Can the Eagles repeat as Super Bowl champs? The keys to Philadelphia's 2025 title defense

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Welcome to "NFL Thoughts," a wide-ranging, in-depth look at some of the top storylines of the 2025 season. With the Eagles set to open up the season -- and their potential defense of their Super Bowl title -- it's time to look into how they can become just the third repeat champions of this millennium.

The farther we get away from it, the harder it can be to remember just how dominant the Eagles' postseason run was. They outscored their playoff opponents by a combined 68 points, the best by any team since the 2002 Buccaneers. It could have been even better: The Eagles led the Chiefs 40-6 with under three minutes left in the Super Bowl. They won "only" 40-22.

It was a coronation of sorts for a team masterfully built by Howie Roseman and developed by Nick Sirianni, Kellen Moore, Vic Fangio and Jeff Stoutland. The Eagles had been moving towards this for years, establishing a physical offense and surrounding it with game breakers, with the crown jewel being Saquon Barkley last year. The defense had been drafting and developing studs up front before putting it all together with defensive backs Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. Philadelphia had the best team in terms of star talent and depth, and they had the scheme and coaching to match.

The Eagles (+700) are co-favorites with the Ravens to win the 2026 Super Bowl at FanDuel Sportsbook, and on the surface, that makes sense. The team is still incredibly talented and incredibly deep. Many of the key pieces from last year return, and many youngsters could be even better.

But there are also plenty of potential pitfalls, one that every contending NFL team must navigate. The Eagles know it all too well from two years ago: After coming one possession away from the Super Bowl in the 2022 season, they started 10-1 in 2023, only to lose six of their last seven games, including a blowout wild card loss to the Buccaneers.

Can they avoid similar disappointment this year? Here are the keys as Philadelphia looks to repeat:

Who is the second cornerback, and how well does he play?

The depth chart shows either Adoree' Jackson or Jakorian Bennett as the starter opposite Mitchell. Fangio tried DeJean there for portions of training camp, though 550 of his 626 defensive snaps last year came from the slot per Pro Football Focus, and that's where he's listed as the starter. Plus, moving him outside would create a hole in the slot. The Eagles would have loved to see Kelee Ringo take the next step, but he has struggled.

Whoever sees the most action there -- and it could fluctuate -- will almost certainly be a step down from Darius Slay and/or Isaiah Rodgers, who have moved onto the Steelers and Vikings, respectively.

Bennett, acquired in early August from the Raiders as the in-house options failed to separate themselves, might be the best bet. The former Maryland standout had a much-improved 2024 compared to his 2023 debut.

Jakorian Bennett as Primary Defender in 2024		Rank<<
Completion percentage	45.0%	6th
Passer rating	52.1	18th
Yards per attempt	4.4	5th
		>> Out of 243 players who played 250+ coverage snaps

Bennett has the requisite short-area quickness and long speed to be a good cornerback. In general, he did well running with outside receivers deep downfield. The numbers above don't lie. They also don't tell the full story. If Bo Nix hits a wide-open Troy Franklin for a 45-yard touchdown when Bennett got burnt in Week 5, for example, these numbers look very different. Every cornerback gets the benefit of an inaccurate pass or a drop every once in a while, but there are several such instances on Bennett's film.

The other issue is tackling. Bennett was one of the lowest-graded tacklers according to PFF's grades, and he had a 23.5% missed tackle rate last year.

Roseman is constantly tinkering with his roster, and if needed, he will again. For now, however, Eagles fans can ret assured that there's a strong chance whomever is playing cornerback opposite Mitchell will be put in a position to success. Rodgers, who missed all of the 2023 season for gambling, had by far the best season of his career in his one year under Fangio in Philadelphia. Fangio knows how to play to his players' strengths and hide their weaknesses as much as possible. He may have a taller task doing that than he did last year, but that doesn't mean he can't accomplish it.

Can a new-look pass rush deliver?

Nothing helps a secondary more than an elite pass rush -- especially one that can win without sending extra bodies -- and the Eagles had that last year. Philadelphia had the league's seventh-highest pressure rate, sixth-fastest average time to pressure and third-fastest time to throw despite having the fourth-lowest blitz rate in the league.

That was on clear and obviously display in the biggest game: In the Super Bowl, the Eagles didn't blitz Patrick Mahomes a single time and still managed 17 pressures (good for a 40.5% pressure rate) and six sacks. It was the highest pressure rate on record (since 2017) by a team that brought no blitzes.

But that was last year. Josh Sweat, who had 2.5 sacks in the Super Bowl, is off to the Cardinals. Milton Williams, who had two sacks in the Super Bowl, is off to the Patriots. Brandon Graham retired.

