For the defending Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles, their quest to repeat in Super Bowl LIII, begins today. They begin training camp with third year quarterback, Carson Wentz on the “Active Physically Unable to Preform” list.

What that means is that for the time being, Carson Wentz cannot practice. He can be removed from the PUP list at any time, but once he practices, he cannot be placed onto the regular season PUP list. So this seems like more of a precautionary move, in case he suffers a setback in these early days of training camp, than anything else. At this point, all indications are, that he is well ahead of schedule to start the first game of the season.

UPDATE 6:49 PM Eastern: According to Chris Mortensen of ESPN, the Eagles have now decided NOT to place Carson Wentz on the PUP list:

Eagles have other PUP candidates but not Wentz. That’s been the case for awhile and nothing has changed https://t.co/bbMDfXW1rA

— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) July 25, 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08zcZdo5blc

With training camp set to begin on July 25th, the reigning Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles have their eyes set on repeating in Super Bowl LIII. As the team reports for camp though, there’s a few question marks yet to be answered.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=572_ou-WyUM

First, will Carson Wentz be ready to play on September 6th, when the Eagles take on the Atlanta Falcons in the Thursday Night season opener? This is the $64,000.00 question, and likely won’t be answered until game time. Though if Wentz plays any snaps in pre-season, that will be a good indication that he’s on track for that opening night, banner dropping, game.

Next, which running backs will be on the 53 man roster? Darren Sproles, Jay Ajayi and Corey Clement are pretty well guaranteed their spots on the roster. What about Wendell Smallwood and Donnell Pumphrey, though? Rookie Josh Adams and 4th year vet Matt Jones will be pushing them for a spot on the roster.

Another intriguing position to watch is left tackle. Left tackle? Yes, left tackle. Not because Jason Peters is in any danger of losing his starting spot, and not because Halapoulivaati Vaitai is in any danger of losing his spot on the roster. So what makes it a spot to watch? 7th round draft pick, Australian Jordan Mailata makes it interesting. The young man from Australia, who has never played a down of football at any level, comes to the NFL after playing for the National Rugby League’s South Sydney Rabbitohs.

At 6’8″, 346 lbs., Mailata’s size and speed made the Eagles take a flier on the 21 year old. It will be a steep, uphill climb for Mailata to make the 53 man roster, but he could possibly end up on the Eagles practice squad. That would leave him vulnerable to other teams coming in and signing him away though. So if the Eagles see true potential in him, they may be forced to give him a roster spot. Then the question is, which position would lose a roster spot to make room for Mailata?

All in all, the Eagles roster from 2017 is fairly intact for 2018, with a few exceptions. LB Mychal Kendricks, RB Legarrette Blount and Philly Special TE Trey Burton are a few players who are now on other teams. Also gone is offensive coordinator Frank Reich and quarterback coach John Defilippo.

So there are questions to be answered, if the 2018 Eagles are going to march into Atlanta on February 3, 2019 and win Super Bowl LIII.

On February 4th of 2018, the Philadelphia Eagles won Super Bowl LII by defeating the New England Patriots 41-33 and in doing so, the Eagles erased their name from a list that no team wants to be on. That is the list of teams who are currently suffering a championship drought.

Before winning Super Bowl LII, the Eagles had suffered through a 57 year Championship drought, having last won the NFL Championship on December 26th of 1960. In that game, they defeated Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers by a score of 17-13 at Philadelphia’s Franklin Field (Vince Lombardi’s only post-season loss in his remarkable career).

With the Eagles freshly removed from that list, which teams remain? Here’s the list, as of the start of Training Camp for the 2018 season:

49 Years – The Minnesota Vikings – 1969 NFL Championship

Founded in 1961, the Minnesota Vikings have an overall franchise record of 470-390-10 and have appeared in four Super Bowls. Super Bowl IV, after the 1969-70 season, losing to the Kansas City Chiefs 23-7. Super Bowl VIII, after the 1973-74 season, losing to the Miami Dolphins, 24-7. Super Bowl IX, after the 1974-75 season, losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers 16-6 and Super Bowl XI, after the 1976-77 season, losing to the Oakland Raiders 32-14. I’m including the Vikings here because they won the final NFL Championship before the 1970 NFL-AFL merge, by defeating the Cleveland Browns by a score of 27-7. Some people may not want to include this as a Championship because it was during the Super Bowl era, but it is pre-merge, so I am including it.

