Two Eagles stars set to have a breakout year

Emerging Stars

Anticipation has filled the streets of Philadelphia, waiting to see the product that Chip Kelly will put out on the football field. There are several new players that fans are becoming familiar with, but we have a couple of players on the Eagles roster that you may soon begin to love. Vinny Curry is an emerging star on this Eagles defense. In 2014 the 280 pound defensive end recorded 9 sacks, a career high. He also forced four fumbles last season.

Curry finished second on the team in sacks, to Connor Barwin, and did so despite playing a measly 32 percent of the snaps. He was arguably the best rotational pass rusher in the league. With the departure of the Hunter – Trent Cole- Curry’s role is expected to expand in 2015. He served as a secret weapon for the Birds defensively and will do so again next season. Trent Cole mentioned Curry via twitter on 6/29/15 to send a birthday wish to him; his message read, “Happy birthday to one of the NFL’s top pass rushers and my brother.” If the second most productive pass rusher in Eagles history goes as far as to call curry “One of the NFL’s top pass rushers” than the Eagles front seven may be even more ferocious in 2015.

Eagles fans have heard a name brought up constantly, and that is Zach Ertz. The third year tight end has arguably the highest expectations going into the regular season. Darren Sproles stated Zach Ertz “is about to be a superstar .” Ertz has worked on blocking, which has been a weakness of the young talent thus far, and because of that will see even more playing time. He also built a dynamic rapport with newly acquire quarterback, Sam Bradford, in OTAs. In 2014 Ertz progressed, but not as substantially as many predicted. He caught 58 receptions for 702 yards and three touchdowns. Next season expect Ertz to be around the 1000 yard range.

With all the new acquisitions it is easy to overlook players that have been with the team processing gradually through their careers. However, it is those players who might carry this Eagles team on a deep playoff run. We’ve witnessed promising potential from both Curry and Ertz, now it’s time to watch them blossom into star players.