exactly 25.64 years old.
But the composition of the group will be completely different in 2024.
Check this out:
| 2023 | 2024 |
| Darius Slay: Age 32 | Darius Slay: Age 33 |
| James Bradberry: Age 30 | Quinyon Mitchell: Age 23 |
| Avonte Maddox: Age 27 | Isaiah Rodgers: Age 26 |
| Josh Jobe: Age 25 | Kelee Ringo: Age 22 |
| Mario Goodrich: Age 24 | Cooper DeJean: Age 21 |
| Eli Ricks: Age 21 | Eli Ricks: Age 22 |
| Kelee Ringo: Age 21 | CJ Gardner-Johnson: Age 26 |
| Reed Blankenship: Age 24 | Reed Blankenship: Age 25 |
| Terrell Edmunds: Age 26 | Avonte Maddox: Age 28 |
| Justin Evans: Age 29 | James Bradberry: Age 31 |
| Sydney Brown: Age 23 | Tristin McCollum: Age 25 |
There are some big changes from last year’s roster. At cornerback, two of the top players on the 2023 team (James Bradberry and Avonte Maddox) are now backup safeties on the 2024 roster. The Eagles had three key additions at cornerback: Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean in the first two rounds of the draft and Isaiah Rodgers, who returns from a one-year suspension. The Eagles also bring back Kelee Ringo and Eli Ricks, who had promising rookie seasons and are still very young backups.
The oldest player on the team is Darius Slay. While the history of 33-year-old cornerbacks isn’t great, it’s fair to say that Slay hasn’t looked like he’s lost his rhythm this summer. And even if he does fall off at some point, the Eagles are in a better position to handle it this year.
At the safety position, the Eagles can do without the aging migrants Terrell Edmunds and Justin Evans. Roseman brought back CJ Gardner-Johnson on a multi-year contract in the offseason to play alongside Reed Blankenship in the starting lineup.
And the 2024 roster doesn’t even include Sydney Brown, who will begin the year on the reserve/PUP after suffering a torn ACL late in his rookie season. He will miss at least the first four games, but is still expected to play this season. Trading Brown for Bradberry would make the 2024 secondary even younger and more attractive.
In general, the Eagles have a younger roster in 2024. Roseman said that’s because they’re top-heavy from a contract perspective and therefore need more players on rookie contracts. That’s probably true.
But it’s hard to ignore that the secondary — at least in key spots — looks younger than it did in 2023. While some of the young players are still untested, this secondary looked pretty good in training camp. The goal is for it to last through a 17-game season.
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