• Of course, as we detailed Monday, there are a lot of reasons for Philly’s sustained success. But if there’s one that’s replicable for other teams, it’s how the Eagles, over the past two-plus decades, have continued to feed their lines with investments in draft capital, cap space and real dollars, building strength on strength.
I’ll never forget Chip Kelly delivering this line to me after selecting Lane Johnson with the fourth pick, and his first pick as Eagles coach, in the 2013 draft: “Big people beat up little people.”
Kelly’s long gone, but Johnson’s still there, and so too is that ethos, which existed in Philly long before he arrived and will continue to be there long after Johnson’s gone.
And the idea isn’t just to get good players up front. Everyone wants to do that. It’s to leave nothing to chance in that pursuit, and to keep the pipeline steady, even when it may not seem to need any more juice.
That’s how the Eagles were ready with not one (Cam Jurgens), but two (Landon Dickerson) players capable of replacing Jason Kelce when he retired. It’s how, similarly, they had Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis and Milton Williams lined up when Fletcher Cox walked away. It’s why they committed to keeping Jordan Mailata on the roster as he learned to play football, and how they were so ready when Jason Peters’s anointed successor, Andre Dillard, didn’t wind up being what they envisioned him to be at left tackle.
It’s also how they could strike out on an edge rusher in free agency—missing on Bryce Huff—and still have that spot wind up being a game-altering factor in the Super Bowl, with Josh Sweat, Jalyx Hunt, Nolan Smith and Brandon Graham manning the position.
So will this impact the way the NFL does business? Let’s just say the timing of this Super Bowl win, and what it underscores, should be pretty good for NFL players and incoming draft prospects such as Jedrick Wills Jr., Ronnie Stanley, Will Campbell, Kelvin Banks Jr., Josh Conerly Jr., Josh Simmons, Haason Reddick, Abdul Carter, Mason Graham, Jalon Walker and … you get the idea. (It’ll obviously be good for the Eagles’ own guys—Sweat, Williams and Mekhi Becton—as well.)
