unCovering the Birds with Jeff McLane

Jeffrey Lurie has owned the Philadelphia Eagles, which he purchased in 1994, longer than his son, Julian, has been alive. But in recent years, the younger Lurie, heir to the franchise and now 31, has assumed a more pervasive and influential role in the organization. While the Eagles have made no secret about Julian’s increased involvement with the team, specifics about his role have been scant. In...

There was closure. There were opportunities to set records straight and start fresh. There was a chance for the Eagles to take the new philosophies and personnel acquired during the offseason, and give it all a test run on the field. What did the team find out about itself? How well prepared are the Eagles to hit the ground running in training camp once they return from their offseason hiatus late...

A.J. Brown is officially an Eagle no more! We knew the move was coming for weeks, if not months, but that doesn't make the departure of the Pro Bowl wide receiver and Super Bowl champion any less jarring. The Philadelphia Inquirer's Jeff McLane and Dave Murphy react to general manager Howie Roseman's trade with the New England Patriots. unCovering the Birds is a production of The Philadelphia Inqu...

Feast your ears and eyes! This week's organized team activities in South Philadelphia marked the first look at the 2026 edition of the Eagles. The Philadelphia Inquirer's Jeff McLane and Olivia Reiner check in and report on the sounds and sights from practices and press conferences that could offer clues about the direction the Eagles are headed as preparations begin for next season. 00:00 OTA’s a...

By all accounts, Zach Ertz is one of the most beloved players in modern Eagles history. