Ranking the Top 25 Eagles from the 2022 Super Bowl Season: Nos. 6-10
The countdown to the Eagles' best player continues with Nos. 6 through 10 for the reigning NFC champions.
Back in August before the Eagles’ Super Bowl LVII run was kickstarted, colleague Ed Kracz and I did a daily countdown of our top 25 best Eagles players.
Now that we know what we know, we have done another set of rankings, taking a look at our top 25 best Eagles during this past season’s 16-4 march that ran through the middle of February before ending with a 38-35 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
The rankings were derived when Kracz and I submitted our top 25 list to each other and didn’t look at each other’s list until both were submitted.
Like our preseason poll, this one also assigned point values from one to 25, with a first-place vote counting for 25 points, a second-place vote counting for 24 points, and all the way down to a vote at No. 24 accounting for two votes, and a vote at No. 25 counting as one point.
Instead, of releasing one player in the rankings each day as we did during the preseason, we will count down in groups of five and the rankings continue with players No. 20 through 16.
No. 10: DT JAVON HARGRAVE, 32 POINTS
(preseason poll at No. 10: DE Josh Sweat)
A year after setting a personal standard of 7.5 sacks, Hargrave, 30, upped the ante with 11 of the team's franchise record of 70 sacks. One of the best interior pass rushers in the NFL, Hargrave also improved in run support en route to being named a Pro Bowl alternate.
McMullen put Hargrave at No. 9 of his top-25 Eagles while Kracze put him at No. 11, both surpassing his preseason prediction of No. 12. Edwards won a tiebreaker with Hargrave because he had a No. 8 finish on Kracz's ballot.
NO. 9: T.J. EDWARDS, 32 POINTS
(preseason poll No. 9: DT Fletcher Cox)
Edwards had a really solid season as the QB of Jonathan Gannon's defense, leading the Eagles in tackles with 159, including 10 for loss. PFF graded Edwards as the sixth-best off-ball LB in the NFL. He also allowed just a 76.4 passer rating while in coverage, supposedly his weakness as a player, and was named an All-Pro by PFF.
Edwards took a leap from 17 in our preseason grades with Kracz putting the Wisconsin product at No. 8 and McMullen placing him at No. 12.
NO. 8 DALLAS GOEDERT, 33 POINTS
(preseason poll No. 8: EDGE RUSHER Haason Reddick)
There was a big gap between McMullen and Kracz on the tight end standout. McMullen ranked him sixth; Kracz 13th.
One reason for his low ranking from Kracz had to do with the five games he missed due to a shoulder injury. The Eagles never skipped a beat without him in the lineup, going 5-0.
NO. 7: CB DARIUS SLAY, 35 POINTS
(preseason poll No. 7: WR DeVonta Smith)
The veteran cornerback made his fifth Pro Bowl this season and second consecutive as the CB1 on the No. 1 pass defense in the NFL. Slay, 32, recorded three interceptions and 14 passes defended while allowing a 56.6 passer rating when targeted, according to Pro Football Focus.
Slay was No. 6 on our preseason list and fell a bit, according to Kracz, who graded him as the Eagles' 9th-best player. McMullen was a little higher with Slay finishing No. 8. He did play better in the first half of the season than the second so that's something to keep an eye on moving forward.
NO. 6: WR DEVONTA SMITH, 39 POINTS
(preseason poll No. 6: CB Darius Slay)
Smith had a heck of a rookie season with a franchise record for first-year players of 916 receiving yards. There was no sophomore slump for the former Heisman Trophy winner, who proved to be the 1B to A.J. Brown's 1A in the Eagles' wide receiver corps with a franchise record for wideouts with 95 receptions for 1,196 yards and seven touchdowns.
In our preseason ranking, Smith was ranked No. 7 so much was expected of the 24-year-old and he delivered with a second consecutive stellar season. Kracz tabbed Smith as No. 6 on his list and McMullen has him at No. 7
READ MORE
Ranking the Top 25 Eagles from the 2022 Super Bowl Season: Nos. 21-25
Ranking the top 25 Eagles from the 2022 Super Bowl Season: Nos. 16-20
Ranking the top 25 Eagles from the 2022 Super Bowl Season: Nos. 11-15
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
