Much has been made this offseason about the importance of the offensive and defensive lines in building an NFL team.
You can probably thank the Philadelphia Eagles for that.
It's not a coincidence that the team who reached the peak of the mountaintop, winning Super Bowl LIX, is known for investing heavily along the line of scrimmage, after all.
We all know the Eagles have a star-studded offensive line, but let's examine the other side to really hammer home what it means to build through the trenches.
The Eagles had the league's top-ranked defense in 2024. Teams had just a 41% success rate against them, which was the third-best mark in the league. All-Pro defensive tackle Jalen Carter had a time-to-pressure of just 2.68 seconds, ranking in the top 10 of all defensive linemen with a minimum of 215 pass rushes, per Next Gen Stats. But curiously, you won't find many Eagles players in the top 10 when it comes to other quantitative categories.
Why?
It's not because they don't have great players. If you watched their lopsided Super Bowl win over the Chiefs, you know they do.
It's because the Eagles have a rotation up front. They have depth.
"Depth is the key," one AFC West assistant told FOX Sports. "It's back to the college model, the good NCAA teams have depth. You get these guys on rookie contracts.
"Look at the Eagles, they always draft young DL."
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The coach is right, of course. Philadelphia drafted only one defensive end in 2024, Houston Christian's Jalyx Hunt. But in 2023, they spent both of their first-round picks on pass-rushers from then-defending champion Georgia: Carter at No. 9 overall and outside linebacker Nolan Smith with the
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