After a surprisingly quick exit from the playoffs, the Eagles find themselves with more questions than answers

The Philadelphia Eagles' season ended on Sunday thanks to a 23-19 loss at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers. In a season where the Eagles were looking to defend their Super Bowl title, they instead bowed out of the playoffs in the wild card round despite being sizable favorites and playing against an opponent that was missing star players on both sides of the ball.

The game itself was marked by some of the same problems that had plagued the Eagles throughout the season, with their inconsistent offense looking unstoppable to start the game but falling apart by the end of it, Jake Elliott uncharacteristically missing kicks, the defense being stingy on the back end but unable to generate consistent pressure up front, and more. 

Given the way this season went and especially the way it ended, it's important to take a look at what went wrong through the prism of what might happen next. With that in mind, we're going to walk through a few of the key areas that need attention this offseason.

The coaching staff

By most measurements, Nick Sirianni is one of the most successful coaches in the NFL. He's 59-26 across his five NFL seasons, giving him a .694 winning percentage that ranks fifth-best all time, according to Pro-Football-Reference, and eighth-best through a coach's first five seasons, according to ESPN's Bill Barnwell. He's 6-4 in the playoffs and he's been to two Super Bowls and won one just a year ago. 

And yet, there is constant consternation about Sirianni both inside and outside of Philadelphia, with fans seemingly ready to fire him at the first sign of any underperformance. And there has definitively been underperformance in two of his five seasons, including this one, with those seasons bearing a lot of similarities to each other.

It doesn't help that the Eagles have fallen apart at the end of two different seasons, and both times it was in the years when Sirianni promoted an offensive coordinator from within to replace the one who had just taken the team to the Super Bowl, only to see the offense struggle badly down the stretch and especially in the playoffs. 

The first time around the defense was just not up to the task of carrying the team (in part because of talent deficiencies but also because Sirianni's coordinator hires didn't work out), so once the offense broke down and the wheels just came entirely off, but this time around most of the blame has to be laid at the feet of the offense, because the defense was absolutely good enough to win. And when you're an offensive-minded head coach and the offense breaks down, you're going to catch some heat, even if you're not the primary play caller, which Sirianni wasn't this year.

That brings us to offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, who seemingly just did not have any answers for what ailed the offense this season. He couldn't figure out a way to scheme around the team's various issues, nor to put Jalen Hurts in the best position to succeed. Even Hurts expressed open frustration with the offense at times this season, and given the way things played out on the field during both the regular season and especially in the playoff loss to the 49ers, it isn't hard to see why.

We don't yet know whether the Eagles plan to bring back either Sirianni or Patullo. It would frankly be pretty shocking if Patullo were back given the offensive struggles and what we know about the Eagles' willingness to make aggressive changes, particularly at the coordinator positions. 

Sirianni is a different story. It's hard to make an argument that he's not at least a good coach given the degree of success he's had during his tenure, and teams typically don't move on from good coaches because good coaches are pretty hard to find. But you can also make an argument for trying to find a coach who more definitively gives you a schematic advantage on game days and who can do a better job of finding offensive answers when Plan A breaks down. We know the Eagles are always trying to be ahead of the curve rather than behind it, so Sirianni's future is definitely still something to watch. 

No matter what they choose to do at head coach, they would be wise to retain defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, who has built one of the better defenses in the NFL over the last two seasons. They need to add more pass rushers to get back to where they were a year ago, but Fangio is an elite defensive coach.

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A.J. Brown's future

It was a contentious season for Brown in Philly, and that continued on Sunday with his sideline interaction with Sirianni, his rough performance in the game itself and finally his refusal to speak with the media following the loss. Brown hugged his teammates in the locker room and then left without taking questions, per the Philly Voice.

Trade rumors swirled around Brown even during the season as the Eagles were chasing back-to-back Super Bowls, and it would be surprising if those rumors didn't pick up this offseason, given where it looks like the relationship between the two sides is at this point. However, there are several things to consider when it comes to potential Brown trades. 

