Just a mere two years ago we thought the Eagles’ future was set; we were about to re-sign Carson Wentz to a mega-deal and come off three straight playoff seasons. The 2020 season was Super-Bowl-or-Bust, and boy did that get shot down quickly. There were injuries galore and so many stars underperformed, plus Wentz completely fell from grace and ended up getting benched then traded. Additionally, Eagles vet Zach Ertz played horribly and is now in trade talks, and the salary cap space is pretty much non-existent. The Eagles had to hit the HARD reset switch and need to draft well, which has been a problem as of late.

Many Eagles fans have mixed feelings about all this controversy and what the future of the team may look like. Some like junior Herb Quarterman are optimistic. “[Rookie QB Jalen] Hurts is the G.O.A.T. and he will thrive with these young players,” he said.

Many like Quarterman see Wentz’s departure as a positive, and also see Hurts as the key to the Eagles salvation in the coming 2021 season. However, it takes more than one person in football to win games, and the Eagles roster is not getting any younger. So, it’s hard to say that Hurts will be able to thrive with this Eagles roster.

Which leads into the other half of Eagles fans who think the problem did not reside with the quarterback. Junior Bryan Villar believed the problem went beyond Wentz or Hurts. “The Eagles front office failed to give Wentz any help and paid so much, and yet after one bad year he is forced out of the city.” There are also many fans in this camp. An MVP-caliber QB after one subpar season loses his job, and how does this make things better for Hurts? Hurts’ starting spot is now in jeopardy if he underperforms, and even if the front office cannot give him any help. The Eagles wasted so much on someone just to inevitably trade him away.

So now the Eagles now have a bunch of old players, and they are trying to get rid of some of our best players like Ertz and Brandon Brooks because there is no cap space, and we need draft picks.

On March 8, ESPN’s Chris Mortenson reported, “Jeffrey Lurie, the owner of the Eagles, has basically sent the message to his personnel department and Howie Roseman that he wants to do everything he can to help Jalen Hurts be successful and NOT bring in somebody to compete for the job.” If what he says is right, then we can infer that the team is under full control of Lurie, the players are just given positions and the head coach, former Indy Coach Nick Sirianni, has no say. With the draft coming up, Lurie can just say he likes this guy or that guy with no intervention from the coaching staff and he gets picked. Apparently players do not need to work for anything and have no competition, since Lurie runs the show. How are they supposed to get better and form relationships if, in one week they underperform, and next thing they know they’re benched?

The Eagles are in a deep hole after trading Wentz who, as recently as last year, was said to be the next great franchise QB. Now we only have two. draft picks that are not worth what we traded in the first place to get Carson at the second overall pick. The culture needs to change and the Eagles need to get a lot younger before they can be competitive again. Sorry Eagles fans, but looks like a couple of bad years are coming before we get another glimpse of the playoffs.