Philadelphia Eagles in 'Big-Name Trap'? Examining Nick Sirianni's Reaction to Julio Jones' Arrival

There are always unintended consequences to decisions and Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni was trying to be proactive in handling Julio Jones' arrival.

PHILADELPHIA - There is a bit of a weird disconnect with Julio Jones being added to the star-laden Philadelphia Eagles offense.

The now 34-year-old likely future Hall of Famer still has the mindset of a big-time player as you might expect, something he could not hide while speaking to reporters this week.

“My mindset is definitely to dominate. Don’t get it twisted. I’m here to dominate,” Jones said. “But I’m saying … wherever they need me to go and be, I’m going to do that to the best of my ability.”

That’s a bit of a contradiction to those words, sort of like the projection of a five-time All-Pro seamlessly fitting in as a role player by Eagles GM Howie Roseman.

The Eagles have a traditional setup when it comes to personnel with Roseman responsible for putting together the roaster and head coach Nick SIrianni tasked with getting the most out of it.

To date, that’s worked beautifully in the Roseman-Sirianni era, and the Eagles have had two playoff berths, an NFC championship, and a Super Bowl appearance over the first two years and look like a significant contender in Year 3 as well after a 5-1 start that is as good as anyone else in the league but has lacked meaningless style points at times.

The offense, for instance, is No. 2 in NFL heading into Sunday night's marquee matchup at Lincoln Financial Field with the No. 1 offense of the Miami Dolphins, who are also 5-1.

Sirianni’s first opportunity to address Jones’ arrival was interesting, to say the least, as the coach tried to juggle the issues thrown at him by Roseman handing him another big name.

WR Julio Jones during his first practice with the Eagles :: John McMullen/Eagles Today

The coach’s first step was to prop up fifth-year role player Olamide Zaccheaus, who has taken over the Eagles’ WR3 role in the wake of a hamstring injury to Quez Watkins.

“I do want to take a second to say, a guy like O.Z. -- the toughness that he has and how reliable he is as a player, a guy like that always has a spot on offenses that I'm going to be a part of, always,” Sirianni said unprompted. “I've been able to have great success with guys that have those two common denominators of toughness and reliability (think Zach Pascal).

“And so he's going to continue to give us that as we continue on right here.”

From there, Sirianni also highlighted that nothing changes with his passing offense, which will continue to go through A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert.

“(Jones) has the ability to make plays,” Sirianni said. “Make no mistake about it, though. This pass game still is going to go through DeVonta, A.J., and Dallas.”

Part of the reason Roseman stuck with Watkins as the WR3 this offseason is that the organization didn’t want a player who was going to demand touches at the expense of his three receiving stars. Early in the season, there have already been many discussions on each of the Big 3 not getting enough traffic in particular games.

So what's changed?

Watkins’ hamstring injury has sent him to injured reserve and the speedster will have to miss at least three more games while Smith missed a walkthrough this week and was limited during Thursday and Friday practice sessions. Smith is expected to play Sunday night against Miami, however.

“We're a little banged up at wide receiver and just wanted to add some extra depth and another proven guy in there,” Sirianni said.

The team worked out some younger somewhat experienced options in Marquez Callaway and Dezmon Patmon before settling on Jones.

It’s a balancing act for Roseman in that if you were without Brown or Smith, even in the short term, you’d prefer to have Jones pick up the baton but as the third or fourth receiver playing a role the Eagles coaching staff came into the season comfortable with Watkins and Zaccheaus for a reason.

The best comparison would be adding five-time All-Pro Ndamunkung Suh, then 35, last season when injuries cropped up at defensive tackle. The Eagles needed run-stuffer Linval Joseph but Suh was a luxury and ultimately fit in nicely as a ring-chasing veteran, making some plays en route to Super Bowl LVII.

Perhaps that experience with Suh has convinced Roseman that he has a good handle on the big-name trap.