Eagles power ranking roundup: Week 1

Are power rankings completely dumb and meaningless? Yes. Yes, they are. However, personally speaking, whenever I see them, I click. And now that I’ve sucked you in with promises of many power rankings, you’ll read it and like it.

Here’s where people around the country have the Eagles ranked before Week 1 of the regular season. Oh, and here’s our version of these sellout rankings, too.

NFL.com: 1stThere’s a current 20-year streak of no repeat champions in the NFC East. That streak started right about when I took over the NFC East beat for Pro Football Weekly a lifetime ago, and every season, like clockwork, there would be a new champ. This year’s Eagles are as well-prepared to handle the divisional rigors as almost any reigning East champ during the streak, even with some offseason personnel losses and the Commanders charging hard. With Jalen Hurts leading a balanced, mature and dangerous offense and (at worst) a top-10 defense in place, the Eagles profile as strong contenders once again. I won’t go so far as to guarantee the streak comes to an end this season, but I also have no reason to doubt this team right now.

#JimmySays: Here are the divisional betting odds, ranked in order from biggest to smallest favorites:

Bills, AFC East: -350Ravens, AFC North: -160Eagles, NFC East: -150Chiefs, AFC West: -120Buccaneers, NFC South: -110Texans, AFC South: +10049ers, NFC West: +160Packers, NFC North: +175

It’s really hard to see the Cowboys or Giants seriously contending for the division, and personally, I see a mountain of evidence that the Commanders will have a significant win total dropoff from last year to this year.

Also, I’m kind of shocked to see the Niners are the favorites in the NFC West.

ESPN: 1st

Who’s under the most pressure: Offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo

The Eagles are well-established, coming off a Super Bowl. But one significant change came at offensive coordinator, where Patullo replaced Kellen Moore and will serve as a full-time playcaller for the first time in his career. Patullo has been coach Nick Sirianni’s right-hand man since 2021, and the offense isn’t expected to change much, making for a smooth transition. But with so much offensive talent, the bar is high, and Patullo will absorb some of the heat if the unit doesn’t operate as expected.

#JimmySays: The concerns surrounding Patullo are offset to some degree by the offense’s continuity. They’re retuning 10 of 11 starters, and the 11th guy got to play his fair share in 2024. I do agree that Patullo is probably under the most pressure, which kind of goes to show how few concerns this team really has, relatively speaking.

USA Today: 1stThere’s little doubt they’re a legit threat to follow the Chiefs, whom they decisively vanquished in Super Bowl 59, as the second team to repeat in a four-season span. The early part of the season already seems to be breaking Philly’s way − the Eagles now set to open against a Cowboys squad devoid of Parsons, rather than the pitch-count version of Parsons, before heading to Arrowhead Stadium and catching the perennial AFC champions on the back end of their 10,000-mile roundtrip to Brazil in Week 1.

#JimmySays: Eh, I’m not sure how much of an advantage it will be that the Chiefs will be flying back to Kansas City on Saturday and watching NFL games around the league from their living rooms on Sunday.

The advantage the Eagles will have Week 2 is that Rashee Rice won’t play because he’s suspended.

Yahoo: 1st

Philadelphia is loaded. Barkley rushed for 2,000 yards last season. Hurts improved his already lofty standing among NFL quarterbacks with a Super Bowl MVP award. The Eagles have a great offensive line, two elite receivers and a defense that might be the best in football this season. Trying to find a weakness on the Eagles’ roster will be a waste of time.

Yet, as the 2018 Eagles found out, it’s hard to repeat. The Eagles played a lot of extra football last season. Sometimes you can be the best team and still not win three or four playoff games in a row to take the title. Injuries happen. For all of the celebration of the Eagles now, two teams had a better record last season and a third matched them at 14-3. Philadelphia will be remembered as a great champion, but it took everyone a long time to come around to how dominant that team was from September on. The Eagles weren’t favored in that Super Bowl last February and practically nobody was picking them to win. There will be some revisionist history on how we viewed that Eagles team up until that moment DeJean put Super Bowl LIX on ice.

For now though, the Eagles have every reason to believe that great win over the Chiefs was the start of a multi-year run. The first time the Eagles won the Super Bowl it was a “now I can die in peace” moment for a fan base that had been desperate for one title. This time around, nobody would be satisfied if this group stopped at just one Super Bowl.

#JimmySays: On the “revisionist history” part, it’s dead on that nationally people couldn’t/wouldn’t see how dominant the Eagles were. It felt pretty clear to me that the Eagles were the much better team heading into the Super Bowl, with all kinds of favorable matchups. I had them “winning comfortably,” and even that ended up being an understatement.

Folks who picked the Chiefs largely came back to, “They always win,” or that Patrick Mahomes was better than Jalen Hurts. But they never really mentioned matchups they liked, because, well, there really weren’t any.

I appreciate the mea culpa here by Yahoo.

The Athletic: 1stThe Eagles’ spot atop these rankings wasn’t threatened during a quiet training camp. The only real issue in Philadelphia is the secondary, where a second cornerback has yet to emerge and second-round rookie safety Andrew Mukuba is nursing a hamstring injury, which hurts the unit’s flexibility on the back end. Philly made a training camp trade for cornerback Jakorian Bennett, but veteran Adoree’ Jackson may win that job.

#JimmySays: I do agree that the CB2 spot is a legitimate concern area, but it’s also funny that the team has two budding stars at corner in Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean; as well as a couple of other players in Jackson (90 career starts) and Bennett (promising 2024 season), and that positional group is the team’s biggest perceived weakness. That’s how loaded they are.

CBS: 1stThe roster is loaded. The offense has 10 of 11 starters back and the young defense is filled with players ready to make major leaps forward. But repeating is tough to do.

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