Eagles News: Philly is ‘really high’ on their pair of defensive youngsters entering 2023
The 2022 Eagles rookie class is a bit of an enigma at this point.
Their first-round selection, DT Jordan Davis, only logged 224 defensive snaps as a rookie; 24 percent of the Eagles defensive snaps. Their next two picks, OL Cam Jurgens and LB Nakobe Dean, only saw a combined 69 (nice) snaps on offense/defense in 2022.
Typically, this would be a cause for concern, but the Eagles really didn’t need their ’22 rookie class to contribute. They had proven veterans at those positions who all had career years in 2022, en route to reaching Super Bowl 57. Nevertheless, the team lost several key starters – primarily on the defensive side of the ball – this offseason, making the ’22 rookie class integral to the success of the team this upcoming year.
Specifically, Davis and Dean, who will both see a massive increase in playing time in 2023.
Reportedly, the team doesn’t have many worries about Davis’ and Dean’s viability next season, despite the lack of playing time they saw as rookies. According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, the Eagles are “really high” on their pair of defensive youngsters entering the 2023 season.
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In a recent article discussing some key storylines entering this year’s NFL Draft, Breer writes, “The Eagles are really high on where Jordan Davis and Nakobe Dean are going into their second years, and that could, potentially, work to help Jalen Carter with Philly, should he slide to the bottom of the top 10. For one, as one executive who’s worked with GM Howie Roseman in the past put it, ‘Howie loves going all in on certain programs, so if he has success with a couple guys from one school, he can go overboard.’ And two, having Davis and Dean, in theory at least, would help Philly get Carter past the litany of issues he’s had.”
Although Davis and Dean didn’t play a whole lot in 2022, they didn’t give us many reasons to doubt their potential. For the most part, whenever either of these two saw extended playing time, they produced.
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Davis was having a solid rookie campaign through the first two months of the season before suffering an ankle injury. Even though he saw the field upon his return, his impact was minimal. I attribute that to the nagging injury more than anything.
As for Dean, I actually have more faith that he’ll be a standout in ’23 than I do with Davis. It’s weird because Dean only saw 34 defensive snaps last year, but everytime he was out there he made plays. In hindsight, playing Dean over Kyzir White towards the end of the season probably would have made more sense. But I suppose Jonathan Gannon didn’t want to disrupt the defensive chemistry. Understandable, but it was the safe choice.
With the amount of faith the Eagles have in these two Georgia products, we should expect Howie Roseman to dip back into the Georgia pool again once the NFL Draft rolls around, as Breer eludes to. Hoping for Jalen Carter to slide all the way to tenth overall is very optimistic at this juncture, but someone like LB Nolan Smith should be there for the taking.
We saw Howie dip into the Alabama offense as much as he could with Jalen Hurts, DeVonta Smith, and Landon Dickerson. Don’t be shocked if he looks towards Georgia’s historically great defense to help rebuild his in the coming years.
Mandatory Credit: ESPN
