The Linc

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links …

Ranking top 10 returning NFL head coaches entering 2025 – PFF
8. Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles: Sirianni is often the target of criticism when the Eagles lose, but credit needs to be given when it’s due. He’s an outstanding 48-20 in the regular season as Philadelphia’s head coach and has made the playoffs in each of his first four seasons. The Eagles emphatically proved they were the best team in football last season. They were the NFL’s highest-graded team and lost just one game after Week 4. Philadelphia’s commitment to the run game in 2024 was its biggest adjustment from a confounding 2023. The offense ranked just 13th in run-play percentage in 2023 but led the NFL with a 51.2% clip last season. The Eagles were the only team to run the ball more than throw it. Of course, it helps to have Saquon Barkley, who racked up more than 2,500 rushing yards last year, including the postseason. Sirianni and the Eagles committed to an old-school style of football, and it paid off with a championship.

Mailbag: Teams Most Likely to Go Worst-to-First in 2025 – SI
From – (@Eaglesfans9): How is Nick Sirianni viewed by coaches and owners around the league? Does he get more respect inside NFL circles than he does from fans and the media? Die-Hard, yes, I would say he does. He’s generally seen as a fundamentally good guy who wears his heart on his sleeve, to a fault at times, that’s done a good job leading and adapting as things have changed around him. Is he the best offensive mind in the game? Probably not. But the mistake a lot of people make is thinking that’s a pre-req to being a top-shelf head coach. He’s made the playoffs all four years he’s been head coach, won two division titles, been to two Super Bowls, won one and is 48–20 in the regular season, good for a .706 winning percentage that ranks fifth all-time. The argument to combat all that is that he’s been handed an All-Star team. Maybe that’s true, but the record is the record, and it’s impressive. (The Eagles, by the way, were 4-11-1 the year before he got there.)

A New Factory? – Iggles Blitz
In my previous post I used a quote from former Dolphin OL Kendall Lamm. Lamm has come out to say that quote isn’t real. I got it from what I thought was a reliable account on Twitter. I have no idea who put the bogus quote out originally. The quote being bogus actually doesn’t change much of what I wrote. Culture has been a strength for the Eagles. It is Nick Sirianni’s best skill and has helped the team win a lot of games under him. Culture has been an issue for Mike McDaniel and the Dolphins. If you watch the clip from him that I posted, McDaniel talks about players being late several years into his tenure and how that is an issue that must be solved. As Sirianni says, your culture is your habits. If Miami guys can’t show up on time, that’s bad culture.

10 reasons the Eagles will be a dumpster fire this season – PhillyVoice
Saquon Barkley had one of the best running back seasons in NFL history in 2024. Even without the extreme workload, it was always going to be nearly impossible to match what he did. But also, the heavy workout is likely to factor into his production in 2025.

Eagles schedule preview: Tampa Bay Buccaneers – BGN
One playoff win in three seasons should make this a make or break season for the Todd Bowles, plenty of coaches have been fired for less. They’ll probably beat the Eagles though, because Todd Bowles has Jalen Hurts’ number. The only win Hurts has against him was Week 3 in 2023, when he had 2 TDs but also 2 INTs, the Eagles won because they held the Bucs to just 11 points.

Eagles 2025 most important list: Jalyx Hunt – NBCSP
It would have been reasonable to expect edge rusher Jalyx Hunt to have a redshirt season as a rookie. After all, he was a late third-round draft pick from Houston Christian and he was playing safety at Cornell just a few years ago. But by the Super Bowl, Hunt was a huge part of Vic Fangio’s defense. Hunt, as a rookie third-round pick, went from being a healthy scratch in Week 1 down in São Paulo to being a disruptive force in the Eagles’ Super Bowl LIX win. And he has just scratched the surface. “I think we’ll feel good about Jalyx now that he’s going to get a lot of reps and develop,” Fangio said this spring. “He played good for us down the stretch last year and played a lot.” During the 2024 regular season, Hunt played in 16 games and had just 1 1/2 sacks. But in four playoff games, he had another 1 1/2 sacks. He had just 9 pressures in the regular season (7.4% pressure rate) but had 8 (12.9%) in the playoffs.

Rookie Q&A: 3 questions with Jihaad Campbell – PE.com
2. What kind of football player do you want to be as a Philadelphia Eagle? Campbell: “A winner. A winner who does everything I can to help this football team. I want to be a relentless, exciting player who is physical and who is going to be there for the team. I love playing the game of football and it’s been a dream of mine to play at this level. And to be here is just perfect for me. I know I have a lot of work I need to do and I am far from the player I want to be, but I’m in the place that is going to help me reach my potential. I want to change games, win games, and feel what it’s like as a player in Philadelphia. I’ve been a fan, so I know what it feels like on that side. I want to know how it feels on this side.”

