‘Growing through the journey:’ Why historically young Eagles defense has huge upside originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
You go through some of the names and ask yourself, “Were those guys all really here just last year?”
Nicholas Morrow.
Zach Cunningham.
Justin Evans.
Shaquille Leonard.
James Bradberry.
Kevin Byard.
No wonder the Eagles’ defense fell apart.
The nucleus of the 2023 Eagles defense was a group of older veteran guys, most of whom had little connection to the team or the city and were just passing through and collecting paychecks on their way to their next stop.
All those guys are gone, along with Haason Reddick, who was very good but was also an older player, and Bradberry, who’s technically still on Injured Reserve but with no apparent future here. Leonard, Cunningham and Evans never found another NFL job.
In all, the Eagles had 11 players 28 or older play at least 150 defensive snaps last year. Of that group, only Darius Slay and Brandon Graham are still on the roster.
The defense has gone from one of the oldest in the league to one of the youngest.
There are still issues and concerns, but unlike last year they seem fixable as this young group grows and learns.
“I think the biggest part is our maturity,” said 3rd-year safety Reed Blankenship, still only 25. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a rookie or second- or third-year guy. We have players that understand football. Yeah, they may not have experience like Slay or B.G., but we learn from them and we learn from our own mistakes pretty fast.
“Don’t make the mistake twice. We’ve got some smart guys. That’s the biggest thing.”
The defensive guys who started at least 10 games last year averaged 28.0 years old. The defensive guys who started against the Browns Sunday averaged 25.5 years old.
That’s an astonishing difference.
The Eagles on Sunday started six defensive players who are 25 or younger, including promising rookie corners Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean. Only the Lions and the Eagles’ opponent Sunday – the Giants – started more on Sunday, with seven each.
Although Spotrac doesn’t break down average team ages by offense and defense, they do list overall team averages. The Eagles last year had the 12th-oldest roster in the league with an average age of 26.6 and this year they have the 3rd-youngest roster at 25.9.
They’re actually older on offense, mainly because most of last year’s group is back. The entire drop is on defense.
Why this is important now is because even though the Eagles’ defense has been up and down so far – struggled vs. the Packers and Bucs, mixed against the Falcons, very good against the Saints and Browns – this group has one thing last year’s didn’t:
A future.
The jury is still out on a lot of these young guys, but 10 of the Eagles’ 11 defensive starters Sunday were 27 or younger, with Slay the only exception. That’s the most in franchise history in a meaningful game. They did start 11 in the meaningless final game of 2010 (Jamar Adams, Colt Anderson, Brodrick Bunkley, Jeremy Clark, Keenan Clayton, Moise Fokou, Omar Gaither, Trevard Lindley, Dimitri Patterson, Darryl Tapp, Daniel Te’o Neshein).
So far this year, 22 guys have gotten onto the field for the Eagles on defense. Eight are 23 or younger, eight are 24 through 26, four are 27 or 28 and only B.G. and Slay are older than 28.
“It starts with leadership and the example that’s been set,” said 23-year-old Moro Ojomo, who’s averaging 21 snaps in the d-line rotation. “You’ve got a guy like Fletcher who’s been here, B.G.’s still here, Slay’s still here. Those are phenomenal vets. So it’s been pretty cool to just see how they go about their business and replicate that.
“Everyone that’s young wants to play for 12, 15 years like those guys. So we go about it like that.”
The Eagles are in the middle of the pack in several defensive categories – 14th in points allowed, 12th on third down, 5th in red zone – despite ranking among the worst in sacks and takeaways.
But what Howie Roseman, Nick Sirianni and Vic Fangio are counting on is all these young guys getting better and becoming more consistent and growing into a legitimate NFL defense.
“You see the talent, you just want to make sure they’re accountable and make sure they grow a lot faster because of the situation they’re in,” B.G. said. “Because at the end of the day it’s about this year. I don’t know nothing about next year, it’s about how we take care of this year and why it can’t be us.
“Sometimes it might not look as good as people will want it on the field. But we’re growing through the journey. I see a lot of fight with these guys, and I could work with that. That’s why I feel like we’re going to keep getting better.
“We’ll make our mistakes, make sure that we’re actually learning from it and really feeling like, ‘Man, I’m gonna get that right.’”
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