Even though running Back Saquon Barkley and quarterback Jalen Hurts set off the lion’s share of fireworks for the Philadelphia Eagles last season, it was the defensive line that delivered the franchise’s second Lombardi Trophy.
In Super Bowl LIX, the Eagles sacked Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes six times, without dialing up a single blitz the entire game, underscoring Philadelphia’s dominance up front.
Despite some marquee departures of key veteran contributors via free agency, Pro Football Focus’ Zoltán Buday lists the Eagles’ defensive line No. 2 in the NFL, entering the 2025 campaign.
“Philadelphia’s defensive line was arguably the deepest in the league last season,” Buday writes for PFF. “As a result, even after the departures of Josh Sweat and Milton Williams in free agency, the unit remains one of the best in the NFL.
“On plays without a blitz in 2024, the Eagles generated pressure 36% of the time, which was the fifth-highest rate in the NFL. Jalen Carter’s 84.4 PFF pass-rush grade ranked fourth among interior defenders, and Moro Ojomo’s 82.4 figure placed sixth at the position.”
Ojomo’s emergence and Carter’s continued ascent to becoming one of the premier interior defensive linemen in the sport, likely made it easier for the Eagles to resist overpaying the likes of Williams and Sweat this offseason.
Meanwhile, incoming fourth-round rookie Ty Robinson could contribute meaningful snaps at defensive end, immediately.
Dominance along both lines of scrimmage has long been a core philosophy of general manager Howie Roseman and the Eagles, which paid major dividends in 2024 and has the potential to once again, in 2025.
Eagles’ Jalen Carter Has Major Goals for 2025, Beyond
Mitchell Leff | GettyPhiladelphia Eagles’ defensive lineman Jalen Carter has sights set on becoming one of the best to play the position.
Carter has a Super Bowl ring on his finger, has been named a Second-Team All-Pro, is developing a reputation as one of the most disruptive defensive linemen in the NFL, but has sights set on more in 2025.
Ahead of his third NFL season, the 24-year-old Carter is approaching this summer working towards becoming one of the truly elite players at his position.
“I know who’s good and I know who everybody loves,” Carter told reporters this spring. “Dexter Lawrence, Chris Jones. All of them. I see it.
“This is what I wanted to do. I wanted to be the best at what I do, try to be the best. I’m not there yet. I still got a lot of people in front of me that’s obviously been in the league a couple years, got years of experience on me. But I’m just going to keep grinding every day.”
Carter is well on his way to checking those boxes, posting 10.5 sacks over his first two seasons along with 75 total tackles and is fresh off a 2024 season where he finished as Pro Football Focus’ No. 7 ranked interior pass rusher.
The former Georgia standout has quickly become a focal point of the Eagles’ defense and made it a seamless transition from the likes of Fletcher Cox along the interior and becoming a vital cog in coordinator Vic Fangio’s scheme.
Fangio believes that the 6-foot-3 and 315-pound Carter’s best football is still to come.
“The good news about Jalen is twofold,” Fangio told reporters, this spring. “One, he played very well for us last year, and two, he can still improve a lot.”
“We’ll be Fine” Vic Fangio Confident in Pass Rushers on The Roster
It isn’t just Milton Williams and Josh Sweat who will be elsewhere this season, the Eagles are also looking to replace the production lost with Brandon Graham‘s retirement.
Graham, 37, announced his retirement shortly after the Eagles’ Super Bowl victory which means Fangio and staff will need to find a way to replace the former defensive captain’s six combined sacks the past two seasons and the reps he played in big spots.
While there are several productive veteran pass rushers still available in the latter stages of free agency, including the likes of Jadeveon Clowney, Fangio sounds confident that the players currently on the roster being primed for productive and disruptive seasons.
“I feel good about Nolan [Smith],” Fangio told reporters, this spring. “I think we’ll feel good about Jalyx now that he’s going to get a lot of reps and develop. He played good for us down the stretch last year and played a lot, as you saw, so I feel good about those two guys, and I think they’ll continue to improve. We’ve got [OLB Joshua] Uche, we’ve got [OLB] Azeez [Ojulari], we’ve got three other guys there. I think we’ll be fine.”
If the Eagles are able to cycle through and have young players step into the kind of roles that the players they’re replacing had last season, Philadelphia has the pieces to be one of the stingier and prolific defenses in the league, once again.