50 Years – The Cincinnati Bengals – No championships

Founded in 1968, the Bengals have an overall franchise record of 351-417-4 and have appeared in two Super Bowls. Super Bowl XVI, after the 1981-82 season and Super Bowl XXIII, After the 1988-89 season. Their closest brush with a Championship came in Super Bowl XXIII, but fell victim to Joe Montana’s game winning Touchdown pass with just 34 seconds left in the game.

52 Years – The Atlanta Falcons – No championships

Founded in 1966, the same season that saw the first Super Bowl, the Atlanta Falcons have an overall franchise record of 351-443-6 and have appeared in two Super Bowls. Super Bowl XXXIII after the 1998-99 season, losing to the Denver Broncos 34-19 and Super Bowl LI after the 2016-17 season, losing to the New England Patriots in heart breaking fashion after opening up a 28-3 lead only to lose 34-28 in the first ever overtime game in Super Bowl history.

53 Years – The Buffalo Bills – 1965 AFL Championship

Founded in 1960, the Buffalo Bills have an overall franchise record of 409-467-8 and have appeared in four Super Bowls. What is remarkable about the Bills 4 Super Bowl appearances, is that they were back to back (to back to back) and all four of those games were played against NFC East teams. Super Bowl XXV, after the 1990-1991 season, losing to the New York Giants 20-19 (wide right). Super XXVI, after the 1991-92 season, losing to the Washington Redskins 37-24. Super Bowl XXVII, after the 1992-93 season, losing to the Dallas Cowboys 52-17. Finally, Super Bowl XXVIII, after the 1993-94 season, again losing to the Dallas Cowboys 30-13.

54 Years – The Cleveland Browns – 1964 NFL Championship

Founded in 1946, the Cleveland Browns have an overall franchise record of 509-486-13 and have never appeared in the Super Bowl. Their last Championship season was the 1964 season when they won the NFL Championship by defeating the Baltimore Colts by a score of 27-0.

55 Years – The Los Angeles Chargers – 1963 AFL Championship

Founded in 1960, the Los Angeles Chargers moved to San Diego in 1961 and then moved back to Los Angeles in 2017 and have an overall franchise record of 435-438-11. The Chargers have appeared in one Super Bowl, Super Bowl XXIX, after the 1994-95 season, losing to the San Francisco 49ers by a score of 49-26. Their last championship was in 1963 when they won the AFL Championship by defeating the Boston Patriots, 51-10.

57 Years – The Tennessee Titans (as the Houston Oilers) 1961 AFL Championship

Founded in 1960 as the Houston Oilers, the Oilers moved to Tennessee in 1997 and have an overall franchise record of 422-456-6. The Titans have appeared in one Super Bowl, Super Bowl XXXIV, after the 1999-2000 season. They lost that game by a score of 23-16 to the Saint Louis Rams. Their last championship was the 1961 AFL Championship when they defeated the San Diego Chargers, 10-3.

61 Years – The Detroit Lions – 1957 NFL Championship

Founded in 1930, the Detroit Lions have an overall franchise record of 553-648-32 and have never appeared in a Super Bowl. Their last Championship was after the 1957 season when they defeated the Cleveland Browns by a score of 59-14.

Finally, the team with the longest Championship drought of them all:

71 years – the Arizona Cardinals (as the Chicago Cardinals) – 1947 NFL Championship

Founded in 1920, as the Chicago Cardinals, they later moved to St. Louis in 1960 and then moved to Phoenix in 1988. The Arizona Cardinals have an overall franchise record of 550-740-40 and have appeared in one Super Bowl, Super Bowl XLIII after the 2008-09 season, losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers by a score of 27-23. Their last Championship was the 1947 NFL Championship where they defeated the Philadelphia Eagles by a score of 28-21.

