Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 6/8/23.

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Ranking NFL roster cores: Stacking all 32 teams’ top five players - ESPN+
3. Philadelphia Eagles. Roster core: QB Jalen Hurts, WR A.J. Brown, OT Lane Johnson, OLB Haason Reddick, CB Darius Slay. Average core age: 28.8. The Eagles’ elite core checks every positional value box, with high-end players at quarterback, wide receiver, offensive tackle, edge rusher and corner. And in reality, this exercise undersells the strength of the Eagles as a whole, because there are very talented players left off the list, including cornerback James Bradberry, receiver DeVonta Smith and center Jason Kelce. But even just looking at the five above, it’s easy to see why the Eagles are favorites to win the NFC again.

Eagles move final OTA practice inside - BGN
There’s been a slight adjustment to the Philadelphia Eagles’ final (and second media-attended) OTA practice. Instead of practicing outdoors on the NovaCare Complex fields as they normally would, the Birds will be in their practice bubble (as seen in the feature picture for this article). For those unaware, the change in plans is related to the very poor air quality in Philadelphia as a result of Canada’s wildfires.

Eagles rookie NFL player comparisons: QB Tanner McKee - PhillyVoice
If you watch McKee’s highlight reel above, you can see what Zierlein is talking about with his “unorthodox delivery.” It actually reminds me quite a bit of former Panthers, Saints, Giants, Raiders, Titans, Colts, and Penn State quarterback Kerry Collins.

One pressing question for every new NFL defensive play-caller in 2023 - The Athletic
Philadelphia Eagles: Sean Desai. Can he ensure continued dominance despite a learning curve? Desai has big shoes to fill because Jonathan Gannon directed one of the most dominant defenses the league has seen in years. However, it’s unrealistic to expect the Eagles to avoid a statistical regression this season. For one, they’re learning a new defense and a new language, so initially, they won’t be able to play as fast. Second, many of the Eagles’ top remaining stars are over 30, so physical decline is likely. Philly also lost some key contributors to free agency. General manager Howie Roseman appears to have had another smart draft, so young players will eventually take over important roles, but they too will endure some growing pains.

Gainwell embracing what might be best battle in training camp - NBCSP
Gainwell, 24, was seemingly in line to be the Eagles’ RB1 after Sanders left in free agency but then the Birds brought in a couple of veterans. Still, Gainwell is expecting a big role in Year 3 of his career. And he’s excited to carve out that role in training camp. “I’m expecting a very high role,” Gainwell said. “I’m just going to continue to improve my game, stay on top of everything that I have done. But I’m expecting a high role this year.” In his second NFL season, Gainwell had 53 carries for 240 yards and 4 touchdowns as well as 23 catches for 169 yards in the regular season. But in the playoffs, Playoff Kenny was born. In three games in the postseason, Gainwell had 236 scrimmage yards in three games. After averaging 24 scrimmage yards per game in the regular season, that average ballooned to 78.7 in the playoffs. There’s a thought that Gainwell might be able to carry over some of that momentum into the 2023 season. He hopes so too. What was the key to Gainwell’s postseason success? “I felt like Coach Nick (Sirianni) trusted me,” Gainwell said. “He gave me an opportunity to go out and I took very advantage of that opportunity.”

2023 Eagles Playground Build - PE.com
The entire Eagles organization – from front office staff to coaches and players – transformed the Henry W. Lawton School in Northeast Philadelphia on Wednesday, June 7.

Poor air quality has teams in Northeast canceling practice or moving indoors - PFT
The Commanders, Eagles and Jets all plan to have their practices inside their facilities rather than on their outdoor practice fields because of the air quality. Air quality measurements in much of the country are among the worst ever recorded, although forecasts indicate that conditions should improve in the coming days.

The new Cowboys offense has officially been given a nickname from the quarterbacks - Blogging The Boys
As the new play-caller for the Cowboys it makes sense that we would see a little bit more of this type of action and/or aerial attack, and with the team practicing lately they have been implementing it. Quarterback Dak Prescott spoke on Wednesday and mentioned that the team has come up with a nickname of sorts for their offense, one that makes sense with their own geographic area but incorporates the principles that their system was born from - Texas Coast.