The first is that the Eagles don't really have anybody to replace him. They have DeVonta Smith, of course, but their depth chart is thin beyond the top two: all they have beyond the Brown-Smith duo is Jahan Dotson (who is set to be a free agent), Darius Cooper, Britain Covey and then Johnny Wilson on injured reserve. That's at least part of why the target tree has been so concentrated over the last few years. They could of course target a potential replacement with whatever draft compensation they received in a trade, but the original Brown trade to Philadelphia proves how risky that is. 

The second is the financial implications. Brown's three-year contract extension signed in April 2024 hasn't even kicked in yet. He's under contract through 2029, but also has five void years tacked onto the end of his deal, per Over the Cap. If the Eagles were to trade him prior to June 1, they would be taking on a $43.4 million dead cap hit, costing themselves just over $20 million compared with the hit that would come from keeping Brown on the team. A post-June 1 trade is more financially feasible, but even that would save the Eagles only $7 million on their books for 2026. That makes trading him this offseason incredibly complicated. (Cutting him is obviously a non-starter.)

The third is that while Brown remains very good, his performance did tail off slightly this year. He caught 78 passes and went over 1,000 yards once again, but he posted career-worst marks in yards per route, per target and per reception, as well as yards after catch per reception and first downs per route and per target. To be clear, his numbers in those categories were still quite good; he finished 22nd in the NFL in yards per route, for example. But when you usually check in within the top five and drop outside the top 20, there could be some minor cause for concern moving forward.

All that being said, if the Eagles do put Brown on the market, there are sure to be plenty of suitors for a 29-year-old (he turns 29 in June) wideout who has consistently shown that he is among the very best players in the league at his position. The bigger question is whether the Eagles should really be considering it, or whether they should instead be figuring out a way to mend fences, which would almost certainly be better for the Eagles on the field.

The running game

In 2024, the Eagles dominated on the ground because their run game was both efficient and explosive thanks to the league's best offensive line and a superstar running back who was in the best situation of his career. 

They averaged 4.9 yards per carry overall, and 5.3 yards per carry on running back runs. Because the offensive line was so good, the Eagles led the NFL in yards before contact per carry, according to TruMedia, and because Saquon Barkley was so good, he ripped off 30 explosive runs, which ranked third in the NFL.

This year, none of those figures lived up to where they were the previous season. Philly averaged 4.2 yards per carry overall and 4.4 per carry on running back runs. Amid offensive line injuries and under-performance, the Eagles' yards before contact per carry average dropped by more than three-quarters of a yard and Barkley dipped to 20 explosive runs, which ranked ninth in the league. 

Figuring out a way to get back to where they were last season is going to be highly important. Some of the improvement can come from the offensive line being healthier. Lane Johnson and Landon Dickerson were injured on and off throughout the season and combined to miss 10 games and played hurt in several others. Getting them up to full health and full speed will help. 

But that also can't be the only part of the plan. Depending on Barkley to be the guy he was in 2024 probably isn't reasonable. He's going to be 29 next season, an age by which running backs are typically slowing down. Barkley is obviously not your typical running back, but he's also got a lot of tread on his tires at this point and probably needs to be spelled more often than he was this year and last. Finding a complementary back who can rip off explosive runs on occasion, whether that's Tank Bigsby (who flashed at times this year but hasn't been particularly explosive in his career), Will Shipley or someone else, is something the Eagles should be thinking about.

The salary cap

The Eagles are currently set to enter the offseason with $20.3 million in cap space, according to Over the Cap. Several important players are set to hit free agency this offseason: Dallas Goedert, Reed Blankenship, Jaelan Phillips and Nakobe Dean are chief among them. 

They will almost certainly restructure or extend multiple contracts to create more room, and they could add void years to other deals to spread out cap hits even more. Players including Goedert (on a new deal that replaces his void years), Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter could get new deals and save some money against the cap, for example. Plus, the contracts for Hurts, Johnson, Jordan Mailata, Smith, Barkley, Dickerson, Zack Baun and Cam Jurgens already have minimal base salaries, but they could convert some option bonuses to signing bonus and spread some of that money out over the remaining years of their respective deals.

According to Over the Cap, the Eagles can create between $99 million and $118 million in cap room with simple or maximum restructures. They almost surely won't restructure every possible deal that they can but they will likely cut ties with other players to create additional room, so they should have plenty of money available to conduct their offseason business.