Howie Roseman has a real balancing act in front of him as the NFL trade deadline approaches. The Eagles are sitting at 2-5, mired in a five-game losing streak and now without Jalen Hurts after his season-ending injury. That puts Philadelphia in a tricky spot: not good enough to feel comfortable, but not necessarily ready for a full teardown either.
That’s why the deadline shouldn’t be about panic. It should be about precision.
One obvious lane for Roseman is to work the market with veterans on expiring deals. Cornerback Riq Woolen has been uneven in coverage, wide receiver Marquise Brown has hardly been on the field, and tight end Dallas Goedert is 31.
None of them is the kind of player the Eagles can realistically sell high on based purely on production. But there’s still a path to value if Roseman finds a team with a specific need and plays to that urgency, much like the Cam Jurgens deal.
Baltimore needed a center badly enough that Philadelphia walked away with a second-round pick and a late-round pick swap.
That same kind of move could be on the table with Brown, if a team wants a vertical threat, or Woolen, if a secondary is thin and desperate for help. Roseman has built his reputation on squeezing value out of situations like this, and the Eagles would be better served by making the first call than waiting around for someone else to come calling.
Saquon Barkley is the tougher conversation. He’s one of the team’s biggest trade chips on paper, thanks to a resume that includes more than 1,000 rushing yards in three of his last four seasons.
He can still make defenders miss, but a nagging hamstring issue and a recent back injury have limited him this year. Even so, this is not the moment to force a deal.
Barkley’s age, the injuries, and the fact that a trade would bring a 2027 dead cap hit of $26 million all make this a complicated move. The market also doesn’t look especially ripe, with Jonathan Taylor in Indianapolis and Tony Pollard in Tennessee available among the backs out there.
On top of that, the Eagles don’t have a ready-made replacement waiting. Tank Bigsby and Will Shipley are both on injured reserve.
Barkley still matters too much on the field and in the locker room to move him just for the sake of doing something.
The bigger picture is that Roseman has to think beyond one transaction. Philadelphia’s numbers show where the roster is lagging: 31st in sacks per game at 1.1, 27th in rushing yards per game at 87.7 and 26th in opponent passing yards per game at 239.9. Those are problems that won’t disappear with a single splash move, and they’re not the kind of holes that should push the Eagles into spending premium draft capital on a quick fix.
A smarter route would be to hunt for players tucked lower on depth charts or stuck in bad situations elsewhere. Those moves may not make headlines, but they can matter just as much.
And the Eagles aren’t fully out of the race yet. If they beat Washington and the Giants, they’d be 4-5 going into the bye week.
Adding help behind Barkley or bringing in another young pass rusher could still give this team a much-needed lift.
The deadline doesn’t need to be a fire sale for Philadelphia. It just needs to be sharp.
In Other News...
Howie Roseman May Be Headed For Another Risky Eagles Draft Bet
The Eagles path through the 2026 season could leave them picking earlier than usual in the 2027 draft, and if that happens, Howie Roseman may again lean into a familiar kind of gamble. Philadelphia has never been shy about betting on traits, especially when a defensive players upside is strong enough to make the rest of the room think twice, and Rosemans history suggests hes willing to keep making that kind of call if the board breaks right.
One name to watch is Stewart, an edge defender whose physical tools have put him on the radar as a potential first-round target. The attraction is obvious for a team that wants impact talent, but the concerns are just as real, with questions around decision-making and a suspension already part of the evaluation. If the Eagles do find themselves in position to add help early in the draft, the bigger question may not be whether Stewart fits the profile, but whether Roseman is ready to take the same kind of swing again. [Read more 🡒]
Eagles Suddenly Have A Backfield Problem They Can't Ignore
The Eagles running back room has gone from a strength to a concern in a hurry, with injuries thinning the group and leaving Elijah Mitchell and Jaydon Blue as the only healthy backs on hand. Mitchell, who arrived in Philadelphia this summer, was briefly cut before getting brought back, and he got on the field in Week 7 as the team tried to patch together a workable rotation.
Saquon Barkley is still the preferred option when hes available, but his recent injury issues have complicated the picture and forced the Eagles to look deeper down the depth chart. With Washington coming up in Week 8, the backfield situation now feels like one of the more pressing roster questions the Eagles have to sort out before kickoff. [Read more 🡒]
Eagles Suddenly Look Thin In One Area Before Washington
The injury report keeps getting heavier for the Eagles as they work through the week before facing Washington, with a growing list of regulars missing their second straight practice. Saquon Barkley and DeVonta Smith were among six players sidelined again, leaving Philadelphia to manage a notable shortfall at a time when depth matters most. Fourteen others were still logged as limited or full participants, but the overall picture has the team juggling a lot more than a standard late-week tune-up.
Barkley is dealing with hamstring and back issues, while Smiths hamstring problem is creating real concern about whether he can make it back in time for another game. With Jihaad Campbell, Dontayvion Wicks, Jonathan Jones and Britain Covey also out again, the Eagles are suddenly looking thin in a few key spots as the Commanders game approaches. For a team trying to stay on schedule, the next practice report could carry plenty of weight. [Read more 🡒]