Well, the Eagles’ 2024 offseason started with two gaping divots at their core, with the announced retirements of two future Eagles’ Hall of Famers, Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox. They are irreplaceable. To his credit, general manager Howie Roseman began opening the Eagles’ wallet to secure free agents Saquon Barkley, defensive end Bryce Huff, safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, linebackers Devin White and Zack Baun, with in-house re-signings of possibly the NFL’s best guard, Landon Dickerson, arguably the NFL’s best clutch kicker and 2023 Eagle’s team MVP, Jake Elliott, and without question the NFL’s best locker room leader, Brandon Graham. Roseman then worked out a deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers to acquire a back-up quarterback, Kenny Pickett.

Will this benefit the 2024 Eagles?

Right now, probably not.

There is an unavoidable caveat with each of the Eagles’ new major additions.

Barkley is an upgrade over D’Andre Swift, though not much of an upgrade. The price was certainly higher than it should have been, a reported three-year, $37.75-million contract that could reach $46.75 million, which included $26 million fully guaranteed when he signed. Barkley arrives with considerable tread taken off the tires, six seasons of NFL wear and tear questioning whether his best years are behind him. In 2020 and 2021, he played a combined 15 games, battling nagging ankle and knee injuries. His explosive first step appeared to sag. He has rushed for over 1,000 yards once in the last four years, gaining 1,312 yards in 2022, though, ironically, missed the 2023 season finale against the Eagles with a high ankle sprain. He blocks better in pass protection than Swift, but the Eagles did not sign Barkley to block.

On Monday, Roseman said at the NFL’s annual league meetings in Orlando, Florida, “We think Saquon’s a special player and we think he’s a special person. And when you’re trying to find those guys, they’re hard to find, especially on the open market. Then you put into the dynamic about … has the pendulum swung so far at this position? The guy touches the ball 300 times a year, hopefully. There’s not a lot of other skill position players that are touching the ball that many times and have that effect.”

In six seasons, Barkley has had 300 touches in a season twice, both times with 352, in his rookie year (2018) and in 2022. Last year, he had 288 touches, in 2021 he had 203, 25 in his injury-depleted 2020 season and 269 in 2019. At 27, with the pounding Barkley’s body has taken from Penn State to the Giants, and now with the Eagles, can his body withstand 300 touches? Can he take 250 touches? He has only gained over 2,000 yards from scrimmage once, his rookie year (2,028), gaining an average of 5.8 yards/per touch. Since then, that average has sunk to 4.3 yards/per touch last year, his second-lowest average, if you wipe away his 2020 injury season.

Huff arrives after a career year with the New York Jets, where he posted 10 sacks and 21 quarterback hits in 17 games. If teamed in a rotation with Haason Reddick and Josh Sweat, it’s a great signing and a considerable upgrade. If Huff was signed to replace Reddick, which is probably why the reason the Eagles signed him, considering Reddick’s contract demands, it could be a downgrade. In 2023, Reddick, arguably the Eagles’ best defensive player, played 74.18% of the defensive snaps, while Sweat played 71.26%. Huff played 42%. Before 2023, Huff never had more than 3.5 sacks in a season. In 2023, he took 480 defensive snaps, which Reddick (862) and Sweat (828) blew away. The Eagles are looking at what Huff can be, not who he currently is. Right now, the 25-year-old is a situational pass rusher who will be asked to enter new terrain as a possible every-down end in new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s system.

Can he do that?

Who knows.

The problem with that is the 2024 Eagles’ defense needs certainties, not question marks. Huff being effective as an every-down edge rusher is a question mark. In four years with the Jets, he never played over 51% of the defensive snaps in a season. It’s not an answer Eagles’ fans want to hear.

Does anyone remember safety Justin Evans? You shouldn’t. He was another of Roseman’s stopgap measures who he signed as a free agent and, believe it or not, started the first four games of last season before being lost for the year with an ankle injury, eventually released, and erased from memory, it seems. Paired with him was Reed Blankenship, who has proven to be a serviceable defensive back though possibly not an every-down safety. The return of Gardner-Johnson is an upgrade—if it’s the 2022 CJGJ. This will be the fourth team he has been with in four years (New Orleans, the Eagles, Detroit, and now back with the Eagles). He was “a pain in the ass” in the locker room, as one source described him two years ago.

