Week 1 for the Philadelphia Eagles had its trials and tribulations. At the end of the day, the Eagles are 1-0.
Winning in Week 1 is massive for NFL teams, especially the Eagles over the past five years. The Eagles have made the playoffs in each year in the Nick Sirianni era — and they won in Week 1 of each season.
The last eight times the Eagles have won their season opening game, they have made the postseason. No matter what Sirianni does in the preseason (and he has his faults), the Eagles find ways to win football games in Week 1. His system works.
Not everything is sunshine and roses after Week 1. While the Eagles won, some players had strong perfromances and some did not. Some players that were active on game day didn’t even play at all!
This week’s stock report focuses on the players who performed well and who who have a bigger role on this team than initially thought. It also focuses on players that need a bounce back performance as Week 2 approaches.
Stock rising
Tariq Woolen
Quite the debut for Woolen with the Eagles, outperforming the one-year, $12 million contract the front office signed him to this offseason. Woolen shut down Terry McLaurin at outside cornerback, as the Commanders No. 1 wideout didn’t have a coach when going up against him or Quinyon Mitchell.
Woolen did allow a touchdown pass on Sunday, but it was for 1-yard. Jayden Daniels was 1-of-5 for 1 yards targeting Woolen, showing Woolen can’t be taken off the field if healthy.
Darius Cooper
Cooper made the Eagles for the second consecutive year due to his ability to catch passes over the middle. What the Eagles also found over the past 13 months was Cooper’s ability to play special teams.
Philadelphia has been looking for a second gunner on kick and punt coverage, and found that with Cooper. He had three solo tackles on special teams, and four total. All of these tackles came in the first half.
The Eagles have seven receivers on the active roster, but Cooper won’t be an inactive on game day. Not following that perfromance, as Cooper’s role on this team isn’t catching passes. The Eagles have receivers for that.
Dontayvion Wicks
For all the questions surrounding Wicks and the Eagles’ WR2 this offseason, Wicks put those questions to bed in his Eagles debut. Wicks caught two passes for 73 yards in the win, including a 64-yard bomb from Jalen Hurts that ended up being the longest catch of hsi career (and his first reception with the Eagles).
Wicks also caught a 9-yard touchdown in the win. Jalen Hurts had a 135.4 passer rating targeting Wicks, the highest of any wide receiver on the afternoon. Wicks playing as well as he did silenced those WR2 questions, and performances like that will only free up DeVonta Smith going forward.
Stock falling
Cooper DeJean
DeJean isn’t going to lose playing time, nor is getting taken off the field for arguably the worst performance of his career on Sunday. The Eagles still played DeJean for all 70 defensive snaps Sunday, even though he struggled in coverage.
DeJean was abysmal against the Washington Commanders, as Jayden Daniels went 7-of-9 for 83 yards targeting DeJean — 55 of those yards of which were to Stefon Diggs. DeJean also had an illegal contact penalty when Daniels targeted Diggs.
The passer rating Daniels had when targeting DeJean — 142.1. When DeJean was targeted facing Diggs, Daniels went 4-of-5 for 55 yards and a touchdown — a perfect passer rating of 158.3.
DeJean won’t be losing playing time, but it’s up to him to show the Eagles he can bounce back. Would be surprising if his stock continues to fall.
Hollywood Brown
Brown was active on Sunday and didn’t play a single snap, on offense or special teams. This was a bizarre development for the WR4, who was the only one of the five recievers that didn’t get playing time.
The Eagles were determined to get Makai Lemon going, as he played over 60% of the snaps. Lemon was essentially the third wide receiver in “11 perosnnel,” so there was no room for Brown. Darius Cooper didn’t play a lot of offensive snaps (eight total), but he at least saw playing time.
The Eagles say Brown will play next week. Actions will speak louder than words.
E.J. Jenkins
Jenkins played just one offensive snap on Sunday. So much for hyping him up on why he made the team and who he can contribute to the tight end position.
The Eagles ran mostly “11 personnel” because they don’t have backup tight ends they can trust. That isn’t Jenkins fault, but just the state of the position right now.
If Dallas Goedert has to miss time, who knows what the Eagles will do at tight end. They need another pass catcher in the mix.
We’ll see if Jenkins gets more playing time on Sunnday, or if the Eagles bring in reinforcements at tight end.
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