The 2023 season is far away for the Philadelphia Eagles, but I couldn’t help but think about how their current roster stacks up against the rest of the NFC East. In my opinion, the Eagles are still the most complete team in their division, which presents a lot of positive mismatches for Philadelphia against New York, Washington, and Dallas.
Giants: Haason Reddick v. Evan Neal
As long as Haason Reddick is an Eagle and Evan Neal is playing right tackle for the Giants, I don’t see the Giants ever beating the Eagles. In two of his games against New York last year, Haason Reddick was a game-wrecker. His consistent pressure severely handicapped the Giants passing game and caused Daniel Jones to take a number of sacks. If Evan Neal does not improve in upcoming years and Haason Reddick only continues to get better, this could become a nightmare matchup for the Giants.
Giants: Eagles offense v. Giants 2nd LB
In their divisional round playoff win last season, the Eagles offense exposed the Giants starting linebackers—Jarrad Davis & Jaylon Smith—on the ground. In that game, they ran RPOs to displace the linebackers and ran inside zone repeatedly to power through them in the run game. While the Giants linebacking core is better with the addition of Bobby Okereke, I still expect the Eagles to attack whichever linebacker is playing beside him in both the pass game and the run game.
Commanders: Haason Reddick v. Andrew Wylie
Andrew Wylie “shut down” Haason Reddick in the super bowl. But his impressive performance was mainly due to horrible field conditions and Patrick Mahomes—who consistently makes his offensive linemen look better than they really are. Without these factors, I expect Reddick against Wylie to be a huge athletic mismatch in favor of the Eagles. Reddick should be agile enough to run around Wylie on a consistent basis.
Commanders: AJ Brown/Devonta Smith v. Rachad Wildgoose
This mismatch is fairly simple. Rachad Wildgoose is one of the worst slot-corners in the NFL. Devonta Smith and AJ Brown are some of the best wide receivers in the NFL. By putting Smith or Brown in the slot, the Eagles offense would be creating an immediate mismatch to expose through the air. Wildgoose has struggled against the Eagles before. In the Commanders week 3 matchup against Philadelphia last year, Wildgoose allowed 3 catches on 3 targets for 30 yards and finished with a 41.6 PFF coverage grade.
Cowboys: Eagles OL v. Whatever DT is opposite to OSA Odiguzua
The Cowboys need help along their interior defensive line. Besides Osa Odiguzua, Dallas has a terrible defensive tackle group. Jonathan Hankins was one of the worst run stopping defensive tackles in the league last year and Dorance Armstrong is at best a replacement-level NFL player. If either of these guys play significant snaps for the Cowboys next year, expect the Eagles to run right at them.
Cowboys: Eagles WRs v. Trevon Diggs
During last season’s week 16 matchup, Trevon Diggs gave up two back-breaking plays by biting on double moves. The first was a 48 yard gain on a sluggo route to AJ Brown, while the second was a 14 yard touchdown to Devonta Smith on 4th and 2. In that game, Diggs allowed 5 receptions for 98 yards and 19.6 yards per reception on only 5 targets. It was arguably the worst performance of his career. Expect double moves over and over again in the Eagles-Cowboys games this year to exploit the overly aggressive Diggs.