We are in the very early stages of putting together the vision – ours, of course, is different from what the coaches who are spending all day, every day mapping out the plan for how the Eagles will look on offense, on defense, special teams, in 2023. The offense, as we know, returns largely intact, and with some extra punch acquired in the offseason.
It also has a new coordinator, Brian Johnson, who spoke publicly for the first time on Thursday and outlined in the most general of terms what he hopes the Eagles’ offense becomes in the season ahead.
“You do what your players do well,” he said. “I think the challenge for us is to build an offense to where we’re making defenses cover the entire length and the entire width of the field and be able to play on our terms.”
Those are the sentences that stood out the most from Johnson’s press conference. He is in his third season here after spending two years as the quarterbacks coach and helping build Jalen Hurts into the star that he is. Johnson, a former standout quarterback himself at Utah who was an offensive coordinator who called plays for a prolific University of Florida team before joining Nick Sirianni’s staff, appears to be making a natural coaching transition. He’s a highly regarded coach who connects very quickly with those around him and this moment is just right for him.
The Eagles expect the coaching succession line to be smooth – Shane Steichen goes to Indianapolis as the head coach, Johnson becomes the offensive coordinator, and Alex Tanney bumps up to quarterbacks coach. The task is to take an Eagles offense that was great last year – the Eagles averaged 28.1 points per game, third-most in the NFL, and had success running the football and throwing it, with minimal giveaways – and make it better in 2023. They return four of five starters along the offensive line, and there are a solid handful of candidates to compete for the right guard spot. Miles Sanders departed for Carolina in free agency, so the Eagles brought in Rashaad Penny and traded for D’Andre Swift to add to an already-strong room. Zach Pascal, the fourth receiver (at times, the third) is now in Arizona, and Olamide Zaccheaus is in as an unrestricted free agent.
There are pieces here. The ceiling is so very, very high for success.
“I think the beauty of football, and we talked about this with the offense, is that each team has a one-year lifespan,” Johnson said. “I think one of the things that’s important is that you have to…
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