2012 Team Review: Philadelphia Eagles

What Went Right: Bryce Brown and Nick Foles

        Well a lot of things went wrong for the Eagles this year, two of their later rounds picks certainly didn’t. In the latter half of the season, the story of the Eagles was defined by the success of Bryce Brown and Nick Foles. Brown, who had bounced around in college football after being a top recruit from high school, was a revelation in the 7^th round. Expected to be a power back to compliment Lesean McCoy, Brown surprised a lot of people with his explosiveness through the hole and the ability to break a big run. He’ll be excellent paired with McCoy in the near future. Foles, a third-round pick, was expected to compete for the back-up

spot. After having an excellent preseason, he was elevated to the main backup and eventually ended up starting six games at the end of the season. During those games, in spite of losing most of them, he showed the kind of arm, accuracy and intelligence to be a viable option going forward. These kinds og big surprised are what make the draft so interesting and help teams through rough patches.

What Went Wrong: Health and The Redzone

        In spite of the offense and defense ranking in the upper half of the league in yards and yards allowed, they were near the bottom of the league in points and points allowed. A big reason for this was the number of times they turned the ball over. They were minus 24 in turnover margin. Another reason was the other major problem this team had, injuries. The Eagles lost several starters along the offensive line, including All-Pro tackle Jason Peters. Michael Vick, Lesean McCoy and Desean Jackson all suffered injuries and missed time at various points during the season. With the inconsistencies at these areas, the offense found little rhythm and made a lot of mistakes. As the team becomes healthy again and a consistent coaching message is established, the team should return to form, somewhat. A thumper at safety would also help in the run defense, which was rather porous.

Player of the Year: Bryce Brown

        It was difficult to pick a great player among this group, considering how many had disappointing seasons. But, Brown not only did not disappoint this season, he excelled. He led the team in rushing touchdowns with four and averaged almost five yards per carry. He did suffer from fumbling problems, but not so much that he doesn’t have a ton of value as a change of pace back behind McCoy. Even if the new coaching staff doesn’t like him, following this season, they could get a good package of draft picks trading him to teams that need a running back like the Packers, the Jets or the Chargers. Even St. Louis would be interested pairing Brown with Rams legend Steven Jackson.

Keeper: Jeremy Maclin

        Maclin isn’t going to be a free agent this offseason, but he’s an important part of the passing game in Philadelphia. While Desean Jackson makes bigger plays, and Avant might make more of his opportunities, Maclin is the best receiver on the Eagles team. He’s more complete as a route runner and red zone receiver than Jackson and a bigger play threat than Avant. He led the team in receiving touchdowns this year and, while he’s yet to break 1000 yards receiving, he’s hauled in 26 touchdown passes over the course of his Eagles career. He’s the go to guy when the Eagles get into the red zone. He’s earned himself a good contract extension.

Goner: Michael Vick

        There are plenty of players who could have filled this spot. The Eagles have tied a lot of money up in a lot of different positions. However, they have not invested more money in any player who’s been more disappointing than Michael Vick. His injury issues and turnover problems resulted in his biggest champion, Andy Reid, losing his job. Carrying a 16.9 million dollar cap hit next year, the likelihood that Vick will be back next year is very small.

Should Draft: Offensive Line

        The injury issues that Jason Peters have suffered along with the other starts who missed parts of the season, it’s very clear that the Eagles need to address issues at the line. A young pair of tackles who could pair with a new quarterback like Tra Thomas and Jon Runyun did back in the early days of Andy Reid’s tenure would go a long way to fixing the problems the Eagles had this season. Again, a thumper at safety would also help a lot. The eagles have never really recovered from the loss of Brian Dawkins.