Analysis: Eagles have assembled another "Dream Team" but they know talent alone doesn't win
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Vince Young’s infamous “Dream Team” declaration of the 2011 Philadelphia Eagles came to mind when general manager Howie Roseman added another playmaker to a loaded offense.
How’s Jahan Dotson for a third receiver?
The 2024 Eagles may have more talent than any team in franchise history, including the underachieving 2011 club and the Super Bowl champion 2017 squad.
Jalen Hurts. Saquon Barkley. A.J. Brown. DeVonta Smith. Dallas Goedert. Now Dotson joins the mix after the Eagles acquired the 2022 first-round pick from Washington for draft picks in a rare deal with a division rival just two weeks before the regular season opens.
Dotson had 49 receptions for 518 yards and four touchdowns last season. He brings speed, explosiveness and could thrive in an offense where other players will demand more attention from defenses.
The 2011 team that Young labeled a “Dream Team” featured quarterback Michael Vick, star running back LeSean McCoy and wide receivers DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin. They finished 8-8 after starting 4-8.
The Super Bowl champions had quarterbacks Carson Wentz and Nick Foles, running backs LeGarrette Blount and Jay Ajayi, wideouts Alshon Jeffery, Torrey Smith and Nelson Agholor and tight end Zach Ertz. The team had unique chemistry and several players had career years.
Even the 2004 NFC championship team led by Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens didn’t have this kind of depth.
The Eagles have a quarterback who was MVP runner-up two years ago, possibly the best collection of wide receivers in the NFL and a dynamic running back.
That’s a ton of options for new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.
Of course, talent alone doesn’t win. The Eagles experienced that last season when they started 10-1 and fell apart, losing six of their final seven games, including a lopsided loss at Tampa Bay in the wild-card round.
So, Roseman set out to revamp the roster in the offseason. The general manager known for savvy moves made a big splash on the first day of free agency by signing Barkley away from the New York Giants. The two-time Pro Bowler adds another dimension to Philadelphia’s run game that’s heavily involved Hurts the past three seasons.
Hurts had 2,149 yards rushing and 38 TDs on the ground over the past three years. Barkley ran for 962 yards and six touchdowns and had 41 catches, including four TDs in 14 games last season.
“Saquon is obviously a special player,” Moore said last month. “Just his bursts, quickness, ability to hit the hole. Obviously, he’ll be a guy that you can utilize at all aspects of the field. He can be a space player, which we’re excited about in the passing game. He’s going to be able to attack people in a lot of different ways. That’s the exciting part. It won’t be just a downhill run game. He’ll be able to emphasize and do some other things.”
Brown, a second-team All-Pro in 2023, got a $96 million contract extension in the offseason and Smith, a 2021 first-round pick, received a $75 million deal.
Brown had 106 catches for 1,456 yards and seven TDs last season while Smith caught 81 passes for 1,066 yards and seven TDs. Goedert had 59 receptions for 592 yards and three scores in 14 games.
The offense did suffer one major loss when six-time All-Pro center Jason Kelce retired. Kelce anchored an elite offense line and his leadership will be missed in the locker room.
Still, the Eagles are stacked with star-quality players. Now, they have to go out and perform because nobody wins anything on paper.
“All our players in this room have talent. But the best teams have something else. They have something else, and it’s the culture,” coach Nick Sirianni said earlier in the offseason. “It’s your daily habits of being connected, having accountability, being extremely detailed, being tough, that we’re trying to drop in the bucket over and over again.
“I think sometimes you can lose sight of that, of like, ‘hey, we’re not just going to win games because we’re talented.’ It takes everything. ... We know we have the right pieces — Howie has done an unbelievable job of putting this team together and we have the right pieces in here. ... But at the end of the day, it’s never just about the most talented — not in football.”
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