Thanks to the collapse of the Dallas Cowboys last season, the Philadelphia Eagles won the NFC East last year — only to lose in the wild card round of the playoffs to the Seattle Seahawks, 17-9. In fact, Seattle beat Philadelphia, 17-9, in both of their meetings last year, with both games coming in the City of Brotherly Love. What are the odds of that? The Eagles struggled to move the ball last year, although their defense was solid for most of the season. Coming into 2020 after the recent draft, the Eagles have 19/1 sports betting odds to win Super Bowl LV. How much did their draft choices help? Check our analysis out.
Philadelphia Eagles 2020 Super Bowl Odds & Analysis After the Draft
Philadelphia chose Jalen Reagor over Justin Jefferson
TCU wideout Jalen Reagor showed crazy speed on the field, and that’s the kind of receiver Philadelphia needed. Jefferson, who starred at LSU, is a slot receiver built for possession, and Philadelphia needed someone who can stretch the field. The Eagles had a lot of drives stagnate when opponents loaded the box, and if you run a fly route against a loaded box, that can change the defense in a hurry. Reagor caught 43 balls for 611 yards in 2019; the year before, he caught 72 passes for 1,061 yards. There was a dip in quarterback quality from 2018, but the fact that Reagor only had a 47 percent catch rate (the third worst among receivers from FBS schools) makes this pick a question mark. He did return two punts for touchdowns last year, tied for the FBS lead. He can also be used in jet sweeps, so he adds some versatility and speed to an offense that had become predictable.
The Eagles kept shocking the league by picking Jalen Hurts
Picking the quarterback who was part of a national championship at Alabama and then made it back to the College Football Playoff with Oklahoma was a surprise. Philadelphia has believed in making sure the quarterback depth chart is solid, and that definitely turned out to be the right approach when Nick Foles came off the bench to lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl win in 2017, carrying the team down the stretch and even earning a Super Bowl MVP trophy. However, Philadelphia just inked Carson Wentz to an extension for four years at $128 million. Could Doug Pederson be thinking about turning Hurts into a version of Taysom Hill? After all, Hurts ran for almost 1,300 yards and 20 touchdowns last year as a Sooner.
Davion Taylor adds speed to the Eagles’ defense
An outside linebacker from Colorado, Taylor was also a sprinter who won a state title in high school, and his 40-yard dash time of 4.49 at the NFL combine certainly opened some eyes. However, he did not play high school football due to his Adventist faith, which prohibits activity on Friday or Saturday night. His parents did relent and let him play college ball on Saturdays, so his learning curve will be steeper than it would be for some linebackers, and the lack of a meaningful offseason program this summer will keep him from learning as fast as he might have in other seasons.
K’Von Wallace gives the team a big hitter at safety
Wallace comes out of Clemson with a 4.53-second 40 time. At Clemson, he delivered on blitzes and played the “big nickel” position, which is also part of Philadelphia’s defensive scheme. The Eagles needed a safety, and Wallace comes from one of the top defenses in the nation.
John Hightower makes the Eagles’ passing attack even more dangerous
The Eagles had already drafted Reagor and then picked up Marquise Goodwin from San Francisco, and this draft pick makes their wide receiving corps even faster. Hightower comes out of Boise State and also has a track background. His 40 time at the combine was 4.43, and he averaged 18.5 yards per reception in his last college season. He also has some experience returning kicks.
