5 reasons for hope as Eagles look to fix their 2025 season

5 reasons for hope as Eagles look to fix their 2025 season

The 2025 Eagles are at a crossroads.

They didn’t look great in the first month of the season but they still managed to win their first four games before those cracks got bigger in losses to the Broncos and the Giants.

They were bullied by the Giants in Week 6 and with two games before their bye week, it’s time for the Eagles to figure out who they are. There’s a lot of pessimism about the Eagles right now and that’s understandable.

But here are five reasons for hope as the Eagles look to fix the 2025 season:

They’ve been here before

The Eagles have tried to not talk too much about the 2024 Super Bowl season, which is why it seemed notable that Nick Sirianni brought it up after the loss to the Giants.

Sirianni was asked why he’s confident things will get back in the right direction:

“What makes me confident is the guys we got in the room, coaches and players we have in the room,” Sirianni said. “This is life in the NFL. You’re going to have some up and downs and. We’ve been here before. Last year started out 4-2 as well. Different way we got there.

“So, yeah, there is no panic on us. It’s, hey, get back up, go back to work, you know, and get better from it. It’s really that simple. But love the guys that we have. Love the coaches that we have. Obviously these groups — this group of guys and group of coaches have been to the top of the mountain, been to playoffs and figure out ways. I know we can figure out ways to get this thing rolling. We been good at that in the past and got to be good at that again.”

Sirianni is right, of course. The Eagles were actually in a worse position last season, starting with a 2-2 record before they turned their season around. And while it would be foolish to assume they will do it again just because they did it last year, Sirianni and the leaders on this team have shown that they can get things back on track.

This is time for Sirianni to get this thing going in the right direction. One of Sirianni’s strengths during his time as head coach has been his relationships in the building and with his players. He’ll need to lean on those relationships in the coming weeks to help the Eagles avoid a disaster.

Talent on offense

There has been plenty of angst about the Eagles’ offensive coaching staff and especially about offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo. That’s fair. Because this is an offense that returned 10 of 11 starters from the Super Bowl season and has been below average in every major statistical category through six weeks. The Eagles desperately need to improve in a ton of areas.

While the Eagles have been overly dependent on their star players on offense, it’s undeniable that they have star power on that side of the ball. And as bad as it has gotten, the Eagles have a ton of talent on offense with Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, Saquon Barkley and up front (even if the OL isn’t as good as it has been before). Obviously, the talent is what makes the offense so disappointing right now; because the expectations should be high and they’re not living up to them.

But the talent is also what makes it fixable. Sirianni and Patullo had this mini bye week to find some answers about how to fix the offense. If there’s a reason to think things will get better, it’s because of the roster.

Young defense will improve

The Eagles have the youngest defense in the NFL so it’s perfectly reasonable to expect improvement as the year goes on. We saw that in 2024 too.

Think about how much Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean improved throughout their rookie seasons last year. And now remember that there are two rookies in this year’s starting lineup in Jihaad Campbell and Drew Mukuba. While Mukuba has struggled at times early this season, we have seen flashes and there’s a good chance the consistency will come with more reps. Not only do the Eagles have a couple of rookies starting but they have other young players, like Jalyx Hunt and Moro Ojomo, in expanded roles.

Once Nolan Smith returns from his triceps injury — likely in Week 10 after the bye week — the Eagles won’t have a single defensive starter over the age of 30. In fact, here are the ages of the Eagles’ starters on that side of the ball:

Jihaad Campbell: 21
Cooper DeJean: 22
Drew Mukuba: 23
Kelee Ringo: 23
Moro Ojomo: 24
Quinyon Mitchell: 24
Jalen Carter: 24
Jalyx Hunt: 24
Nolan Smith: 24
Jordan Davis: 25
Reed Blankenship: 26
Zack Baun: 29

Again, it’s unfair to look at 2024 and just assume that the same type of growth will happen again. But it’s very possible. The Eagles have done a great job of developing their talent, especially on the defensive side of the ball. They seem to have the right position coaches in place to help those young players reach the next steps of their careers.

Vic Fangio

There have been plenty of people comparing this season to the 2023 season and I get some of that. These last couple of games had that type of feeling to them. On offense, there are some similarities after an internal hire and a lackluster performance. But on defense, it’s hard to imagine it getting as bad as it did in that season when the Eagles began the year with Sean Desai as DC and then switched to Matt Patricia in Week 13.

You should have faith in Vic Fangio. That doesn’t mean that he’s going to end up with the No. 1 defense in the NFL again this season. But it’s also hard to imagine things unraveling because at least Fangio is going to find some answers. Now, he might not be able to call games exactly the way he wants because of the personnel, but Fangio deserves the benefit of the doubt that he’s going to get the most out of the talent he does have. We have already seen that at times this season as he dials up more blitzes to generate some pressure. Not ideal, but a good sign that Fangio is willing to adapt to his personnel.

Howie at the helm

The one thing you can count on if you’re an Eagles fan is that GM Howie Roseman is willing to make a trade if he thinks it’ll help the team. That doesn’t mean those trades always work out. The last one he pulled off was shipping two picks to the Jaguars for Tank Bigsby and that hasn’t yielded great results so far. But Roseman is always ready to make a trade and he still has plenty of draft picks as ammunition.

Right now, the Eagles have seven picks in the 2026 draft but are expected to get three more compensatory picks. So if Roseman wants to make a move before the Nov. 4 trade deadline, he’ll be able to.

What position would Roseman go after? There are a couple on defense that stand out: Edge rusher and cornerback. The Eagles will eventually get Nolan Smith and Jakorian Bennett back but possibly not until after the deadline passes. That makes this a little trickier. But it’s never a surprise to hear that Roseman is working the phones. If there’s an opportunity to make the Eagles better with a trade, he’ll do it.