On June 14th, the Super Bowl LII Champion Philadelphia Eagles received their Championship Rings.

The diamond and sapphire encrusted ring is made of pure 10k white gold and includes a total of 219 diamonds along with 17 rare, green sapphires. The Eagle head logo has 52 diamonds, symbolizing the Eagles victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII. The Lombardi trophy contains 16 diamonds, symbolizing the 16 games won by the Eagles in the 2017 regular and post season, with thirteen of those 16 diamonds in the lower half of the Lombardi Trophy representing the 13 regular season wins, and three of the diamonds in the upper portion of the trophy for the three post season wins. With a single, large diamond in the Football portion of the trophy representing the first Super Bowl Championship for the franchise.

The bezel of the ring contains 127 diamonds, which signifies the combined sum of the jersey numbers of the three players (30 + 88 + 9) who handled the football after the center snap from Jason Kelce, in the iconic play known as the ‘Philly Special’, in which running back Corey Clement took the center snap from center Jason Kelce, then pitched it to tight end Trey Burton who then threw the touchdown pass to Quarterback Nick Foles just before the end of the first half, giving the Eagles a 10 point lead heading into halftime.

Also included in the ring are 4 green sapphires, symbolizing the Philadelphia Eagles 4 NFL Championships. The first one being in 1948 where the Eagles defeated the Chicago Cardinals 7-0. The second coming a year later, in 1949 where they defeated the Los Angeles Rams 14-0 giving the franchise the only shutouts in NFL Championship history, including all Super Bowl games played to date. The third championship came in 1960 where the Eagles defeated the Vince Lombardi Green Bay Packers by a score of 17-13, handing Vince Lombardi his only post-season defeat in his career. The 4th of their franchise NFL Championships, was the 41-33 defeat of the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII in February of 2018.

To honor the fans, the likeness of Lincoln Financial Field is engraved on one side of the ring and the title of the Eagles fight song, Fly Eagles Fly, is engraved on the bottom of the ring band.

To commemorate the Underdog phenomenon that Land Johnson and Chris Long began after defeating the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Divisional playoff game, by wearing the now legendary Dog Masks, a likeness of the underdog mask is engraved on the inside of each ring band.

With Carson Wentz at the helm, the Eagles hope that this is just the first of many Super Bowl rings to come.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsaeGgLxeTs

Reports have surfaced that the Cleveland Browns offered the Philadelphia Eagles the 35th pick in the 2018 NFL draft in exchange for Quarterback Nick Foles.

Nick Foles had just led the Eagles to a 41-33 victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII and was named the Super Bowl MVP.

Many speculated at that time whether or not the Eagles would try to cash in on the success that Foles had in the post season, and trade him to a Quarterback needy team.

As time went by, it had been speculated that the Eagles would decline any offer that did not include a 1st round pick. It is rumored that when the Browns offered the 35th pick in the 2018 NFL draft for Foles, the Eagles approached Nick Foles to see how he felt about the possibility of going to Cleveland to be their Quarterback and at that time Foles said that he’d rather stay in Philadelphia.

With the uncertainty surrounding the status of Franchise Quarterback Carson Wentz, and his ability to start the season, the Eagles seem to be hedging their bets and will hold on to Nick Foles.

If Carson Wentz starts the season healthy, the Eagles will still have until the October trade deadline to trade Foles, should they find a suitor.

During the first day of OTAs, Carson Wentz looks like he’s made a lot of progress in his rehab program. As you know, Wentz suffered a torn ACL and LCL in the week 14 game vs. the Los Angeles Rams.

