Defensive end
Brandon Graham
Graham leads the team in sacks (6) in what’s been a dominant campaign for the veteran. Bringing him back was absolutely the right decision. With the interior pass-rush lacking depth, Graham has been the man keeping the fire burning.
Derek Barnett
It’s been a slower process than expected, but Barnett is beginning to develop his skill-set and emerge as a reliable force on the outside who can get to the quarterback and make impact plays. There’s enough on tape for fans to place confidence in the Tennessee product.
Josh Sweat
The second-year pass-rusher is making splash plays for the Eagles this year, but consistency is still evading an explosive freak athlete who has all the tools to continue developing into a monster.
Vinny Curry
Underwhelming. There’s no other way to describe Curry’s return to Philadelphia. As of right now, it looks unlikely that he’ll be back next year.
Genard Avery
After breaking down his tape following the trade, I was besotted. The Eagles have a steal here and the willingness to get him involved in his first game was impressive…as was his sack on Trubisky.
Daeshon Hall
We haven’t seen much at all from the preseason hero, but with 7 defensive ends on the roster, he could be on the outside looking in.
Shareef Miller
It’s too early for ‘bust’ labels, but Miller likely won’t get game-time this season barring injuries.
Defensive tackle
Fletcher Cox
For the second year in a row, Cox is carrying the entire DT position. It’s a testament to how ridiculously talented this man is, but also something that really shouldn’t be happening.
Anthony Rush
My offseason crush made a nice impact during his Eagles debut and is an absolute man-mountain. He should be able to swallow up some double teams and take the pressure off Cox somewhat.
Albert Huggins
Like Rush, he had some nice flashes in his Eagles debut. The development of both players through the offseason could be vital moving forward.
Timmy Jernigan
Shaking the injury bug has to be a priority for Jernigan, who has already lost his big payday with the Eagles once. Now healthy, we should start to see that ruthless aggression that made him so lethal in 2017, begin to shine through.
Linebacker
Nigel Bradham
This season has been underwhelming by Bradham’s standards and the injury really hasn’t helped. He has to rebound in a big way since the Eagles have a potential ‘out’ this offseason if they don’t want to pay him $8M in 2020.
Nate Gerry
Flashes of potential that are overshadowed by a slew of errors that really shouldn’t be happening at this stage in his career.
T.J Edwards
Edwards has come a long way since preseason and is showing plenty of upside as a rookie. There’s a lot to like here about the UDFA, who is becoming a PFF darling.
Kamu Grugier-Hill
Missing the opening portion of the season stung, but KGH has settled back into his role nicely. He should be in a position to earn a new deal when his current contract expires.
Alex Singleton
I’d personally like to see more from Singleton, who was recently called up from the practice squad, but he’s going to make his money on special teams for the remainder of the year.
Duke Riley
He’s been relatively quiet since being traded for a few weeks back but could see an increased role if Nigel Bradham’s injury lingers.
Cornerback
Ronald Darby
I wasn’t a fan of the move to bring him back then, I’m not a fan of it now. Darby has struggled to stay healthy his entire career and tackling has been sporadic for as long as I can remember. He’s the teams’ fastest and most complete corner, but had Josh Allen not underthrown a post-route two weeks ago, there would be a lot more noise surrounding the future of the CB1 spot.
Jalen Mills
I’ve been hard on Jalen Mills in the past, but he’s been playing very good football since his return. Maybe some time on the sideline taking mental reps benefited him more than we know. Either way, Mills looks more composed than he ever has and looks like a completely different corner to when he last played snaps as an Eagle in 2018.
Rasul Douglas
Forever the ‘ugly duckling’ of the Eagles cornerback group, Douglas was serviceable during his time as a starter in place of Ronald Darby, but no matter what he does, he can’t seem to win over the coaching staff. A real shame.
Sidney Jones
The experiment may be over after a very shoddy 2019 campaign that has resulted in being benched for Avonte Maddox now that the Pitt product is back from injury.
Avonte Maddox
Hasn’t looked as explosive as he did during his rookie year, but now he’s back from that horrifying injury he picked up against the Packers, we may begin to see that elite potential shine through once again.
Cre’Von LebLanc
Captain Cre’Von is almost ready to return to action after starting the year and that’s enough reason to get excited.
Craig James
His iconic PBU against the Packers won’t be forgotten in a hurry, but now the secondary is back to full health, it’s hard to envision James getting much defensive playing time.
Safety
Malcolm Jenkins
Disappointing. When asked to play inside the box, he’s been great and as impactful as ever. When asked to cover over the top, it’s been mistake, after mistake, after miscommunication. Jenkins is incredibly valuable to this team, but he’s struggled as a cover-safety this year.
Rodney McLeod
You can make the case for McLeod being the team’s MVP so far. Holding David Montgomery to basically nothing all game long was the latest in a long line of stellar performances. Pay the man.
Marcus Epps
‘Baby Sendejo’ should have a special teams role to begin with, but the rookie sixth-round pick will be an interesting name to keep an eye on moving forward.
Rudy Ford
RUDY RUDY RUDY RUDY aaaaaaah. He’s been a strong presence on special teams and could be in-line to see some defensive work with Sendejo now cut.
Specialists
Rick Lovato
There isn’t much to say other than he’s been as reliable as ever.
Jake Elliott
Other than skewing everything to the right against Chicago, Elliott has been money for the majority of the season. It took a while, but the Eagles have found stability at the kicker position and that’s not documented enough.
Cameron Johnson
His legs are made of Iron…I’m sure of it.
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
