Eagles midterm grades by position at the bye week

Eagles midterm grades by position at the bye week originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Eagles have reached their bye week with an 8-1 record, which is the best record in the entire NFL.

It hasn’t always been pretty but the Eagles have taken care of business in the first half of their season and have built up a nice lead in the NFC East.

Here’s a look at the Eagles’ midterm averages by position after the first nine games of the season:

Quarterback

Jalen Hurts: 68.9%, 15 TDs, 8 INTs, 97.0; 88 rushing attempts, 316 yards, 7 TD

After a somewhat shaky start to his season, Hurts has played much better recently and he’s been playing through a knee injury the last few weeks. His best performance this season came a couple weeks ago in the Eagles’ tough win over the Commanders, when he stood in the pocket and delivered great pass after great pass. Early in the season, plenty of fans were wondering what was wrong with Hurts. But about halfway through the season, he’s firmly in the MVP race.

Week 1 at NE: C-
Week 2 vs. MIN: C
Week 3 at TB: B
Week 4 vs. WAS: A-
Week 5 at LAR: A-
Week 6 at NYJ: D+
Week 7 vs. MIA: B+
Week 8 at WAS: A
Week 9 vs. DAL: B+

Midterm grade: B (2.89)

Running back

D’Andre Swift: 135 attempts, 614 yards (4.5), 3 TDs; 30 catches, 166 yards, 1 TD

The Eagles’ run game was cooking earlier in the season when Swift had back-to-back games with 175 and then 130 yards. Since then he hasn’t gone over 70 yards in a game. After averaging 6.8 yards per game in the first three weeks, he’s averaging just 3.8 over the last six but he has started to make some contributions as a receiver out of the backfield. Kenny Gainwell has turned into the No. 2 back and has been a bit up and down. He has 54 carries for 175 yards (3.2) with 2 touchdowns and 15 catches for 74 yards.

Week 1 at NE: C
Week 2 vs. MIN: A+
Week 3 at TB: A
Week 4 vs. WAS: B
Week 5 at LAR: B+
Week 6 at NYJ: C
Week 7 vs. MIA: B
Week 8 at WAS: C+
Week 9 vs. DAL: B-

Midterm grade: B (2.96)

Receiver

A.J. Brown: 67 catches on 92 targets, 1,005 yards, 6 TDs 

What Brown has done through the first nine games of the season has been incredible. Even though his streak of six straight 125+ yard games came to an end in Week 9, Brown is already over 1,000 yards. DeVonta Smith has had a quieter season but still has 42 catches for 533 yard and 4 touchdowns and is on pace for another 1,000-yard season. Outside of those two, the Eagles haven’t gotten many contributions. The next receiver on their list is Olamide Zaccheaus, who has 87 yards, 58 of which came in Week 3 against the Bucs. We’ll see what 34-year-old Julio Jones is able to give them down the stretch. There’s also a decision looming with Quez Watkins (on IR) as his hamstring heals.

Week 1 at NE: B
Week 2 vs. MIN: B
Week 3 at TB: A
Week 4 vs. WAS: A+
Week 5 at LAR: A-
Week 6 at NYJ: B-
Week 7 vs. MIA: A
Week 8 at WAS: A+
Week 9 vs. DAL: B+

Midterm grade: A- (3.59)

Tight end

Dallas Goedert: 38 catches on 52 targets, 410 yards, 2 TDs

While Goedert’s season hit a snag against the Cowboys when he suffered a forearm fracture, he wasn’t producing at the rate he was in 2022. And now he’s going to miss an extended period of time just like he did last season. Still, Goedert is the Eagles’ third leading receiver after Brown and Smith and has had some really good moments as a pass catcher and as a blocker. Jack Stoll is the No. 2 and even though he has just 2 catches for 10 yards, he is a solid blocker in 12 personnel and 13 personnel packages. Without Goedert going forward, the Eagles will have Stoll, Grant Calcaterra and Albert Okwuegbunam

Week 1 at NE: C-
Week 2 vs. MIN: B
Week 3 at TB: B
Week 4 vs. WAS: B-
Week 5 at LAR: A+
Week 6 at NYJ: C
Week 7 vs. MIA: A-
Week 8 at WAS: B
Week 9 vs. DAL: B

Midterm grade: B (2.93)

Offensive line

At times this season, the Eagles’ offensive line has looked just as dominant as ever. But there have also been a few shakier moments, especially in the run game, which has dried up recently. Still, the Eagles are getting high-level play out of Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata, Jason Kelce and Landon Dickerson. The right guard spot has certainly missed Cam Jurgens over the last five weeks. Sua Opeta played well early in that stretch but got worse to the point that rookie Tyler Steen started against the Cowboys. The Eagles should have Jurgens back after the bye.