Despite suffering the injury, diving for a touchdown that was ultimately called back due to a penalty, Wentz stayed in the game to finish the drive. He ultimately threw a touchdown pass to Alshon Jeffery, his 33rd touchdown pass of the season, which surpassed Sonny Jurgensen’s 1961 team record of 32 touchdown passes.

On day one of OTAs, Wentz looked good as he went through drills, taking snaps and moving around. Just 5 months after having gone through surgery to repair the damage, Wentz sure looks ahead of schedule and possibly right on schedule to start week 1 vs. the Atlanta Falcons at Lincoln Financial Field on opening night.

Check out the video below to see how well he was moving around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY9EJNRSppM

The Philadelphia Eagles today released Linebacker Mychal Kendricks. The move, while not a surprise, is surprising because of the timing.

The move will save the Eagles $4.4 Million on their salary cap, unless they use the ‘Post-June 1st’ designation. In that case, the savings would be $6 million on the 2019 cap.

Kendricks has been prone to injuries in his career, and has never fully played up to his potential. Though he has played well, when he has been healthy and was a key member of the 2017 Super Bowl Championship team that beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII. He likely won’t be out of work for long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Cav_0F7Y9c

The day before the Philadelphia Eagles OTA begin, a few of the Eagles rookies participated in a little batting practice with the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizen Bank Park.

Head Coach Doug Pederson also participated, showing the Rookies how it’s done by hitting a ball out to the warning track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMpo7RBU-cw

With almost all of the same players returning, can the Eagles repeat as Super Bowl Champions in 2018? Repeating as Super Bowl Champions is not an easy thing to do and hasn’t been done since the New England Patriots did it in Super Bowl XXXVIII and Super Bowl XXXIX.

The Eagles have lost a few key pieces of that Super Bowl LII team with the departures of RB Legarrette Blount and TE Trey Burton. The Eagles also released TE Brent Celek and traded WR Torey Smith. They additionally lost Offensive Coordinator Frank Reich, who took the head coaching job with the Indianapolis Colts, and Quarterbacks Coach, John DeFilippo who took the offensive coordinator job with the Minnesota Vikings.

In the 2018 NFL Draft, the Eagles jumped ahead of the Dallas Cowboys to take TE Dallas Goedert and they signed former Green Bay Packers TE Richard Rodgers, to shore up the TE ranks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcf2GYk2jws

Philadelphia Eagles 2nd round draft pick, Dallas Goedert spoke to reporters after his first day at Eagles Rookie Mini-Camp.

When asked what his first NFL practice was like, Goedert said “It was awesome. It’s a dream come true. Being out here and throwing on this helmet, not a lot of people get to do it… it’s a dream come true.”

Goedert steps into an Eagles tight end room that lost two of its veteran players over this offseason with Brent Celek being released and Philly Special passer, Trey Burton going to Chicago in Free Agency. He joins Richard Rodgers as new additions to the tight end corps and hopes to contribute any way he can to help the Eagles repeat as Super Bowl champions, come February 2019.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R40oyVyyf8

The Philadelphia Eagles opened their rookie mini-camp on May 11th and present for his first experience with American Football was 7th round draft pick, Jordan Mailata, formerly of the Rugby league South Sydney Rabbitohs.

When asked if he was a bit intimidated by coach Jeff Stoutland and transitioning into the new world of NFL football, he replied “It’s not intimidating, I really like, actually I love his coaching style, it’s like just drowning. He just throws you into the deep end.”

Asked how overwhelming it was on his first day, Mailata responded “I can’t put it on a scale, that’s how overwhelming it is.”

Reminded by one reporter that he made the comment at the draft that he ‘knew as little as peanuts’ about the sport of football, and asked him if he felt like he knew a little bit more about the sport now after beginning mini-camp, Mailata responded by saying that it’s ‘still peanuts’, but where before he only had ‘one peanut’ he now has ‘two peanuts’.

Mailata will have to try to get up to speed quickly if he hopes to make the Eagles 53 man roster, or even the practice squad. He’ll be competing with players who have played football in one form or another for most of their lives.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBHdNBLQzkA