{"id":537150,"date":"2026-01-23T13:59:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T13:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/537150\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T13:59:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T13:59:20","slug":"three-big-questions-facing-the-eagles-this-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/537150\/","title":{"rendered":"Three big questions facing the Eagles this offseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA — The Eagles’ offensive coordinator search<\/a> has taken up much of the oxygen in Philadelphia since their early exit in the postseason, and with good reason given how disappointing that side of the ball was for the defending champs.<\/p>\n

But there are a number of pressing matters facing the franchise this offseason of equal if not greater import that will soon take center stage.<\/p>\n

There are questions about the futures of right tackle Lane Johnson<\/a> and receiver A.J. Brown<\/a>, arguably their two best players.<\/p>\n

The offensive line is iffy for the first time in recent memory. And some key contributors are set to hit free agency.<\/p>\n

Let’s take a look at the priority list for a front office that will have its hands full in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Make a call on A.J. Brown<\/p>\n

Brown, 28, had a hard time hiding his frustration for the better part of the season and there were moments — including in the playoff loss to the 49ers, when the receiver had a pair of drops and finished with three catches for 25 yards on seven targets — that made it feel like his off-field angst had seeped into his on-field performance.<\/p>\n

There are ongoing questions about his compatibility with quarterback Jalen Hurts<\/a>, and it’s fair to wonder whether his attitude toward his situation in Philly will change much given most of the primary actors (with the notable exception of offensive coordinator) are likely to remain the same in 2026.<\/p>\n

While discontentment is bad for the locker room, losing a talent (not to mention a team captain) like Brown is probably worse. He might be the greatest receiver in Eagles history, holding the top two marks for receiving yards in a season while helping Philadelphia reach the Super Bowl in two of his four seasons here.<\/p>\n

The Titans’ decision to trade him did not reflect well on the organization or general manager Jon Robinson, who was fired two days after Brown went off for eight catches, 119 yards and two touchdowns against his former team in December of ’22.<\/p>\n

“It is hard to find great players in the NFL and A.J.’s a great player,” Eagles GM Howie Roseman said recently. “I think from my perspective, that’s what we’re going out and looking for when we go out here in free agency and in the draft is trying to find great players who love football, and he’s that guy.”<\/p>\n

Can the Eagles get full buy-in from Brown or will they feel forced to pivot? There’s no bigger question facing the organization right now.<\/p>\n

Choose a path for key free agents<\/p>\n

The Eagles face the prospect of losing both Brown and tight end Dallas Goedert<\/a>, who took a pay cut to remain in Philly last season and went on to obliterate his previous high by scoring 11 touchdowns.<\/p>\n

He enters free agency with some momentum and he’s not alone. Other notable Eagles free agents include linebacker Nakobe Dean<\/a>, edge Jaelan Phillips<\/a> and safety Reed Blankenship<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Phillips, 26, was acquired from the Miami Dolphins<\/a> at the November trade deadline for a 2026 third-round pick. He posted two sacks, seven QB hits, four passes defensed and a forced fumble in eight games and proved to be a solid scheme fit for Vic Fangio as well as a culture fit in the building.<\/p>\n

But there are a number of defensive players eligible for new contracts including defensive tackles Jalen Carter<\/a> and Jordan Davis<\/a> and edge Nolan Smith Jr.<\/a>, and others like corners Quinyon Mitchell<\/a> and Cooper DeJean<\/a>, as well as edge Jalyx Hunt<\/a> who soon will be. With many big pay days on the horizon, the front office won’t be able to keep everybody.<\/p>\n

That could make it tough to re-sign Dean. He is a team leader and a standout in the middle of Fangio’s defense but has dealt with his share of injuries and faces the reality that the team spent a first-round pick on linebacker Jihaad Campbell<\/a> last season.<\/p>\n

“Everybody knows I don’t want to go nowhere, I want to stay in Philly,” Dean said. “To be determined.”<\/p>\n

Re-establish dominance along the offensive line<\/p>\n

On a team full of stars, running back Saquon Barkley<\/a> makes it a point to say right tackle Johnson is the best of them all.<\/p>\n

Johnson, 35, continued to play at an All-Pro level when healthy in ’25 but was sidelined down the homestretch with a Lisfranc injury. The Eagles were 8-2 with Johnson in the lineup versus 3-5 without him. Over his time in Philadelphia, the team’s record is 94-41-1 when he plays and 15-28 when he doesn’t.<\/p>\n

First and foremost, the Eagles need to figure out whether Johnson intends on playing a 14thseason or if he’ll call it a career.<\/p>\n

“I think all those conversations that we have of our players are between us and anything they’re doing. I’m not saying that negatively or positively, but anyone you ask about, I think that that’s their business to discuss,” said Roseman. “Obviously, you’re talking about a Hall of Fame player who’s been a huge, huge part of any of our success that we’ve had, and when you watch him play, he’s still playing at an elite level.”<\/p>\n

Either way, it makes sense for the Eagles to plan for Johnson’s eventual departure by looking for his successor in the draft. It would be no surprise if they used multiple picks on an offensive front that wasn’t as deep as it has been in previous years and didn’t perform to its dominant standard.<\/p>\n

Injuries played a significant part in that. They’ll have to hope that time off helps heal the banged-up bodies of players such as guard Landon Dickerson<\/a> and center Cam Jurgens<\/a> and leads Johnson to conclude that he wants to suit up for one more season, while also making contingency plans should things go in another direction.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

]<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 ESPN Internet Ventures. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA — The Eagles’ offensive coordinator search has taken up much of the oxygen in Philadelphia since their…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":537151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5132],"tags":[237468,5229,165044,5723,1232,1448,2830,1311,1105,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-537150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-237468","tag-america","tag-brown-aj","tag-espn","tag-nfl","tag-pa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115944775167061671","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}