Inside The Birds: Eagles Not Built For Prime Time

The NFL released its schedule on Thursday. Turns out, the league doesn’t see the Eagles as much of a hot ticket this season.

The Eagles are slated to play just two prime-time games this season, which would be their fewest in more than 20 years. The Eagles are not scheduled to appear on “Sunday Night Football,” the league’s marquee prime-time game each week.

Guess that’s what 4-11-1 gets you.

On the latest Inside The Birds podcast, Adam Caplan and Geoff Mosher examine the schedule and matchups, and also discuss some strange scheduling quirks. They also provide an update on the Eagles’ interest in free-agent cornerback Steven Nelson.

NFL Schedule

Mosher: “Let me bring some attention to your buddy, Warren Sharp. He did a whole lot of scheduling data analysis. I’m reading from his Twitter account, @sharpfootball. In the last decade …. the Eagles have played 43 games in which they’ve had less rest than their opponent. Forty-three games in 10 years, that’s 4.3 games per year. That’s a quarter of your schedule.

games with less rest than opponent:

43 – PHI
42
41
40
39 – NYG
38
37
36
35
34
33 – SEA
32 – WAS
31 – CHI
30 – PIT, NO, NYJ
29 – BAL, LVR, NE, MIA, KC, DEN
28 – GB, BUF
27 – DET, ATL, TB
26 – IND
25 – CAR, SF, DAL, CIN
24 – MIN, TEN, HOU, ARI
23
22 – LAC
21 – LAR, CLE
20
19 – JAX

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) May 11, 2021

“And honestly, the closest team to them is the Giants at 39, and after that the No. 3 team is Seattle at 33, so you’re talking about 10 fewer games for Seattle, who is in third place. The eagles by far and away have played more games on less rest than their opponent than anyone else in the league.”

Steven Nelson

Adam Caplan: “He’s a decent starting corner. He’s not old. He’s only 28 years old, which is a little surprising. Doesn’t get into trouble. Good player, solid guy. He’s just a No. 2 corner, not No. 1. I think he’s a 5-million-a-year player, but guess what? The Eagles don’t have cap space right now.”

Geoff Mosher: “If you sign with the Eagles and you’re Steven Nelson, if you’re taking less money, you’re a starting cornerback tomorrow. You’re immediately the second-best corner and you’re starting and there’s no question about it. With other teams, you might not be.”

Caplan: “So, Nelson, yes, is it true that the Eagles are interested – but they’re not spending 5 million dollars. Could they do a 1 million cap number this year and do a 3-year voidable [structure]? Different story.”

– Geoff Mosher (@geoffmoshernfl) is co-host of the “Inside the Birds” podcast and staff writer for InsideTheBirds.com.

Listen to the latest “Inside The Birds” podcast from Geoff Mosher and Adam Caplan here: