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Too Much Talent, Not Enough Answers in Philly

January 12, 2026

The Philadelphia Eagles ugly season finally came to an end. It felt like there was drama coming out of their locker room nearly every week early on, but they just somehow kept on winning. AJ Brown always had something to say about his involvement, DeVonta Smith had some frustrations, it was noisy. It almost seems like AJB only got the ball to keep him quiet as sometimes Jalen would just force him on a route that clearly wasn’t there.

The first thing is that I’d imagine the offensive coordinator, Kevin Patullo, will be gone before I’m even done writing this. That’s step one towards getting more optimistic about this team. I’m not one to ever push for someone to lose their job or their role, but the offense left a lot to be desired most weeks. Star players vanished and they even somehow found a way to make Saquon disappear.

Jalen Hurts finished the 2025 season with his lowest point per game total (18.7) outside of his rookie season. It was also his lowest fantasy points total of his career (outside of rookie season) but he oddly threw for the most touchdowns he ever had with 25. As usual, he added touchdowns on the ground which helped him finish as the QB8 on the year. If you play in a points per first down league, Hurts is an absolute cheat code with those cheapo tush push points. If not, it still helps the Eagles offense stay on the field, leading to more plays on offense. Philly is absolutely loaded with Smith, AJB, Goedert or a checkdown to Barkley. However, it doesn’t help when his best weapons are being phased out, or forced to run short digs and out routes for a majority of the game. It was a common problem all season long that led to fewer big plays despite having nearly three seconds to throw (9th out of QBs with at least 250 snaps). Hurts will clearly still be a top option next season and there should be another big finish once again.

DeVonta Smith could very well find himself the WR1 of this offense in 2026. Did you see the way Sirianni and AJ Brown’s heated exchange went after a big drop during the game? Those two are clearly long past frustrated with one another and I would be shocked if he is still on the roster heading into training camp. If I told you that AJ Brown would finish sandwiched between Michael Wilson and Alec Pierce in yards, I doubt you’d believe me. AJB would finish with 14.7 points per game which is his lowest since 2021 but continued the trend of a slow decline since that season. He is no doubt still a very talented receiver, but it’s clear he’s advanced to one of the bigger divas in the NFL. Although, it’s not all that unwarranted. His stats up to the bye week were atrocious with only two 100 yard games through 8 weeks (4 were less than 50 yards). If he’s still in Philly, I’m staying far away for what his cost will be. If he’s moved elsewhere, he may suddenly become that game changer once again that we know he can be.

Through all that, Dallas Goedert played incredible and finished as the TE7 with just over 12 points per game. He was a true difference maker that was probably nearly free for most drafters in August.

Now, the biggest disappointment of them all.. Saquon Barkley. Alright, maybe it’s a touch dramatic. He was drafted as the RB2 and finished as the RB14 with a major drop in PPG from last season (14.5 compared to 22.2). I think the main issue is where you had to draft him to get him on your roster. Passing up guys like Derrick Henry, Bijan, CMC, maybe Gibbs or Jonathan Taylor (for half of the year), it definitely hurt you. Barkley just never seemed to have those Saquon like runs or jaw dropping plays. His good games were fine with only a few true duds mixed in there. Barkley was phenomenal from weeks 14-16 if you were still alive but had a stinker in the final with 6.8 points. I think the main take away of this whole Eagles piece is that we need to see a change in play calling and OC in order to feel hyper confident in these guys again. Saquon will almost certainly be a high draft pick, but he may be in for another year like this one if we’re not able to get more creativity in that offensive room. It didn’t help losing Lane Johnson for a chunk of the season, but injuries are going to happen and we can’t possibly predict it. Philly is in for a very interesting offseason.

Keith, Author

Keith runs youth flag football leagues by day, and by night he hosts the podcast and writes articles with the confidence of a man who’s been rushing quarterbacks since dial-up. A longtime flag football DE and lifelong Falcons fan, he’s no stranger to heartbreak and enjoys watching the bears get slaughtered each week. Equal parts coach, critic, and chaos, Keith calls it like he sees it… even if it hurts.