It’s Friday, March 25th. Let’s recap the moves the Eagles have made this offseason, not in any particular order:

1) signed free agent Haason Reddick  –

Good, very good, needed a dynamic EDGE type of guy who can get to the quarterback. He’s a local guy, he’s motivated, and he wants to be here. 23.5 sacks in the last two years. Get this guy in uniform and unleash him on the opposing quarterback.

2) signed free agent Zach Pascal –

Whatever. Depth guy, good blocker, knows Nick Sirianni. He’s not going to light the world on fire.

3) re-signed Anthony Harris

Whatever. Harris is a good dude and a veteran. But they need so much more at the safety position, which last year featured Harris, Rodney McLeod, Marcus Epps, and K’Von Wallace.

4) re-signed Derek Barnett –

Uninspiring, un-exciting, annoying move. Even if he’s here for peanuts, he’s still a meh player who makes dumbass plays and does dirty stuff on the field. We’re talking about a first round draft pick who has more penalties than sacks in his NFL career:

Barnett STINKS.

5) re-signed Boston Scott –

No issue with this. Boston Scott is Boston Scott. Play him against the Giants for best results.

6) re-signed Greg Ward –

Yay. He can be a depth guy and ultimately replace Jalen Reagor when he muffs his first punt of the year.

7) re-signed Andre Chachere –

Good special teams player. Yay.

8) convinced Jason Kelce to return –

Possibly the best news of the winter. Think about that for a minute. Best non-Reddick move was getting another year out of your Pro Bowl center.

9) tendered Nate Herbig –

Makes sense. He can play a couple of interior line positions and he’s an affordable backup. You need those kinds of guys on your team.

10) released and then re-signed Fletcher Cox –

Yay. He’s not getting younger and his production dropped off over the last two seasons.

 

The Eagles haven’t done much of anything other than re-sign their own guys and make one splash for Reddick. Your only other non-Bird free agent acquisition this winter is Zach Pascal. Consider that. Howie didn’t bring in a big name receiver, he didn’t find a D.J. Chark-ish prove-it deal type of guy, he didn’t trade for a quarterback, etc. That’s not to say he HAD to do any of those things, but I think consensus was that the Eagles might try to make a splash at least SOMEWHERE, and there is no splash to be found. It’s like an Olympic diver leaving no splash at all.

So this offseason hinges on the draft, doesn’t it? They need to nail the draft to improve this offseason from a D- to a C or a B-. Otherwise, we’re essentially running it back with a 9-8 team that didn’t beat anybody worth a shit last year. There’s a lot of chatter about receivers not wanting to play with Jalen Hurts, but only they know if that’s true. Is this an attractive destination? Do free agents want to play in Philly? Unless we get some kind of draft move for Kenny Pickett or Malik Willis, we’re looking at another full season of Hurts, who will have a chance to show that he’s improved his passing ability. Maybe he has, and maybe the Birds have another decent season in 2022, but for now this offseason is so boring that it makes watching paint dry look dynamic in comparison.

Get excited!