Why Eagles Dropped Eight Spots in ESPN Ranking of Best Wrs, Rbs, and Tes

Ever since the Philadelphia Eagles were eliminated by the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL playoffs, it has been evident that they would make changes to their offense.

While the Sean Mannion hire in place of Kevin Patullo was a huge move, the Eagles also changed up their skill group a bit this offseason. While the running back room is the same, the wide receiver and tight end rooms changed a bit from 2025 to 2026.

Those changes have, as ESPN's Bill Barnwell shared, dramatically lowered the Eagles' skill group ranking by eight spots. They've gone from No. 1 in 2025 to No. 9 in 2026. Unfortunately, it's for a very simple reason: uncertainty after the A.J. Brown trade.

"The Eagles' coming cap concerns on defense have forced them to replace Brown's production in the aggregate, and while GM Howie Roseman did a reasonable job in landing Makai Lemon, Hollywood Brown and Dontayvion Wicks at wide receiver this offseason, there's a significant drop-off between even the 2025 version of Brown and what the Eagles project to get from his replacements in 2026," Barnwell writes.

With A.J. Brown demanding a trade and getting it in a deal for a 2028 first and 2027 fifth with the New England Patriots, the Eagles had to change their WR room.

DeVonta Smith might still be in the fold, and a very underrated WR who could lead this room without too much worry, the rest of the receivers on the roster are major unknowns.

Hollywood Brown is a decent veteran, but he's far from a guaranteed hit. Makai Lemon is a fun rookie, but there's a chance he doesn't turn into a good pro after a productive college career.

Dontayvion Wicks is a fun addition, but there are some real concerns about how good he actually is after some up-and-down seasons with the Green Bay Packers.

Behind those four, Elijah Moore, Darius Cooper, Britain Covey, and Johnny Wilson are major question marks, with none of those options standing out as viable starters in the NFL right now.

While this WR room has a ton of upside, it's hard to fully believe in this room as being one of the best in the NFL right now.

Barnwell dropped the Eagles eight spots in his rankings, but they're still ranked ninth in all of the NFL. The WR room is a little bit of a question mark, but Saquon Barkley, Tank Bigsby, and Will Shipley in the RB room are a fantastic trio.

Dallas Goedert and rookie Eli Stowers are a fun TE duo, not to mention Johnny Mundt as a much-better blocking TE than the Eagles have had in recent years. Even Grant Calcaterra isn't a bad fourth TE to have at all.

Overall, the Eagles RBs, WRs, and TEs make up one of the top-10 skill groups in the NFL, even though they're significantly worse than they were a year ago.

Even if there's doubt about this offense, especially at WR, the Eagles are a team with a ton of potential. This skill group, even after losing Brown to the Patriots in a trade, is one of the league's best.