Eagles 2015 Potential Breakouts And Let Downs

Under The Radar

Kiko Alonso

Alonso is the guy that I’m most excited to see out of all of the Eagles’ new acquisitions.

He’s overflowing with upside, and before the year is over I think he has a real chance to not just become a solid contributor to the linebacking corp, but become the face of the entire defense.

Lane Johnson

 I think the offensive line could potentially be a major problem for the Eagles in 2015. The interior of the line is weak, Jason Peters is aging, and I personally believe that center Jason Kelce is a little overrated (his size hurts the team in short yardage situations, and could be a bigger issue working with weaker guards this season).

However, Lane Johnson is the one guy on the line whose arrow may be pointing up.

Entering his third season, the former top draft pick should really begin to hit his stride. He’s had two years in the system, and it’s time for him to make his mark. Johnson has gotten a little overlooked in the offensive line conversation to this point, but if the line turns out to be a strength for the team then Johnson will have to be a huge factor in that.

Vinny Curry

Ever since Vinny Curry arrived in Philadelphia, the Eagles’ coaching staffs have just stared at him and scratched their heads, completely unsure of how to use him or how to find him playing time.

Curry picked up nine sacks last season in very limited playing time, and is now in a contract year. Now the Eagles have been giving him some work at outside linebacker to help improve their depth.

If Brandon Graham were to struggle or underwhelm, the opportunity is going to be there for Curry to swoop in and earn even more snaps.

Overhyped

DeMarco Murray

Murray/Kelly defenders will argue that Murray is the “north-south runner that Kelly needs”, but the reality is that the former Cowboy is stepping into a situation where he has significantly less talent around him than he did a year ago which could make it very hard for him to look like the same player he was a year ago.

When I’ve listened to Eagles fans talk about LeSean McCoy this off-season, I’m really blown away by the mentality that I hear. I believe everyone is greatly overblowing the negative aspects of McCoy’s game. Sure, he was indecisive at times, and maybe had more negative yardage plays than Chip Kelly would have liked. But the way everyone has spoken of him, you’d think that McCoy did nothing but run for negative yards all season.

McCoy’s offensive line was in shambles for most of the year. Evan Mathis, Jason Kelce, Todd Herremans, Allen Barbre, and Lane Johnson all missed significant chunks of time throughout the year, meaning that McCoy had the likes of David Molk, Andrew Gardner, Matt Tobin, Dennis Kelly, and Wade Smith rotating in and out of his lineup. And yet, he still managed to gain over 1,300 yards.

The offensive line this season has two massive question marks at the guard positions, and Jason Peters is also a concern to me as his play wasn’t quite up to par at the end of last season.

Murray no longer has Dez Bryant to scare defenses into scheming around to try to take away a dynamic receiving threat. The Eagles certainly have talent at the wide receiver position, but none of their guys are even in the same ballpark as Bryant.

Brandon Graham

If there’s one aspect of the Eagles’ off-season that I was on board with, it was the various upgrades on the defensive side of the ball.

However, one move that I completely disagreed with was the contract extension that the Eagles gave to linebacker Brandon Graham.

Graham was a solid contributor in a part-time role last season, but he’s shown nothing that suggests he’s a starter in this league. When given a chance to start for an injured Trent Cole late last season, Graham was quiet as a mouse in a must-win situation against the Washington Redskins. I’m not all convinced that the Eagles made the right move committing to him long-term.

I would have rather seen the Eagles save their cap space, and give an opportunity to Vinny Curry, who has been even more productive than Graham with even fewer snaps. Worst case scenario, if Curry couldn’t do the job, the club could have still turned to either Kiko Alonso or Mychal Kendricks on the outside.

The long-term ramifications of Graham’s extension will likely cost this team the chance to keep a couple of superior players. The Eagles may have Graham locked up, but he may only be an average player, and his contract will likely cost the team a chance to re-sign both Vinny Curry or Mychal Kendricks to fill a similar role.

Mark Sanchez

Not buying the Sanchez hype, not a little bit.

We’ve heard all off-season that Sanchez is making great strides, and could serve as legitimate competition to Sam Bradford for the starting job. We’ve been told Sanchez looks great, and could do greater things in the second year under Chip Kelly.

I’ve heard a lot of Eagles fans suggest that the Eagles could be at least a 10-win team under Sanchez.

Utterly laughable.

Sanchez is a heartbreaker. As a backup quarterback, he’s decent. He can come in, run the system, and if he isn’t asked to do too much he can be a somewhat passable game-manager.

But when the chips are down, and the team needs to be lifted by their quarterback, Sanchez is the guy who more often than not will find a way to commit a backbreaking turnover as he did in several big games last year.