After achieving Super Bowl success last season, the Philadelphia Eagles are looking ahead to what’s next.
While Philly didn’t make a ton of splashy free agency moves this offseason, it did ensure some key pieces like running back Saquon Barkley and linebacker Zack Baun would don Eagles uniforms for the foreseeable future. The next step in Philadelphia’s process is the 2025 NFL draft, where it holds the 32nd overall pick in the first round.
Will the Eagles use the draft to reload after their title win? We interviewed Olivia Reiner of The Philadelphia Inquirer to find out.
Here’s what Reiner had to say about Philadelphia’s possible draft approach and more, edited for length and clarity:
The Eagles re-signed Baun and gave Barkley a new deal. What do you see as their most important free agency move?
Reiner: “Zack Baun is definitely the biggest signing that they made in free agency, and that’s, of course, by keeping one of their own who performed extremely above expectations. Above, I think any of our expectations, among the public, among Zack Baun’s own expectations. He was one of the most important parts of the Eagles’ defense last season, and he deserved to get rewarded by some team. It is not typically the Eagles’ MO to sign inside linebackers to long-term contract extensions or long-term deals. But I think the Eagles look at him less from a positional perspective and more from like, ‘Hey, this is a really special player, both on and off the field, and this is a player that we want to keep around.’ So that was ultimately the decision that the Eagles made. They had a number of big-name free agents going into the offseason, and ultimately, he was the one that they were able to keep. They let Josh Sweat walk, Milton Williams. Ultimately, they traded C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Darius Slay, they cut him. So there’s a lot of big names coming off the books, big contracts coming off the books, all with an eye toward the future.
“In free agency, kind of like outside of the Eagles, they are pretty much focused on bringing in guys on one-year deals, players who haven’t necessarily lived up to expectations. Perhaps they have the draft pedigree, or they’ve shown flashes at times throughout their careers, but they haven’t quite lived up to expectations. Ultimately bringing those guys in on cost-effective contracts, all with the goal of keeping cap hit low, keeping cash readily available, so in the future, the Eagles can start to sign some of their younger players who will become eligible for contracts.”
Who do you think can make the biggest impact among the group of external additions?
Reiner: “I’m very interested to see how Azeez Ojulari fares for the Eagles. I think he was the name that I was most intrigued by going into this offseason. When you looked at the state of the edge rusher position for the Eagles, you had Josh Sweat becoming an unrestricted free agent, ultimately signing with the Arizona Cardinals. It didn’t seem likely that he was going to stick around, just given his performance, particularly in the Super Bowl. He had probably built up a big market for himself through that performance, and then ultimately the Eagles having some younger players on the roster, on the depth chart that would be able to replace a Josh Sweat. Looking at a guy like Nolan Smith, who really took a huge step in year two, and Jalyx Hunt, their third-round pick in last year’s draft out of Houston Christian, who started to come on more and more as the season progressed. So you have two young guys who are gearing up to take yet another step in their careers this upcoming season. So I think that makes the loss of Josh Sweat a little bit easier to swallow. In addition to the loss of Josh Sweat, you have the retirement of Brandon Graham. While Graham was certainly a 15-year NFL veteran, he had been around for a long time, but he was still playing some good football. Still playing some meaningful snaps, up until his injury.
“The Eagles needed to get some bodies in the room and Azeez Ojulari, I think, not only will be another body in the room, but he is someone who has had, maybe, not the start to his career that he would have wanted because of the injuries he has sustained throughout it. You go back to his rookie season in 2021, the only season that he was completely healthy all year long, the fact that he came away from that season with eight sacks, started three games. I think the Eagles see a lot of potential in him, and if he can stay healthy and carve out a role in this Eagles defense as a situational pass rusher, I think they’ll be really pleased. It’s a good situation for him too, not only to get to play, but to be on a one-year deal to revisit the market next year, if he’s able to prove himself and carve out a role, he could potentially be in line for a bigger payday in the offseason.”
How do you think the Eagles’ free-agency approach impacts their strategy going into the NFL draft?
