The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in Super Bowl 59 to cap off their 2024 season.
Despite the championship, the Eagles are not receiving the typical buzz of a reigning Super Bowl victor ahead of the 2025 season.
Philadelphia returns most of its dominant offense, including star running back Saquon Barkley and its signature ‘Tush Push’ play.
The Philadelphia Eagles capped off a dominant 2024 season with a 40-22 Super Bowl 59 thrashing of the Kansas City Chiefs. Philadelphia’s victory denied Kansas City an unprecedented three-peat and unofficially established the Eagles as the NFL’s new team to beat.
But you wouldn’t necessarily know it from the buzz – or lack thereof – surrounding the Eagles ahead of the 2025 NFL season.
Sure, the Eagles have gotten some love ahead of the upcoming campaign. Sportsbooks still favor Nick Sirianni’s squad to win the NFC, and they are among the league’s Super Bowl favorites as well.
Even so, the enthusiasm surrounding the Eagles doesn’t appear to match that of other recent Super Bowl victors.
What gives? Perhaps the Eagles are a victim of circumstance. They haven’t made many splashy changes to their team during the offseason while others in their conference – notably the Dallas Cowboys, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings – have, for better or worse.
Or maybe it’s because NFL fans and analysts remain hyper-focused on the dynastic Chiefs, who have won five of the last six AFC titles and carry a headline-making duo of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce as their top players.
Whatever the case, the Eagles deserve more love than they have received ahead of the 2025 NFL season. Here’s why Philadelphia should be viewed as the Super Bowl 60 favorites.
The Eagles have impressive continuity on offense
The Eagles sported one of the NFL’s best offenses during the 2024 NFL season. The unit ranked eighth in yards per game (367.2), seventh in points per game (27.2) and sixth in offensive EPA while rivaling the Baltimore Ravens for the title of the NFL’s best rushing offense across all categories.
Some may be worried about the Eagles continuing to perform at a high clip in 2025 after offensive coordinator Kellen Moore took the New Orleans Saints coaching job during the offseason.
That said, the Eagles are returning 10 of the 11 players that started Super Bowl 59 to their offense in 2025. The lone exception is right guard Mekhi Becton, who signed with the Los Angeles Chargers in free agency.
Replacing Becton – who thrived as a run blocker in his lone season with the Eagles – won’t necessarily be easy for Philadelphia. His projected replacement, 2023 third-round pick Tyler Steen, graded 75th among 77 qualified guards last season, per Pro Football Focus.
Still, that’s just one potential hole about which the Eagles must worry on offense. And if top-tier offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland can help Steen take another step forward, Philadelphia’s offense could come out of the gates humming given the personnel’s familiarity with one another.
Saquon Barkley remains one of the best RBs in the NFL
Barkley was one of the Eagles’ shiny, new additions ahead of the 2024 campaign. There was optimism about what the free agent signee might do in his first season, but he vastly exceeded those expectations.
Barkley should continue to be a major weapon running behind an offensive line that helped him average a whopping 3.8 yards before contact last season, 0.5 yards per carry more than any other running back. The 28-year-old also still has a great top speed; he had four of the 14 fastest ball carrier speeds in the NFL last season, per NFL’s Next Gen Stats.
Does that mean Barkley will reach 2,000 yards again? Probably not, especially since he handled a whopping 480 touches last season, playoffs included.
Still, Barkley is in his prime and should be an explosive, three-down workhorse as the focal point of Philadelphia’s ground-dominant offense.
The ‘Tush Push’ is still legal
As if you needed another reason to love the Eagles offense in 2025, the NFL’s competition committee decided not to ban the team’s signature ‘Tush Push’ play during the offseason.
The Eagles were tough to stop in short-yardage situations because of the Tush Push. They converted 39 of their 48 attempts of the modified QB sneak into first downs or touchdowns last season, according to CBS Sports, good for a success rate of 81.25%.
With that weapon available, the Eagles should once again be among the NFL’s best short-yardage teams. That will allow them to extend drives thanks to Jalen Hurts’ powerful legs and wear opponents out using their elite running game.
The defense has young talent and an elite veteran coordinator
While Philadelphia’s starting offense remains largely the same as the one it had last year, its defense will look a lot different. The team parted with Milton Williams, Josh Sweat, Darius Slay and CJ Gardner-Johnson during the offseason, which shook up the team’s depth along the defensive front and in the secondary.
The good news for the Eagles? The team has a wealth of young talent in each position group, which should be ready to step into larger roles. Howie Roseman has always hoarded talent along the defensive line but has increasingly spent high-end draft capital on defensive backs like Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, Sydney Brown and Andrew Mukuba to balance the roster.
Asking these players to step into bigger roles certainly comes with some risk, but having Vic Fangio should quell concerns about the Eagles’ stop unit taking any major step back.
Fangio, 67, has spent 24 years as an NFL defensive coordinator or head coach. Since 2018, he has coached four of his six defenses to top-10 scoring finishes and four to top-10 finishes in total yards allowed. That includes last season’s Eagles defense, which ranked No. 1 in yards allowed, No. 2 in points allowed and No. 2 in defensive EPA.
The Eagles remain without a big-time challenger in the NFC
The Eagles won the NFC last season. Who is to stop them from doing so again in 2025? There are many candidates, but all come with significant question marks.
The Lions were the NFC’s No. 1 seed last season, but they lost their offensive and defensive coordinators, Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, to coaching jobs. Meanwhile, star center Frank Ragnow retired, which will add uncertainty to a Detroit offense that was already facing questions without Johnson available.
The Washington Commanders surprised many with a run to the NFC championship game last season, but are they ready to take another leap forward? If not, they may not yet be ready to surpass the Eagles, who went 2-1 against them last season and beat them 55-23 in the NFC championship game.
The Vikings and Rams were both playoff teams last season, but each is facing a question at quarterback. Minnesota is turning to first-year starter J.J. McCarthy to lead a loaded offense while Los Angeles is trusting 37-year-old Matthew Stafford to lead it as he battles a bad back. Both quarterbacks could pan out, but if they don’t, the Vikings and Rams could have lower floors than expected.
The Packers may be the most intriguing of the 2024 playoff teams that could challenge the Eagles. They traded for Micah Parsons on eve of the season, and he should provide a significant boost to their Super Bowl chances. Even so, Parsons is battling a back injury while quarterback Jordan Love, who was banged up often last season, missed most of the preseason because of a finger injury.
Several other NFC teams – namely the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and San Francisco 49ers – could work their way into the Super Bowl conversation, but the Eagles clearly have a leg up on their competition at present. A top challenger will eventually emerge, but at present, it’s hard to argue against the Eagles as the favorites to win their third NFC championship of the last four years.