“Now What?” - Rich on the Philadelphia Eagles’ Options after Falling to 2-5 on the Season

The Philadelphia Eagles are 2-5, and Rich boiled the entire situation down to two words: now what?

Start with who's available. Jalen Hurts is not walking through the door. Saquon Barkley is limping through it. Barkley played a total of nine snaps against Dallas on Monday night and touched the ball on every one of them, seven on the ground and two in the air. Rich noted he's the first starter in the last 20 seasons to play nine or more offensive snaps and get a touch on all of them.

He scored on that opening drive, running 19 miles an hour, which Joe Buck said on the broadcast was the fastest he'd run with the ball this year. But he clearly hurt himself on that drive, and he was game to fight through it. Behind him, it got ugly. Dameon Pierce carried it and went out. Will Shipley was already out. So was Tank Bigsby. "It's like the Spinal Tap drummer right now," Rich said. "Everyone's exploding." Elijah Mitchell might be the starter moving forward.

The offensive line did get Landon Dickerson and the center back. "But for what? For who?" DeVonta Smith was out. Dontayvion Wicks was out. Makai Lemon did score a touchdown, and Hollywood Brown made an appearance.

So put yourself in the chairs of Howie Roseman and Nick Sirianni. Option one: if Barkley can fight through this and heal up and be Saquon, and if Wicks, Smith, Lemon and Brown get going, that's what the Eagles planned around Hurts. If the offensive line can stay healthy and get better, there's something there, with a defense Rich still considers good enough despite getting run over by the Cowboys.

Option two is the one Philadelphia very rarely needs or wants to consider. Pull the plug. Sell pieces off, collect draft picks, land a high draft choice of your own. Rich was honest about how much that would hurt. "You pull the plug and you show up on Thanksgiving with 50 some odd million people watching that game against the Cowboys and get run all over because you've taken some very talented players and sent them elsewhere for the future. That's tough."

The upside is a fast reload. Get Hurts back, if that's the plan, though Rich noted guests on the show have suggested it might not be. Then in 2027, you're back to being the Eagles, younger and better. And the quarterback questions pile up. Trade for one, the way the Giants found new life? Stick with Tanner McKee and see what you have? Throw Joe Milton out there as part of a full pull-the-plug program?

Sirianni's first comments after the loss made clear which way he's leaning, and Rich said you can't be surprised by it. "I think back on the 2021 season," Sirianni said. "The way we finished that year propelled us into the future Eagles that we've been the last four years." He added: "Football is going to deal you some tough hands at times. But can you get up and keep fighting?" And: "No one's writing off anything. I think the division's wide open."

For the record, the 2021 Eagles started 2-5, finished 7-3, made the playoffs at 9-8 and went one and done in Tampa. The problem, as the room saw it, is that 9-8 might not cut it this year. Rich believes you need 10 wins to make the playoffs in the NFC, and the way the Eagles got run over Monday isn't sustainable for a playoff team.

The trade deadline is November 10, after Week 9. That makes the next stretch decisive. First comes a Sunday night game against an opponent coming off a bye, which Rich suspects NBC would have loved to flex out of. Whoever wins that one might stay intact, and whoever loses might be selling. Then comes a home game against the Giants, followed by a bye week to sit down and make the call.

After that it's Pittsburgh at home, at Dallas, Seattle at home, Christmas Eve against Houston and a Sunday nighter at San Francisco. That's the Eagles season right now, and as Rich put it, the best-laid plans went out the window for many reasons, not of their own doing.