The Philadelphia Eagles are now a little over 24 hours away from their season-opening clash with the Dallas Cowboys. After a stunning NFL Draft and an offseason of retention, the Birds seem well-poised to make another deep playoff run. However, there will be some questions that need answers in week 1.
Who really won the CB2 battle?
It's kind of wild to think that there was no clear-cut winner for the vacated CB2 role. The hole left by Darius Slay was supposed to be filled by third-year corner Kelee Ringo, but the addition of Adoree Jackson only complicated that. When neither lit the world on fire, Howie Roseman brought in Jakorian Bennett, who Vic Fangio mentioned this week as someone who will see the field in 2025.
The depth chart might say one thing, who starts against Dallas might say another, but at some point, we'll likely need a definitive answer on who will be Quinyon Mitchell's running-mate for the upcoming season.
The Eagles could of course rotate based on matchup, and we do have to remember that a tricky Summer wasn't helped by the fact that all three of these corners were going up against some of the best wideouts in football throughout training camp. But with that said, this Eagles team has next to no weaknesses, so any opportunity to poke a hole in this defense will be maximized by opponents.
Expect George Pickens & Jalen Tolbert (who can move around the line of scrimmage) to get plenty of love from Dak Prescott on Thursday night. with CeeDee Lamb likely locked up in Quinyonamo bay once again.
Can Tyler Steen assert his presence at RG?
The young guard finally has his shot at a starting role after a strong offseason, but slower development-curve has left some longer-term doubters as to how ready he actually is. Preseason quelled a lot of that noise, but he now faces a pretty unique matchup in week 1.
After randomly deciding to trade away their most valuable asset in Micah Parsons, the Cowboys received Kenny Clark in exchange for his services. The veteran DT put up 7.5 sacks in 2023 before signing a meaty extension, and going on to post arguably the worst season of his career. Granted, he was haunted by a toe-injury for much of the season, but he now joins a new team late into the offseason with little time to get up to speed.
This isn't a matchup Steen can take for granted. Clark is an esteemed pass-rusher with 35 sacks to his name since 2016, and has enough experience to mentally out-duel a more inexperienced guard. It's easy to look at his insertion into the defensive line as a nothing burger, but if he can prove that 2024 was an outlier and he's physically as capable as he ever has been, this will be an important challenge for Steen, with Osa Odighizuwa looking to cause Landon Dickerson some problems, who could also be less than 100% following a Training Camp injury scare.
New year, new offense?
The Eagles have brought back virtually their entire championship-winning offense, which is amazing, but with Kevin Patullo replacing the departed Kellen Moore, questions are going to be asked about how the offense will now look. More specifically, for Jalen Hurts.
The Super Bowl MVP has proved he can win in a multitude of ways, going from protecting the rock, to airing it out like a true gunslinger when he has to. Will we see a more aggressive offense in 2025 following Jalen's Super Bowl masterclass, or will we still see the dynamic playbook that depended entirely on situation to get the job done? Fans have been clamoring for Hurts to air it out deep to his wideouts for a long time and were left salivating after the Super Bowl. Is this his turn to put together an MVP-worthy campaign, or will the Eagles stick to their tried and tested blueprint?