Philosoraptor’s Corner: Can the Giants afford to pay Saquon Barkley? - Big Blue View
Because as good a player as Barkley is, they probably don’t need to extend him. The Pittsburgh Steelers are doing pretty good without Bell. The Chiefs won the Super Bowl after parting ways with Kareem Hunt. They played the San Francisco 49ers who let Carlos Hyde walk in 2017 rather than pay him a big contract. None of this is to say that not paying a running back is a recipe for success, just that there’s life after parting ways with star runners. And as we’ve seen elsewhere, big paydays for running backs hasn’t been working out for teams either. Perhaps the most cold-bloodedly “Patriots” (considering the Giants’ new ties with New England) course of action is to let Barkley recover from his torn ACL, rebuild his value in 2021 and move him in a trade. After all, that would likely net more than the third round compensatory pick the Giants might get for letting him walk and leave his second contract be another team’s to figure out

The 5 O’Clock Club: 5 Commanders players (not named Howell) under the most pressure to perform in 2023 - Hogs Haven
Nothing has really gone to plan since the end of Young’s rookie season. He started off his sophomore campaign by skipping voluntary workouts, and his season got off to a sluggish start with 1.5 sacks in 8 games. An horrific knee injury mid-season took the focus off of his lack of production and put it squarely on his health. In this age of almost routine speedy returns from knee injuries, Young’s relatively slow return from injury (his first game back was Week 16 of 2022) frustrated and puzzled many fans. Clearly the injury deeply affected the player and his game. His lack of burst and confidence in the final 3 games of 2022 left fans with the impression of a tentative player still affected both mentally and physically by the injury. Everyone understood that Chase had been re-habbing in the 2022 offseason, but when he wasn’t at Washington’s 2023 voluntary OTAs recently, a lot of fans wondered whether he understood the optics of being a professional, a team leader, and a supposed league superstar. For Chase Young, 2023 is not about next season’s roster position or his paycheck. It’s not even about his next contract. For Chase Young, 2023 is about his legacy. He may not be able to cement his ‘generational talent’ legacy with one good season, but he can certainly lose it forever with another bad one.

Inside the ambitious idea for AAU football with Prep Super League Founder Brian Woods - SB Nation
Prep Super League founder Brian Woods is no stranger to ambitious plans. Woods is formerly the president of the USFL, and his next major project is a super league for elite high school football players, independent of state high school athletic associations. The Prep Super League is intended to be somewhat like an AAU program for 11-on-11 football, with 12 teams in major markets across the country, from Los Angeles to Miami. The six-week season would be streamed for people to watch and follow along closely, with development and growing each individual players’ brand at the forefront of the league. The league would operate with NCAA rules and could supplement the 7-on-7 and prospect camps players go to now. SB Nation spoke with Woods about the Prep Super League, and what their plans are when it comes to player safety, Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) and streaming plans.

Philly Dominated the 2023 James Beard Awards - Eater
At a red-carpet ceremony in Chicago last night, a whopping three chefs and restaurants from Philly won James Beard Awards, considered one of the food industry’s highest honors, akin to the Oscars. It’s more than any other city scored — Los Angeles, Portland, Oregon, and host city Chicago had two winners each, while New York City, where the awards originated, only had one winner in its own statewide category. Philly nabbed two of the hotly contested national categories: Chad Williams’ tasting-menu darling, Friday Saturday Sunday, was named outstanding restaurant, while Ellen Yin of High Street Hospitality Group (Fork, High Street Philly, etc.) took home outstanding restaurateur. On a regional level, Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon won best chef, Mid-Atlantic for Kalaya (which was Eater’s 2019 Restaurant of the Year, now at a huge new location in Fishtown).

Why is eastern Canada on fire — and when will the smoke clear? - Vox
East Coasters finally understand what it’s like to live in California. Earlier this week, a giant cloud of wildfire smoke from Canada wafted into New York City, Boston, and other eastern metropolises, engulfing skylines and putting millions of people at risk from air pollution. On Tuesday evening, Wednesday, and Thursday morning, NYC had the worst air quality of any major city in the world.

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