INDIANAPOLIS — The suspense surrounding the annual scouting combine news conferences for Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman and coach Nick Sirianni subsided when they met with Philadelphia reporters ahead of the event. It originally seemed as if Tuesday would be the first day to address the uncertain status of A.J. Brown, the decision to hire Sean Mannion and the departure of Jeff Stoutland.
With those topics already in the headlines, the questions were reserved more for those found in the final block of talk shows rather than the breaking news chyrons. But it’s the Eagles, and there’s never a shortage of topics to discuss — especially with free agency opening in two weeks, the draft in two months and a new system for returning players to learn. Here are 10 takeaways from The Athletic’s Zach Berman and Brooks Kubena:
Saquon Barkley a fit in any system
Sirianni believes running back Saquon Barkley will “be exceptional” in the new offensive system.
That’s because he believes Barkley would be exceptional in any offensive system.
“He’s been highly productive in many of the schemes,” Sirianni said. “Whether it’s gap schemes, whether it’s inside zones, whether it’s pin and pulls, whether it’s toss cracks. Every one of these things, I’m picturing him breaking a big run off that. That’s a common theme with good football players that can fit into a lot of different schemes. I believe he’ll be exceptional at that.”
Barkley was self-critical in a down year for what has historically been a top-tier rushing attack for the Eagles under Sirianni. They recorded era-lows in yards per rush (4.2), average yards before contact (1.52), total rush EPA (-24.81) and rush success rate (39.1). Drives often stalled because they rushed at their worst on first down (34.9 percent success). They totaled -23.89 EPA on 11 personnel run plays. (They’d never dipped below 7.38 in any season under Sirianni, much less into negative territory.) The numbers reflected that something was very wrong with a system that could not create an advantage with a Super Bowl-caliber roster.
The Eagles aim to restore their run game with a revamped offensive system run by an overhauled offensive staff. Longtime offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, who doubled as the team’s run-game coordinator, will not coach with the Eagles this season. Sirianni’s new hires — Sean Mannion (OC), Ryan Mahaffey (run game coordinator and tight ends coach) and Chris Kuper (offensive line) — are expected to install more zone-blocking concepts that originate from the Shanahan tree offensive philosophies.
Sirianni said he was “really impressed” by Kuper during the interview process. Kuper, 43, spent eight seasons as an offensive lineman for the Denver Broncos before beginning a coaching career that has so far spanned 10 NFL seasons. Sirianni said Kuper understands “a lot of the intricacies” of the system the Eagles intend to run, can help their offensive linemen “get better fundamentally,” and can “hold people accountable” within the room.
“Whenever we bring somebody in, we believe that,” Sirianni said. “Chris is no different.” — Kubena
Echoing the A.J Brown stance
The Eagles avoided questions about Brown’s future, dominating the combine news conferences when Roseman and Sirianni addressed the topic ahead of the combine. Roseman echoed the team’s stance Tuesday when he was asked about teams reaching out to the Eagles about Brown’s availability.
“There’s a lot of conversations in the offseason about players on your team, on other teams,” Roseman said. “That’s really the job. That’s the fun part of the offseason. The opportunity to improve your team, the opportunity to make trades. But at the end of the day, we’re trying to get better. It’s hard to do that if you’re subtracting great players. We’ll do whatever’s in the best interest of our team to be better for this year and going forward. Anything that puts us in a position that we think to potentially win another championship. Any decision will be made with that, no matter the player.”
This has been the repeated company line: The Eagles are not looking to move on from great players. Of course, there’s wiggle room — and that could be contingent upon Brown’s interest in playing in Philadelphia and what the compensation would be from other clubs in a trade. Roseman has acknowledged that he’ll always listen, but the Eagles are not actively shopping Brown through their public comments. — Berman
All-Pros return, but who’s the other starting CB?
The Eagles will once again have a vacant starting position at outside cornerback when the new league year begins. It is not Roseman’s primary plan for starting nickel Cooper DeJean to fulfill it.
