The NFL is the one league where a quick retool and addition of solid personnel could allow a team to rise from the cellar, back up to the penthouse suite in a single calendar year.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell recently ranked all eight last-placed NFL teams from the 2020 season, and Philadelphia landed at No. 3 on the list of candidates who could go from worst to first.
3. Philadelphia Eagles
Chances of winning the NFC East, per FPI: 11.7%Philly fits just about every one of the criteria I posted above. As I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, Philadelphia’s offense should be better — and healthier — than it was in 2020. The Eagles turned the ball over 29 times and posted a turnover margin of minus-10; they should be better in both categories in 2021. They’ll have a new primary quarterback in Jalen Hurts and a new coach in Nick Sirianni. They were also unlucky last season, going 3-6-1 in one-score games.
The best argument for the Eagles is that the competition isn’t likely to be any good. In a year in which just about everything went wrong for the organization, they still came within 2.5 games of winning the NFC East. They actually finished with the 11th-toughest schedule in the league, per FPI, but they’re expected to have the sixth-easiest slate in football this season.
FPI has the Cowboys as significant favorites to win the division — with a total of just 8.9 wins. If Hurts is better than expected, the Eagles will have a viable shot at competing for a title.
The Jaguars in the AFC South and the 49ers in the NFC West landed the best odds of finishing the season on top of their respective divisions.
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