Reiner: “There are certainly still some holes on this team going into the draft. Perhaps maybe not as evident or maybe not a lot of starting roles up for grabs, but I still think, even though they have added quite a lot of edge rusher depth, I still think that could be a position that the Eagles prioritize in the draft, simply because the Eagles are always prioritizing the trenches. Whether it’s defensively on the edges, in the interior and even on the other side of the ball, too, on the offensive line. The Eagles, as we know, like to build from the trenches out, and I think that we can continue to see the Eagles invest draft capital in both of those areas as they continue to shore up the depth at both spots. Like I said, whether that’s edge rusher, defensive tackle. The Eagles have got Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter returning this upcoming season. It’ll be interesting to see if the Eagles elect to pick up Jordan Davis’ fifth-year option by the deadline next month. Regardless, with Milton Williams departing, the Eagles are definitely going to need to add to that group, seeing as they haven’t in free agency. As I mentioned on the other side of the ball with the offensive line, there’s some question marks there for this upcoming season, particularly at right guard. I didn’t mention Mekhi Becton earlier, but he was also a big name that left in free agency, signing with the Los Angeles Chargers. … Losing him, those are big shoes, literally and figuratively, to replace and they’re going to be turning to someone — they have a few options in house right now.
“They have Tyler Steen, who has been on the team for the last couple seasons serving in a backup role. Has the ability to play both guard and tackle, was able to get in a couple games last year and fared pretty well, even though he didn’t win the starting role out of training camp last offseason. They also traded for, in the C.J. Gardner-Johnson trade, getting back Kenyon Green from the Houston Texans, who, again, Howie Roseman likes his draft pedigree. Has the draft pedigree, just hasn’t had the start to his career that he would like either. So again, kind of like another reclamation project for the Eagles. The Eagles have a lot of confidence in their development process, in their offensive linemen, especially with veteran coach Jeff Stoutland at the helm. They could turn to one of those two options. They could also end up drafting an option, that wouldn’t be shocking either.
“Picking [at] 32 is obviously great. It means they won the Super Bowl, but it also means that it’s kind of a little bit of a crapshoot to think about exactly who they might go after, or what position they might target at the end of the first round.”
What are some of the key draft prospect names you’ve been keeping an eye on this offseason?
Reiner: “I’ve been really interested and I feel like a hot name that I keep seeing in mock drafts is Walter Nolen, the defensive tackle out of Texas A&M and Ole Miss. It seems like there’s a lot of buzz around him, and he’s had a really solid college career. Just watching him on tape the other day, I was really impressed by his ability in the run game, his ability to shoot gaps. I think one of the knocks on him is maybe his pass rush moves, and sort of the diversification of the moves that he has when it comes to rushing the quarterback. But I’d be kind of intrigued to see if the Eagles would go the defensive tackle route in the first round, just because of, especially the loss of Milton Williams. I think the Eagles are high on Jordan Davis and bringing him back, but that would be for an extra year in addition to his rookie contract. So after that, we’ll see if Davis sticks around or plays well enough to stick around and to earn himself a second contract with the Eagles.
“But I think continuing to add to that defensive tackle group should be a priority for them in this draft, and I think Nolen does a lot of the things well that the Eagles like and could potentially be a player of interest for them early in the draft.”
On the difference in offseason approach from 2024 to now…
Reiner: “We’ll see how this offseason goes. It’s definitely a different approach compared to last offseason. So I think it might leave some fans feeling uneasy coming off of the Super Bowl, seeing so many of the important players on the team depart in free agency. It’s not easy to stomach, but Howie Roseman has said time and time again that this is kind of all with an eye toward the future. Everything is being done in order to keep the team young, to make sure that there’s sort of a balance on the roster between having players under big contracts and also being able to fill some of those starting roles by players on rookie contracts or lesser contracts.
“Looking at the defense last offseason, there were a lot of players like Zack Baun on a one-year deal. You had Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell on their rookie contracts. Nakobe Dean is still playing on his rookie deal. So they’ve got to have both, and I think this is their way of continuing to do that to be able to compete at a high level. But also keeping the balance sheet in a good spot, too.”
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