DeJean, a 2024 second-round pick, secured his first All-Pro and Pro Bowl selections within a flexible 2025 plan the Eagles could maintain. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio deployed DeJean at nickel in pass-oriented defensive packages and outside cornerback in base looks. The arrangement complemented the team’s low investments at CB2 opposite Quinyon Mitchell: the Eagles still owned a second-ranked 0.15 EPA per pass play, according to TruMedia.
The CB2 spot is certainly a pressing question this offseason. Adoree’ Jackson, who started in 10 games in 2025, is scheduled to hit free agency. Kelee Ringo, who lost the position battle to Jackson, remains under contract for one more season. Mac McWilliams, a 2025 fifth-round pick, only played 28 defensive snaps as a rookie in five games. Roseman said DeJean “can play at an All-Pro level anywhere,” but he’s clearly reluctant to move a player who just proved he’s the best in the NFL at his position.
“He could be elite as an outside corner, too,” Roseman said. “But what he’s able to affect in the run game, he’s able to affect the pass game, (and) the screen game from there… you just see the difference that he makes in that role.” — Kubena
Dallas Goedert might not have a place in the Eagles’ tight end group. (Timothy T Ludwig / Getty Images)
Dallas Goedert’s future
A new deal between the Eagles and tight end Dallas Goedert does not seem plausible in what is expected to be a significant makeover for the position group. The Eagles delayed the shake-up when they restructured Goedert’s contract a year ago, but the price point for another extension will all but certainly exceed what the Eagles are willing to spend on Goedert as he hits free agency before his age-31 season.
“I’m really glad we were able to figure it out and bring him back to Philadelphia this (past) year for this season and tremendously productive for us,” Roseman said of Goedert, who set the franchise’s single-season record for touchdown catches by a tight end (11). “Just a huge asset for our offense to have him on our football team. Again, we’ve got to put the whole puzzle together. And so to sit here — we’ve got a lot of other free agents, too — and say, ‘Hey, we’re definitely gonna get this guy back’ … You know, when we get this late, obviously the market dictates a lot of that as well, but you know, we’ll certainly sit down with his agent here over the next couple of days and have a conversation.”
Expect the Eagles’ tight end room to be infused with new faces that fit a new offensive system. The team’s main three tight ends in 2025 — Goedert, Grant Calacaterra and Kylen Granson — are all scheduled to hit free agency. Each of them struggled as run blockers, and Roseman acknowledged Friday that the Eagles needed more versatility in the room. Sirianni also signaled a shift toward run-blocking as a priority when speaking to reporters on Tuesday.
“I think it’s always important that tight ends are able to create mismatches in the pass game versus some of the different guys that they get in the inside coverages,” Sirianni said. “It’s been our case in the pass game that they’re great yards-after-catch guys. I think you’ve seen that with Dallas, of how phenomenal he is with the ball in his hands and how difficult he is to bring down. And then being able to be effective in the run game. We’ve been in the top ten and top five in rushing, obviously, you know, in all the years but this year. And it’s important that they’re highly involved in that and being able to block tough matchups with the defensive ends or, you know, or linebackers or whoever it may be.” — Kubena
Will Brandon Graham return?
Roseman called edge rusher “a priority position” — a notable quote with the NFL Scouting Combine serving as a backdrop.
“We usually take seven or eight guys to camp. We only have three on the roster right now, so definitely think we’ll have to address it,” Roseman said. “It’s a priority position for us, and we’ll just kind of try to manage our own guys, free agency, and the draft to bring the best outcome possible that we can.”
The position group’s setbacks at the start of the 2025 season led to Roseman’s acquisition of Jaelan Phillips before the trade deadline. The Eagles had traded away Bryce Huff, a failed 2024 free agency signing, and chose to support young starters Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt by signing three veteran mercenaries — Joshua Uche, Azeez Ojulari and Ogbo Okoronko — to affordable one-year deals. Depth nosedived when Smith, Ojulari and Okoronkwo were each placed on injured reserve, and franchise pillar Brandon Graham signed a one-year deal out of retirement to help the Eagles by supplying much-needed snaps both along the edge and the interior.
Do the Eagles want Graham back in 2026?
