In 2021, Philadelphia had one of the healthiest rosters in the NFL, and that was due to a purposeful offseason spent focusing on the fundamentals and individual drills over the extra work.
The results were a 9-8 season, a postseason appearance, and only Brandon Brooks missing a significant amount of time.
According to ESPN.com, The Eagles were 12th in Football Outsiders’ adjusted games lost metric in 2021 (76), a major improvement from their ranking of 30th in 2020 (128.1).
In this offseason, head coach Nick Sirianni doubled down on his approach, cutting the OTA period down from 10 to five sessions while eliminating 11 on 11 periods to focus on individual work and the implementation of schemes on both sides of the ball.
“I am listening to their input in that,” Sirianni said. “But just like when the offense goes out there and takes the field or the defense goes out there and takes the field or the special teams goes out there and takes the field, my name is on it, and win or lose, my name is on it. So, it’s the same thing here.
“I’m listening to them, but I also have a feel for what the team needs as far as, hey, we need five more plays on 7-on-7 here, we need 10 less minutes of individual here.”
Philadelphia will hold joint practices with both the Browns and Dolphins this summer, with those six days of work likely being the most intense sessions of training camp, and both games will feature reserves and bubble players attempting to make the roster.
Sirianni has been criticized for this approach, but it won’t matter if he takes the Eagles to the playoffs in his first two seasons.
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