Gardner-Johnson had his best NFL season with the 2022 Eagles—as did many players on that team. Can Gardner-Johnson replicate that? Probably not. For one, he has to be on the field, which has been a problem, playing 15 games over the last two years beset by injuries. Secondly, Gardner-Johnson has a problem tackling. He doesn’t like it. He is a finesse player who adds versatility to the secondary, able to play some slot, and though young at 26, his body tends to fail him. He played just three games in Detroit, due to a torn pectoral, he was sidelined for five games with a lacerated kidney in 2022 for the Eagles and a knee injury forced him out of four games with New Orleans in 2021.

Baun was added for depth. White wasn’t. Again, the Eagles are counting on a reclamation project in the hopes he can find past glory. By the end of the 2023 season, Tampa Bay Bucs’ coach Todd Bowles, who knows defense, benched him. So, the Eagles will be looking for White to upgrade a dubious area of the field, when he could not get on the field for the 9-8 mediocre Tampa Bay Buccaneers?

Will the pairing of White and undersized Nakobe Dean, who has barely played in two seasons due to injury, be the Eagles’ answer at linebacker? White is on the small side himself, listed at 6-foot, 237 pounds. White’s solo tackles have gone down steadily in each of the last four years, 97, 87, 73 and a career-low 49 last season. The Eagles locked White into a one-year deal that is reportedly worth up to $7.5 million. Maybe that will supply White’s incentive to prove he still belongs on an NFL roster as a starter. Otherwise, he could be Nicholas Morrow, or Zach Cunningham, who showed glimpses of quality play last year, in disguise.

As for Pickett, he was traded to the Eagles for a draft pick swap. The Steelers then grabbed Justin Fields from the Chicago Bears for a sixth-round pick that could mature into a fourth-round choice based on playing time. Who would you rather have? Really? Fields is the obvious choice. Pickett wanted out of Pittsburgh because of how he felt towards the Steelers after they acquired Russell Wilson. He is a good locker room guy and he, too, has something to prove, if given the chance. The Eagles had no trouble saying goodbye to Marcus Mariota. So, getting Pickett is an upgrade in this area.

Will Barkley, Huff, Gardner-Johnson, White, Baun and Pickett be enough to correct the epic crash of the 2023 Eagles? Probably not. Remember, this team was in freefall, losing six of its last seven and hemorrhaging mistakes, with players literally running into each other like a bad, slapstick comedy.

It’s a team in need of a serious attitude overhaul, after they appeared to quit in the Tampa Bay playoff loss. As Troy Aikman said during the 32-9 loss to Baker Mayfield and the Bucs, the Eagles looked like “a defeated team and they were when they came in.”

There is much that needs to be fixed.

The NFL Draft is a month away. The Eagles have three of the top 53 picks. Maybe some serious areas of concern will be addressed then.

As of now, the 2024 Eagles could be “Dream Team II,” a mess of big-name talent waiting to happen. The 2024 Eagles, however, can’t finish 8-8 as the 2011 debacle “Dream Team” Eagles did. The NFL plays 17 games now.

As of Monday, the Eagles opening over/under win total for 2024 is 10.5, along with the Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons—all trailing the defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers (11.5).

The last time anyone looked, are the Eagles, who lost six of their last seven, really one game behind the 49ers?

Joseph Santoliquito is a hall of fame, award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who has written feature stories for SI.com, ESPN.com, NFL.com, MLB.com, Deadspin and The Philadelphia Inquirer/Daily News. In 2006, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for a special project piece for ESPN.com called “Love at First Beep.” He is most noted for his award-winning ESPN.com feature on high school wrestler A.J. Detwiler in February 2006, which appeared on SportsCenter. In 2015, he was elected president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.