The biggest Eagles question at each position coming back from the bye

The biggest Eagles question at each position coming back from the bye originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Eagles are coming off their early Week 5 bye week with a 2-2 record and a lot to prove over the last 13 games of the regular season.

Things could still go either way.

But as we begin to get ready for their Week 6 home game against the Cleveland Browns, here are some of the biggest questions about this team at each position:

Quarterback: Can Jalen Hurts get his turnover problem in check?

While Hurts has certainly done some good things in the Eagles’ first four games, everything he has done has been overshadowed by his turnovers. He has seven (4 INTs, 3 lost fumbles) through four games and is second to just Will Levis (9) in the NFL. And three of his seven turnovers have come in the red zone.

Through four games, Hurts has an interception percentage of 3.0%, which is even higher than his 2.8% in 2023 when he had a career-high 15 interceptions. Dating back to the beginning of 2023, Hurts has thrown 19 interceptions and has lost 8 fumbles — that’s 27 turnovers in 21 games. That’s not good. And according to PFF, Hurts leads the NFL in turnover worthy plays with 11 — his turnover worthy play percentage of 6.7% is the highest in the league among QBs with at least 100 drop backs.

Running back: Will Saquon Barkley keep up this pace?

Barkley has been the Eagles’ best player early in the 2024 season. He has 435 rushing yards, 85 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns in four games. He’s also averaging 6.0 yards per carry and 2.2 rushing yards over expected per carry. He has been incredible and is proving that he’s still one of the best running backs in the NFL.

Barkley has 85 touches through four games, which comes out to 21.25 per game. That means he’s on pace for 361 touches this season. His career-high in touches is 352, which he had on the dot in 2018 and 2022. So it’s definitely possible that Barkley could keep up with this pace. The Eagles haven’t had a running back with this heavy a workload since LeSean McCoy had 366 and 340 touches in 2013 and 2014.

Receiver: Will Jahan Dotson start to be a productive WR3?

The Eagles traded away a third-round pick as a part of the deal to acquire Dotson from the Commanders. The former first-round pick had fallen out of favor with a new coaching staff in Washington and the Eagles brought him in to be their No. 3. But even without A.J. Brown and then DeVonta Smith before the bye, Dotson still hasn’t been very productive. He has just 5 catches for 25 yards and is averaging just 0.2 yards per route run, which is the lowest figure in the NFL among the 70 players who had run at least 100 routes. That’s very unproductive.

Now, the Eagles have Dotson under contract for this season and next so there’s a longer shelf life but it’s clear that this isn’t working out just yet. It can take some time for Hurts to trust his receivers and he and Dotson didn’t have training camp together because the trade didn’t happen until Aug. 22. But do they have time during the season to build a strong rapport? Brown and Smith are always going to be the top two options in the passing offense but the Eagles have been yearning for a more consistent No. 3.

Tight end: Can Dallas Goedert remain a big part of the offense?

It seemed strange that against the Falcons, in the first game Brown missed with a hamstring injury, that Goedert wasn’t a big part of the offense. He had just 4 targets in that loss. The Eagles corrected that in Week 3, when Goedert had 10 catches for 170 yards against the Saints. And he followed that up with a strong 7/62 day in Tampa. Goedert is now on pace for a 1,200 yard season and is averaging 75.3 yards per game.

While it would be unfair to expect that type of high-level production to continue when Brown and Smith are back after the bye, the Eagles also can’t let Goedert get completely lost. It’s clear he has the ability to be productive and the Eagles have to make a concerted effort to keep him involved.

Offensive line: Should the Eagles extend Mekhi Becton?

There were some concerns about the Eagles’ offensive line entering this season. After all, they lost a future Hall of Famer when Jason Kelce retired and then they were moving Cam Jurgens from right guard to center. But things have worked well so far. Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson are two of the best tackles in the NFL and the interior offensive linemen are playing well too. The biggest question is probably about Becton’s future.

