ESPN analyst Seth Walder handed out offseason grades for every NFL team this week. Most landed somewhere in the B range. A few dipped lower. Exactly one got a straight A. That was the Philadelphia Eagles, and it wasn’t a borderline call either.
Walder’s report card had the Eagles as the only franchise in the league to earn an A grade. The reasoning? General manager Howie Roseman ran another offseason that looked like he was three moves ahead of everyone else.
The AJ Brown trade was the headline, but the setup mattered more
Philadelphia traded AJ Brown to the Patriots and got a future first-round pick in return. That move alone would have raised eyebrows. But Walder zeroed in on what the Eagles did before the trade went through. They traded fifth- and sixth-round picks for Packers receiver Dontayvion Wicks and then drafted USC’s Makai Lemon in the first round. By the time Brown was gone, his replacements were already in the building.
“The Eagles prepared for the loss of Brown by trading fifth- and sixth-round picks for Dontayvion Wicks and selecting Makai Lemon in the first round of the draft. I particularly like the Wicks acquisition,” Walder wrote. “The former Packer has a 69 open score over the past three seasons — well above average — and perhaps has not fully realized his upside.”
Wicks has been a rotation guy in Green Bay his whole career. The Eagles are betting he’s got more in the tank. And they didn’t have to give up anything major to find out.
The Jonathan Greenard trade got a rare endorsement
Walder also flagged the Jonathan Greenard trade as a deal where the Eagles actually came out ahead. That’s not a take he hands out often. He said high-end veteran trades usually inflate the cost so much that the acquiring team overpays. This one was different.
Philadelphia sent a pair of third-round picks to get Greenard from the Vikings. Greenard’s sack numbers dropped last season — only three in 12 games — but his pressure rate stayed elite. Walder pointed to his 23.3% pass rush win rate at edge, which would have ranked fourth in the NFL if he’d played enough snaps to qualify.
The trade effectively replaces Jaelen Phillips, who the Eagles lost earlier in the offseason. Phillips is a talented player but has struggled to stay on the field. Greenard gives them a more durable option who still wins on a down-to-down basis even when the box score doesn’t pop.
Eagles fans have gotten used to this by now. Roseman has turned the offseason into a sport of its own. He stockpiles picks, flips veterans at the right time, and keeps the roster young without bottoming out. The front office has earned the benefit of the doubt.
The pressure now falls on the coaching staff. Philadelphia’s roster looks loaded on paper, same as it did last year. But paper doesn’t win games in November. Nick Sirianni and his coordinators have to turn these moves into wins when the season starts, or all those A grades won’t mean much.
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