Now that the Super Bowl is over, the 2014 NFL season has officially concluded. Talks of the combine, free agency, and the draft are already beginning as all 32 teams prepare their offseason plans. The Eagles have a very interesting offseason in front of them as a couple of their best players, Jeremy Maclin and LeSean McCoy, are apparently not locks to return in 2015. Nothing to fret over yet, but it’s interesting. Here are five links to interesting articles I read throughout the week.
1. 2016 Super Bowl odds: Eagles open with seventh best chance to win
By Brandon Lee Gowten, via Bleeding Green Nation
The Eagles were announced to have a 25/1 odds to win the Super Bowl next year, which were the first odds to come out of the year. Well, they came a day after this year’s Super Bowl, but it’s good to see them up there. The Seahawks hold the best odds at 6/1 for next year. If the Eagles can make a few changes to their team, they are definitely deserving of their odds. These will obviously fluctuate throughout the offseason as teams make moves, but I expect them to hover around the sixth to ninth best chance in terms of odds.
2. Eagles make more coaching staff changes
By Sheil Kapadia, via Philly Mag
Head Coach Chip Kelly is beginning to round out his coaching staff for 2015, adding three more guys to the list. Stephen Thomas was named the defensive quality coach, Matthew Harper was moved from assistant special teams coach to assistant defensive backs coach, and Michael Clay moves from defensive quality control coach to assistant special teams coach. It seems to me like they just rotated people and added a new guy. Actually, that’s exactly what they did. You won’t be hearing about these guys during the season, but they’re still personnel changes.
3. Pencil in the Eagles to play the Patriots in the 2015 kickoff game
By Jimmy Kempski, via Bleacher Report
Many people have been reporting that the Eagles are the likely opponent for the Patriots first game of 2015, which will also be the game that opens the entire NFL season. Kempski breaks it down, showing that the Patriots have an easy home schedule next year and that the Eagles would likely make the best game to open the year. Hey, at least the Eagles will get it over with and not have it ruin momentum like they did when they played the Seahawks this year.
4. 5 things the Eagles need to do to get to 2016 Super Bowl
By Mark Eckel, via NJ.com
It shouldn’t be a surprise to fans that the Eagles aren’t really that far off from being a Super Bowl contender. The pessimists will say they’re years away, but to be honest, they’re just a couple defensive backs and a healthy quarterback away from being a legitimate playoff team. The article’s content seems rather obvious in what they have to do, but it’s important that people remember how much talent their team already has.
5. Eagles rumored to be interested in Titans’ Jake Locker
By Brandon Lee Gowten, via Bleeding Green Nation
This isn’t anything that Chip Kelly or a named executive has announced, but the addition of Locker to the Eagles would be interesting. He has been very injury prone over his short career, but sticking him in as a backup doesn’t sound like a terrible idea. Signing him to a one or two year deal, which likely would be pretty cheap considering the risk in him, would be a good way to replace Mark Sanchez. I also wouldn’t fall into despair if Nick Foles got hurt again and Locker had to step in. Better than Matt Barkley doing it.
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