The group looking to replace them is a bit of a hodgepodge. Nolan Smith is primed to make a jump -- certainly in playing time, if nothing else -- after being a part-time player each of his first two seasons. A tremendous, albeit undersized, athlete who was the No. 1 recruiting process in his high school class, Smith improved majorly in his second year, and given the Eagles' well-established penchant for developing the trenches, he could be the next star.

I wrote about Moro Ojomo and Jalyx Hunt in my 50 under-the-radar players:

The Eagles have a conveyor belt of disruptive defensive linemen, and they're hoping Ojomo and Hunt are the next products. Ojomo did not have a single sack last year, but his 12.2% pressure rate was actually better than teammates Nolan Smith and Jalen Carter. Hunt had an even smaller role but showed some real burst off the edge.

Philadelphia also brought in pass-rush specialists Joshua Uche and Azeez Ojulari. Uche had a tremendous 2022 (11.5 sacks, 21.1% pressure rate) but fell off a bit in 2023 and a lot in 2024. Ojulari has flashed, too, but struggled to stay healthy and productive.The Eagles' acquisition of Bryce Huff as a designated pass rusher last year didn't work out well; Philadelphia will certainly be hoping these smaller swings do.

The Eagles also drafted Alabama's Jihaad Campbell in the first round, and he's a potential boost as a pass-rushing chess piece, primarily at linebacker. Rookie performance can be hard to predict, though.

Of course, it may not matter too much, because Carter is a force. Pro Football Focus had him as the seventh-best interior pass rusher in the NFL (ironically, Williams and Ojomo were even better), and he came up with huge plays at huge times. Alongside a slimmed-down Jordan Davis, Philadelphia has one of the best interior defensive lines in the NFL, if not the best.

How does new offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo fare?

The phrase "new coordinator" is one that will make Eagles fans shudder. After making the Super Bowl three years ago, Philadelphia had to replace offensive coordinator Shane Steichen and defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon. Successors Brian Johnson and Sean Desai lasted only one year.

This year, the offensive keys belong to Kevin Patullo after Kellen Moore took the Saints' head coaching job. Patullo was the Eagles' passing game coordinator from 2021-24, which means he oversaw the recent successes (and one recent failure) of Jalen Hurts, who is used to having a new coordinator almost every year.

It may be fool's errand to try to predict what will be different -- and there will be differences -- and what will be the same. What will almost certainly be different is the Eagles' need to rely on Hurts.

Last year, Philadelphia followed a very straightforward formula: get ahead, rely on Barkley and the defense, win. From Week 6 onward last season, the Eagles ran just 39 offensive plays when trailing in the second half. That was the fewest in the last decade. And when they were winning, why not rely on Barkley? His 2024 was truly historic.

Saquon Barkley in 2nd Half Last Season		Most Since ...
Carries	186	2020 Derrick Henry
Rushing yards	1,245	On record (since 1991)
Yards per carry	6.7	2020 Nick Chubb
40-yard carries	5	2009 Chris Johnson

Overall, the Eagles dropped back on just 47.9% of their plays last year, the second-lowest rate by any team since 2010. What if the defense is even slightly worse this year and the Eagles have to play in more pass-heavy scripts in 2025? Contrary to some narratives, Hurts has actually been a productive passer when trailing in second halves. We just didn't see it much last season.

Can the good health continue?

The Eagles were remarkably healthy last year. Only the Ravens had fewer adjusted games lost to injury than Philadelphia did, per Aaron Schatz's calculations at FTN.

These numbers often vacillate year-to-year. The Eagles played two months longer than most teams in the NFL did. Landon Dickerson already had a procedure on his knee. Including playoffs, Barkley had 482 touches last year, the most since DeMarco Murray in 2014. Just like with coordinator changes, Eagles fans know all too well how that went the next year.

This isn't to say players will get hurt. They are just data points. Playoff runs are exciting, and Super Bowls are what players dream of, but they're also huge physical and mental strains.

At the end of the day, the Eagles are a machine

Yes, there are things to worry about. But there were things to worry about entering last year. Remember how the linebacker and safety play dissolved in 2023? Or how Hurts threw 15 interceptions? Those all went away. There will be worries every year.

Philadelphia still owns a top-tier roster. The Eagles draft and acquire players aggressively and successfully. The develop in the trenches unlike any other team. We haven't even mentioned A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata, Cam Jurgens or Zack Baun, all either very good or elite players at their respective positions.

Repeating is tough. The only teams who have done it since 2000 -- Tom Brady's Patriots and Mahomes' Chiefs -- had all-time great quarterbacks and strong rosters around them, but they also survived close calls and had bits of luck on their side. That's the case with any champion. Just on paper, though, Philadelphia has all the ingredients to put together a strong title defense.