Week 1 at NE: C
Week 2 vs. MIN: A
Week 3 at TB: A+
Week 4 vs. WAS: B
Week 5 at LAR: A
Week 6 at NYJ: C-
Week 7 vs. MIA: B+
Week 8 at WAS: B+
Week 9 vs. DAL: B

Midterm grade: B+ (3.18)

Defensive line

Josh Sweat: 6 1/2 sacks, 16 QB hits, 6 TFLs, 2 FF

The strength of the Eagles defense, as expected, has been their defensive line. Both Sweat and Reddick have been monsters on the edge and the rotation of Jalen Carter, Fletcher Cox, Jordan Davis and Milton Williams inside has been extremely dangerous and has withstood a few injures because of the depth. The depth at edge rusher isn’t as strong as expected because Nolan Smith isn’t playing much but the Eagles are still getting quality snaps from Brandon Graham, as we saw in Week 9. The Eagles’ DL has gotten an A or better in 4 of 9 games this season.

Week 1 at NE: B+
Week 2 vs. MIN: B+
Week 3 at TB: A+
Week 4 vs. WAS: B-
Week 5 at LAR: A
Week 6 at NYJ: A
Week 7 vs. MIA: A+
Week 8 at WAS: C+
Week 9 vs. DAL: B+

Midterm grade: A- (3.52)

Linebacker

Zach Cunningham: 54 tackles, 3 PBUs, 1 QB hit, 2 TFLs, 1 FR

The Eagles are somehow getting a decently high level of play out of their linebackers, which is pretty incredible given the way things have gone. Their 2022 third-round pick Nakobe Dean was supposed to be the key linebacker and the MIKE in this defense. But he got hurt in Week 1, missed four games on IR and is now hurt again. And even when he’s been out there, Dean hasn’t been great. The bigger surprise is that both Cunningham, who signed off the street in August, and Nicholas Morrow, who didn’t even make the initial 53-man roster, have played well together. That doesn’t mean either of them are heading to a Pro Bowl but linebacker hasn’t been the biggest issue with this defense.

Week 1 at NE: D
Week 2 vs. MIN: B
Week 3 at TB: B
Week 4 vs. WAS: B
Week 5 at LAR: B
Week 6 at NYJ: B
Week 7 vs. MIA: B+
Week 8 at WAS: C+
Week 9 vs. DAL: B

Midterm grade: B- (2.74)

Secondary

Reed Blankenship: 2 INT, 10 PBU, 2 TFL, 1 FR

Injuries have really taken their toll on the Eagles’ secondary this season. There’s not one player in the starting secondary who has played every game this season, which means the Eagles have constantly been swapping players in and out. They added Kevin Byard before the trade deadline but he’s still getting his legs under him in a new defense. The area where the Eagles have really struggled is at the nickel corner spot since Avonte Maddox went down early in the season. They have been rotating a bunch of players at that spot but will hopefully have Bradley Roby back after the bye.

Week 1 at NE: B-
Week 2 vs. MIN: C
Week 3 at TB: B
Week 4 vs. WAS: C-
Week 5 at LAR: B+
Week 6 at NYJ: B
Week 7 vs. MIA: A-
Week 8 at WAS: D+
Week 9 vs. DAL: C-

Midterm grade: C+ (2.48)

Special teams

Jake Elliott: 18/20 (90.0%), 5/6 from 50+, 26/27 on PATs

Give Michael Clay some credit. His unit has performed very well for much of the season after being a weak spot in 2022. Elliott has been sensational this season and has already been named Special Teams Player of the Week twice. And now with Braden Mann, it appears the Eagles have found their answer at punter. On top of that, punt returner Britain Covey is averaging 14.0 yards per return, which ranks fourth in the NFL among qualified players. On top of that, the Eagles are relying on a ton of young players like Sydney Brown, Kelee Ringo, Nolan Smith and Eli Ricks on special teams and their coverage units have been solid.

Week 1 at NE: C
Week 2 vs. MIN: B
Week 3 at TB: A
Week 4 vs. WAS: A+
Week 5 at LAR: A
Week 6 at NYJ: D
Week 7 vs. MIA: A
Week 8 at WAS: B
Week 9 vs. DAL: B+

Midterm grade: B+ (3.18)

Coaching

Record: 8-1

At times, I’ll admit we get a little too bogged down with scheme and individual decisions and play calls from games. A big reason why the Eagles are 8-1 right now is Nick Sirianni and his staff. With that said, there have been some questionable offensive play calls during the first half of the season from new OC Brian Johnson. And while DC Sean Desai gets a bit of a pass because of the injuries in the secondary, the back end has been very shaky at times. Still, the Eagles are a well-coached bunch.

Week 1 at NE: C
Week 2 vs. MIN: B+
Week 3 at TB: A-
Week 4 vs. WAS: B-
Week 5 at LAR: B+
Week 6 at NYJ: D+
Week 7 vs. MIA: A
Week 8 at WAS: B
Week 9 vs. DAL: B

Midterm grade: B (2.93)

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