Forget the doom and gloom! 10 reasons for optimism for the 2026 Eagles season originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
It’s been all doom and gloom around these parts since the Eagles blew a six-point 4th-quarter lead at home and lost to the 49ers in a wild-card game.
Fire the coach! Get a new quarterback! Blow it all up! Sell the team!
We’ve heard it all.
There were moments when we had reason to believe Vic Fangio might be retiring, Lane Johnson might be stepping away from football and Landon Dickerson might not want to put his injury-ravaged body through another season.
But as we sit here in late February, six weeks after the season ended, it’s good to take a step back and take a different tack.
What if I told you there’s reason for optimism as we approach free agency and then the draft?
There is!
Here in no particular order are 10 reasons for optimism for the 2026 Eagles as we head into the offseason.
1. Lane is coming back: It’s hard to imagine trying to replace the best right tackle in football, and the Eagles will have to worry about that at some point – maybe even in the draft this year – but at least Lane Johnson is coming back for his 14th season, and that’s huge. Johnson was playing at an all-pro level before he suffered that foot injury in the win over the Lions at the Linc in mid-November, and we all know the disparity between the Eagles when Lane plays (120-62-1) and when he doesn’t play (18-29). There’s no reason to believe we won’t get the all-pro version of Lane Johnson in 2026. A healthy Lane Johnson transforms this offense.
2. Defense is still intact: The strength of this team last year was the defense, and although the Eagles could lose Reed Blankenship, Jaelan Phillips and Nakobe Dean, the nucleus of this unit is coming back for at least one more year. Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Zack Baun, Cooper DeJean, Quinyon Mitchell, Jalyx Hunt, Nolan Smith, Moro Ojomo, Andrew Mukuba and Jihaad Campbell are all under contract for at least one more season and most of them will be here long beyond. So while they don’t get everybody back, there is a ton of elite defensive talent that isn’t going anywhere. And with Howie Roseman’s recent record in the draft, there should be help on the way in April as well. This was the No. 5 defense in the NFL last year and with this kind of talent coming back, no reason they won’t be top-5 again.
3. Vic is coming back: And the guy running that defense, who happens to be a freaking genius, is also coming back and that might be the best offseason news at all. In Vic Fangio’s two years running the defense, the Eagles have allowed the 2nd-fewest points in the NFL (six more than the Broncos), the 2nd-fewest yards (five more than the Texans) and the lowest passer rating and fewest passing yards and have forced the 6th-most turnovers. Fangio is a master of adjustments and is brilliant at taking away the opposing offense’s top weapon. He’s a Hall of Fame coordinator and would be impossible to replace. Fortunately, he’ll be back for his 48th year in coaching.
4. DeVonta is great: Whether A.J. Brown stays or goes, the Eagles still have a flat-out stud wide receiver in DeVonta Smith. You hope the Eagles can work things out with Brown and have that 1-2 punch that they’ve had the last four years, but if not, you have a 27-year-old WR who has the most yards of anybody in Eagles history in his first five seasons – 5,019 (or 5,684 including the postseason) and would be a 1,400-yard receiver as a WR. And then you have draft assets to find a new WR2 if you have to. A.J. is great, but if he doesn’t want to be here, let him move on. The Eagles will be fine without him.
5. Sean Mannion > Kevin Patullo: I can’t sit here and tell you Sean Mannion is going to an offensive saviour, but he’s a guy who spent a lot of time around some elite quarterbacks and coaches as a player before having success as a coach with Jordan Love in Green Bay, and by all reasonable logic he’ll be an enormous upgrade over Kevin Patullo. Patullo wasn’t the only problem with the offense last year, but he was the playcaller and offensive designer and he was a huge part of a lifeless, dull, ineffective offense. Bringing in a sharp, energetic young offensive mind like Mannion with fresh ideas and a new approach is going to make a huge difference.
6. Jemal Singleton, Aaron Moorehead are back: OK, this might not seem like a big deal, but bringing back two position coaches adds a thread of consistency to the coaching staff. Singleton has been here since 2021 and has had three differenet Pro Bowl running backs – Miles Sanders, D’Andre Swift and Saquon Barkley. Moorehead has been here since 2020 and coached both A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith to some terrific seasons. I think there’s a lot of value in not having an entirely new staff and just having a couple holdover coaches with familiar voices who can help Mannion convey his messaging to the players is important. Parks Frazier is also back but for only his second year here and in a new role. I like this new staff and I like that Singleton and Moorehead are a part of it.
7. Saquon is still elite: Even with serious play calling issues, injuries up and down the offensive line and a pass-first offense, Barkley still finished 10th in the NFL in rushing yards and from Week 7 on he had the 7th-most rushing yards in the league. His five 100-yard games were tied for 5th-most in the league. What can you say about a running back who in a bad year with a terrible play caller behind a banged-up offensive line is still a top-10 runner? Barkley is still in his prime and while 2,000 yards might be too much to ask I’ll be surprised if his 2026 season isn’t closer to 2024 than 2025.
8. None of the new coaches are from Sirianni tree: I thought it was important that the Eagles stayed away from retreads with the new coaching staff. After last year’s disastrous offensive performance, they needed fresh ideas, new blood, a different approach. Not a bunch of coaches from Nick Sirianni’s past or from Frank Reich’s staff. It was time to break away from that whole way of thinking, and every indication is that the offense will have a very different look and feel in 2026 than it did in 2025. That was mandatory.
9. Six draft picks in first four rounds: Howie Roseman is on such a roll in the draft. His last five drafts have produced 15 players in the first three rounds and the only one who hasn’t become a regular starter is Sydney Brown. Five of those 15 have become Pro Bowlers and a couple others have played at a Pro Bowl level, notably Jordan Davis and DeVonta Smith. So take that draft record and consider that the Eagles have single picks in April in the first and second rounds, two in the third round and two in the fourth round as well as two in the fifth round. That gives Roseman a ton of flexibility to replace whoever the Eagles lose in free agency and add crucial depth and maybe a starter or two. Nobody has drafted better than the Eagles since 2018, and Roseman have plenty of opportunities to add to that record this year.
10. Jalen Hurts is really good: Love him or hate him, you can’t deny the fact that very few quarterbacks in the NFL have had more success than Hurts. The only quarterbacks who have won more games than Hurts since 2021 are Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes, and only Hurts and Mahomes have won 50 games and a Super Bowl since 2021 and Hurts beat Mahomes in a Super Bowl. Hurts has never not made the playoffs, and in the last 20 years only Mahomes, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady – all 1st-ballot Hall of Famers – have reached more Super Bowls. As long as the Eagles have a healthy Hurts, they’re going to be good.