Blueprint For Success: How the Eagles were built (and what the Dolphins can learn)

This is the 11th in a series that examines how Miami’s 2019 opponents built their rosters, and what lessons the Dolphins can glean as they build theirs.

Team: Philadelphia Eagles.

Coach: Doug Pederson (fourth season).

General manager: Howie Roseman (10th season).

Team owner: Jeffrey Lurie.

Franchise value: $3.1 billion.

2018 record: 9-7 (second in the NFC East).

2019 record: 5-6 (second in the NFC East).

Last playoff appearance: 2018 (lost in the divisional round).

Last Super Bowl championship: 2017.

Total 2019 payroll: $213.4 million (second).

Total 2019 AAV: $223.8 million (first).

Salary cap space: $28 million (third).

Dead money: $19.4 million (18th most).

Percentage of homegrown players: 52.

Overview: The Eagles went all in on quarterback Carson Wentz. Traded two veterans and five draft picks (including two first-rounders) to take him. Gave him a four-year, $128 million contract extension during the summer. Loaded it with so much guaranteed money that they can’t even trade him for another two years. Built up the entire roster around him with high-priced players, spending more in 2019 than any team but the Falcons. Hit on many of their draft picks and swung smart trades. Set the table for another championship run. And yet, by wedding themselves to Wentz, they might have made a massive mistake. Never mind that it was Nick Foles, not Wentz, who was the MVP of Super Bowl 52. Never mind that Wentz has never even appeared in a playoff game, missing the Eagles’ past two runs. His health has been bad. His on-field performance hasn’t been much better. Wentz’s career stats: completion percentage of 63.5, 7.0 yards per attempt, and a 91.9 passer rating. Those are fine numbers if you’re paid like Case Keenum or Marcus Mariota. Wentz is the league’s fifth-highest paid player but the league’s 20th-rated quarterback in 2019. And as we said, the Eagles are wed to Wentz until at least 2022, unless they are OK taking an obscene cap hit. In fact, this is the year Wentz is good value. He’s counting just $8.3 million against the cap, allowing the Eagles to keep the core of their 2017 championship team together. More than half of their players active for Super Bowl 52 are still on the team. Five Eagles have a bigger 2019 cap obligation than Philadelphia’s quarterbacks: Brandon Brooks, Fletcher Cox, Malcolm Jenkins, Nelson Agholor and Jason Peters. And yet, the Eagles are sub-.500 and have just a 26 percent chance to make the playoffs, according to Football Outsiders. The Eagles aren’t a young team — at an average age of 25.9, they’re right at the league mean and median — so the window for this nucleus is closing. And with just 10 draft picks total the past two years, there’s no Plan B if Wentz doesn’t start playing as he’s paid.

The lesson: Picking the right quarterback can set a franchise up for a decade. But picking the wrong quarterback, and then doubling down on him with a massive contract will make you a sub-.500 team. We don’t yet know which column Wentz falls under, but the most recent signs aren’t encouraging. Should the Dolphins finish out of the draft range to land a top quarterback, the Eagles have proven that the cost for trading up for one might ultimately prove too high.

He said it: “You’ve got to start with the quarterback and then put all the pieces around him, and you build that way. If the right guy is available. I think that was the important thing, and there were some great quarterbacks that came out of the draft and we felt like Carson was the right guy and still is the right guy for our football team, our organization, so if that right guy is there, I think you’ve got to take him and begin building that way. ... Is the guy a proven winner? Does he make good decisions? Does he take care of the football? All of those kind of things. You’ve got to understand the dynamic of your city, of our city in Philadelphia. Is he the right fit? Can he handle the media? Can he handle the fan-base here? Obviously, Carson checked all of those boxes for us.” — Eagles coach Doug Pederson

This story was originally published November 29, 2019 at 10:02 AM.

Adam H. Beasley

Miami Herald

305-376-2387

Adam Beasley has covered the Dolphins for the Miami Herald since 2012, and has worked for the newspaper since 2006. He is a graduate of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Communications and has written about sports professionally since 1996. Support my work with a digital subscription