The NFL does a countdown every summer where players rank the league’s top 100 players. You may be aware of the weekend griping after Patrick Mahomes was ranked fourth (they put Christian McCaffrey, Lamar Jackson, and Tyreek Hill in the top 3), but who cares about that because here’s how the Eagles finished:

• Devonta Smith: #90
• Saquon Barkley: #86
• Lane Johnson: #41
• A.J. Brown: #21
• Jalen Hurts: #15

First thing that should jump out to everyone is that 0 defensive players made the list. It’s all offense. But 5 of 11 starters is 45% of that unit. It’s pretty impressive when you look at it that way.

Last season, coming off the Super Bowl loss, the Birds actually landed seven players on the list. Jalen Hurts made it all the way to #3 overall, then it was A.J. Brown (22), Jason Kelce (37), Lane Johnson (41 again), Haason Reddick (48), Darius Slay (65), and Smitty (100). The year prior, Nick Sirianni’s first, they had Kelce at 71 and Slay at 77 and that was it.

If you’ve followed the list for the past 5-6 seasons, you know Kelce was on it every year. Zach Ertz and Fletcher Cox were frequently found in the 30 to 60 range, and Carson Wentz went from #3 one season all the way down to 96 the following year, a snapshot of just how hard he fell off following the MVP-level he was playing at prior to the ACL tear in Los Angeles.

But yeah, the takeaway from this list is that Vic Fangio has his work cut out for him. He’s gotta take a group that underachieved in 2023 under two different coordinators and pull it together and make it respectable. If he succeeds, then no doubt Jalen Carter will be on this list in 2025. Quinyon Mitchell is a future candidate and CJGJ still has a lot of upside in the secondary at age 26. Go Birds.