Dallas Goedert reworked contract for a chance “to try to win another one” – PFT
“Yeah, so when I got drafted a year after they won the Super Bowl, I was able to experience the fun parts of a Super Bowl the year after winning the Super Bowl,” Goedert told ESPN during Tight End University. “After we won, and the opportunity to run it back again to see the banner drop, it just wouldn’t have felt — it would have felt I was missing on a lot not being there to see all that stuff. I got a lot of love for the city of Philadelphia, the ownership all the way to the cooks in the building. I got a great relationship with all of them. So, I figured for me it was best to work out a deal, so I could stay there and be with the people I find that are important and try to win another one.”

DeVonta’s approach to 2025: ‘Ultimately, you want to do it again’ – SportsRadio 94WIP
“Ultimately, you want to do it again,” Smith said. “If you want to do it again, you have to let that one go just so you can try to get back there again.” Smitty is hosting his 4th annual charity softball game on Saturday, June 28th at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown. Get your tickets here.

2024 REWIND: Week 16 – Commanders overcome 5 turnovers to beat Eagles at Northwest Stadium – Hogs Haven
On 3rd down, the Eagles have a disastrous play from their point of view. With 02:02 on the clock, Pickett hit Davonta Smith in the hands in the middle of the field. The receiver was wide open, but simply dropped the ball. Philly fans have spent the past 6 months saying how “lucky” Washington was on this play. [BLG Note: Well, yeah, the Commanders got very lucky that DeVonta Smith dropped a wide open pass that would’ve sealed the game. Also, this was totally their Super Bowl last season.]

Cowboys polls: Fan confidence in Brian Schottenheimer; rookie breakout season – Blogging The Boys
Brandon: From everything I’ve seen and heard so far this offseason, Brian Schottenheimer has shown he’s deserving of the opportunity to be a head coach. He’s great with the players and media, and has an ability to make people on the outside feel like they’re part of the ride too. Whether or not this will all translate into wins remains to be seen. Many questions linger on the defensive side of the ball. Having an experienced coach in Matt Eberflus leading the charge gives Schottenheimer a chance to catch a break in year one. If things go sideways, it’ll come down to the first-time head coach to make personnel changes. How he handles stress under pressure will tell us a lot about his coaching ability. Up to this point, I have confidence he’ll be a solid head coach, but it’s all TBD so I’d say slightly confident.

Team- and player-friendly NFL contracts at six positions – ESPN
Player-friendly deal: Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys. The deal: Four years, $240 million with $129 million fully guaranteed at signing and $231 million in total guarantees. […] So what makes this deal player-friendly (other than the no-franchise clause, the no-trade clause and the massive signing bonus)? If the Cowboys were to release Prescott right now, he’d still have collected a total of $174 million for one season. Prescott’s deal continues to benefit him at a high level. His $45 million 2027 salary becomes fully guaranteed if he’s still on the Cowboys’ roster on the fifth day of the 2026 league year (next March), and $17 million of his $55 million 2028 salary becomes fully guaranteed if he’s on the roster on the fifth day of the 2027 league year. The odds of Prescott seeing the full $231 million in guarantees (no coincidence, by the way, that number is $1 million higher than Watson’s $230 million) are extremely high. One bit of consolation for the Cowboys? Because of the insurance policy they have, and because Prescott sat out the final nine games of the 2024 season because of a hamstring injury, the Cowboys were able to recoup about $6.4 million of the signing bonus. But Prescott didn’t have to pay that back; the insurance company did. Player-friendly deal.

Mina Kimes — Giants will have a Top 10 defense – Big Blue View
Are the New York Giants setting the stage for a real turnaround? The Giants have bounced between irrelevance and a punchline over most of the last decade. There have been a few great individual performances, but it’s been mostly bad football since 2016. But GM Joe Schoen has put a significant amount of resources into the defensive side of the ball over the last two years. He’s added top free agents as well as high draft picks to the Giants’ defense to give them a feared unit. However, they never quite reached the critical mass to be a consistently great unit. Finally, it seems that the additions are starting to generate some excitement.

Giants RB Tyrone Tracy Jr. happy to have multiple leaders at QB in Russell Wilson, Jameis Winston – NFL.com
“I think the first thing that you want to pick out is that the leadership in the room will really help out everybody in the locker room and on the team,” Tracy said on Friday during an appearance on Good Morning Football. “Obviously, you’ve got Russ, Mr. Unlimited. Then, you’ve got Jameis — he’s the one that has the personality. He can really connect with everybody on the football team. And then you’ve got Jaxson Dart, Mr. Cool Dude, coming in with the swagger, kind of that Italian vibe but he’s not Italian. … Don’t forget about (Tommy) DeVito.

Justin Tucker suspended by NFL for violating league’s personal conduct policy – SB Nation
The NFL has suspended former Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker ten game for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. In a statement released by the NFL on Thursday, the league noted that Tucker, who was released by the Ravens last month, has been “suspended without pay for the first 10 weeks of the 2025 regular season for violations of the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy.” According to the NFL, the suspension will go into effect on August 26, the league’s roster cutdown day. Tucker will be eligible for reinstatement on Tuesday, November 11. He can serve his suspension while he remains a free agent and can try out with teams and even sign with a club. If Tucker were to sign during the offseason, he can attend training camp and participate in preseason games.