Eagles Update

Youth Movement: From Free Agency to Post Draft Mini-camp

There is a youth movement underway in Philadelphia. So many Eagles veterans have recently moved on. Names like Donovan McNabb, Brian Westbrook, Kevin Curtis, Shawn Andrews, Brian Dawkins, Lito Sheppard and Sheldon Brown make for a large list of notable recent departures. In many ways the 2010 Eagles are going to be a much different Eagles team than we are accustomed to. The organization refuses to use the term “rebuilding”. The term does imply a certain intent to forfeit immediate success for future success by performing sweeping changes to the roster and, essentially, starting over. That was certainly not their intent as they renewed the team in phases over the period of the last few years. It seems the idea was to achieve the needed changes while remaining competitive. Sounds good, of course, if you can pull it off. The transition to leaning on a young core of offensive players did not hinder the 2009 season. Conversely, considering McNabb’s inconsistent play and the team’s defensive struggles down the stretch, it just may be that the young offensive players actually carried this team into the playoffs. The young guys -DeSean Jackson, LeSean McCoy, Jeremy Maclin and Brent Celek – accounted for 70% of the Eagles offensive production in 2009.

This year the Eagles’ front office is largely focusing on the other side of the ball, using nine of their thirteen draft picks in the 2010 draft on defensive players.  Younger veteran help has also been brought in to help the defense in the form of players like Alex Hall, Daryll Tapp and Ernie Simms. The Eagles defense will definitely have at least one new starter (replacing Sheldon Brown), and more than likely a few.

Last but not least, the uncertainty that comes with handing Kevin Kolb the keys to the car (despite however promising he seems now) cannot be overlooked. He is young, talented, hungry, and yet largely still untested. His status is… that he is the man now…for now… at least until he shows it on the field… consistently… then he’ll just be “the man”.

When the Eagles held their post draft mini-camp this weekend, the youth movement, the refreshing of the roster if you will, made for what many players and coaches described as a “new energy” or a “great energy”; both in the locker room and on the practice field. The players were not in pads and there was no hitting, so its silly to get worked up over much, if anything, from this short camp. On the other hand, it seems apparent from interviews and practice footage, that both the players and the coaches are not only on board with all the changes, but are genuinely excited about the general youth movement and about Kevin Kolb.

All of this is translating into a heap of high expectations for a very talented but very young team. Time will tell if the Eagles will be able to successfully avoid a “rebuilding” period. The Eagle possess the 9th most difficult schedule in the NFL this year. Kevin Kolb and Company are not going to have much time for on-the-job learning if they have any realistic playoff aspirations for 2010 season.