The Eagles entered training camp with Tyler Steen at right guard but seemed eager to get Becton in there when Steen suffered an ankle injury on Day 3. Since then, Becton hasn’t left the right guard spot and the 25-year-old former first-round pick is playing pretty well. He’s with the Eagles on a one-year deal and there’s a chance he can use this season as a stepping stone to hit the free agent market in March. But if he likes it here and thinks working with Jeff Stoutland is the best thing for his career, maybe the Eagles try to extend him during the season. It’s at least worth exploring.

Defensive tackle: Can Jalen Carter be consistently elite?

Against the Saints, Carter completely took over the game. Even though he didn’t have a sack in that game, he filled up the stat sheet with 4 hits, 2 TFLs, a QB hit and two batted passes. He was dominant in that game. But he hasn’t been able to be that guy consistently. That’s the next step in his career. Because there’s no question that Carter has an elite ceiling but in order for him to live up to his extremely high potential, he needs to do it week in and week out.

Do the Eagles need more from Jordan Davis? Sure. That would help a lot too. But there’s no more important player on the Eagles’ defense than Carter. If they’re going to be good, he needs to be the engine.

Edge rusher: Will the pressure come?

As a team, the Eagles have just six sacks through four games and just two of them — one from Josh Sweat and one from Brandon Graham — have come from edge rushers. That’s not good enough. While the Eagles obviously need to shore up against the run, they desperately need to get better production out of their edge rushers. That should start with Bryce Huff. The Eagles signed Huff to a three-year, $51 deal this offseason and he has just two combined tackles. Huff hasn’t gotten close to a quarterback yet and that needs to change.

In fact, the Eagles’ best edge rusher through the first quarter of the season is the 36-year-old Graham. That’s good for Graham but not good for the team. Because of Huff’s struggles, no one has really noticed that Nolan Smith hasn’t been producing yet either. The Eagles used a late first-round pick on Smith last season and he should be more productive in Year 2. That hasn’t happened yet.

Linebacker: Can Nakobe Dean be a solid MIKE?

The Eagles entered the season with Dean and Zack Baun as their starting linebackers and there have been good moments and bad, especially with Dean. The 2022 third-round pick was supposed to be a full-time starter last year but suffered injuries early in the season. He wasn’t expected to be the starter this year but he beat out Devin White in training camp. It wasn’t that long ago that many folks thought Dean was the steal of the 2022 draft but now it’s about figuring out if Dean can be a decent starter in this league.

The Eagles gave White a somewhat significant contract but he’s a backup and a healthy scratch. Dean has shown some promise but he has also shown some ineffective play. Dean is on the smaller size and he has struggled in coverage at times.

Cornerback: Is it time to play Cooper DeJean?

The Eagles traded up in the second round to draft DeJean with the No. 40 overall pick and they were really excited to get him in the building. If DeJean didn’t enter training camp with a hamstring injury, there’s a chance he’d already be the Eagles’ nickel cornerback over Avonte Maddox. But since DeJean missed a lot of time this summer, he was a bit behind. Maddox played mostly safety in training camp but has been the nickel for the first four weeks of the season and has been struggling. The 28-year-old has had success in the NFL before but isn’t off to a good start.

In Week 1, DeJean was the Eagles’ extra defender in the dime package but that was pulled from him in Week 2. The Eagles wanted him to focus on one position, as the backup nickel. But DeJean has gotten some first-team reps and it seems like it might not be long before he overtakes Maddox for that starting role.

Safety: Is C.J. Gardner-Johnson going to make big plays?

Back in 2022, Gardner-Johnson was a huge playmaker for the Eagles’ defense with six interceptions in 12 games. Those big plays haven’t come yet in 2024. Not only that but Gardner-Johnson leads the team in missed tackles and hasn’t been very good in coverage.

There’s no doubt that CJGJ has brought back some swagger to the Eagles’ defense. It was an element they were clearly missing in 2023 and he is bringing the juice. But the Eagles’ defense also needs some play-making. We’ll see if Gardner-Johnson can provide that the rest of the way.

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