“I mean, Brandon Graham is always welcome in Philadelphia, obviously,” Roseman said. “When I think about what he’s done for us as a player, as a person, and then last year, even when he came back, and the versatility that he showed, coming in at the end of the year and (moving) inside and playing defense tackle — just an all-time Eagles great and future Eagles Hall of Famer.”
To read between the lines: The Eagles obviously respect Graham deeply. If they were again in a scenario in 2026 in which they need instant help, Graham will be on the call list to see if he’s willing and able to start his own version of a Rocky trilogy. Perhaps the Eagles will enter the summer still needing depth along the defensive line and indeed make that call. But the free agency pool and draft beckon.
First, the Eagles must decide if they are going to re-sign Phillips. Roseman echoed his Friday praise of the soon-to-be 27-year-old by saying Phillips has “tremendous character, tremendous work ethic” and said “you certainly see his fit with Coach Fangio in our defense.” Phillips, The Athletic’s No. 3-ranked free agent, has a contract projection of four years, $98 million. — Kubena
No tags upcoming
Don’t look for the Eagles to use the franchise tag or transition tag on any of their free agents — including Phillips. The projected franchise tag value for a linebacker (Phillips’ position classification) is $28.2 million, per overthecap.com. The projected transition tag value is $23.6 million, which is below The Athletic’s projection for Phillips’ average annual salary on a new deal. (The transition tag would give the Eagles the right to match any offer that Phillips signed with a different club or to play on a one-year salary at the transition tag value. The franchise tag comes with draft pick compensation if a player signs elsewhere and the contract is not matched.)
The problem? It would also lock up the player’s cap hold at that number, whereas a new contract would allow the Eagles to spread the cap hit over the length of the contract and create more cap room.
“I think that for us, that’s probably going to be hard to do,” Roseman said. “We got a lot of free agents. We’re trying to keep a lot of guys together. I think the best way to do that is probably with extensions, as opposed to one-year deals.”
The deadline to use tags is March 3. The Atlanta Falcons used the franchise tag on tight end Kyle Pitts and the Dallas Cowboys are leaning toward using the franchise tag on George Pickens. The Eagles last used the franchise tag on DeSean Jackson in 2012. — Berman
Belief in Jake Elliott
Roseman voiced the Eagles’ belief in kicker Jake Elliott despite the nine-year veteran’s struggles throughout the 2025 season. Elliott’s 74.1 field goal percentage (20-of-27) was the second-lowest of his career. His inconsistency included a 24-15 loss to the Chicago Bears in which he missed an extra-point attempt and 52-yard try, a 41-yard field goal in a 22-19 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Chargers and a missed extra-point attempt in a 23-19 NFC wild-card loss to the San Francisco 49ers that eliminated the opportunity for the Eagles to attempt a game-tying field goal near the end of regulation.
Elliott has three years remaining on the four-year, $24 million extension that made him the NFL’s second-highest paid kicker, according to Over the Cap. The Eagles would incur a cap hit of at least $2.2 million by releasing Elliott at any point this year.
“I think that Jake has been a tremendous kicker for us since we got him off the practice squad in Cincinnati in 2017,” Roseman said. “Tremendously clutch, have a lot of confidence in him as a player, as a kicker, as a person, a captain on our team, and continue to believe in him as our place kicker.” — Kubena
The tush push lives?
One year after a potential ban of the tush push was a dominant offseason topic, it sounds as if there is no proposal in place to ban the play this offseason.
That means it could live, although it’s not a surefire staple for the Eagles. They were less effective running the play in 2026, and part of their offseason planning is determining the future of the player in their offense.
“I think there’s some things that teams did this year that they did a good job of being able to stop it,” Sirianni said. “We have to get back to being able to be as dominant as we were at it, or we find new avenues to be able to convert on third down or in the red zone. That’s the fun part about off season, is to be able to go through those processes. You go through them during the season as well. I think you saw us do some cool things off of it, and you still want to be able to do that. …That’s what you’re constantly trying to do, to put seeds of doubt into everything, and this play has that ability. …It took a little bit of step back, and we got to coach it better. We got to execute it better. And looking forward to seeing where that goes in the future.”
Potential rule changes are voted upon at the league meetings next month. — Berman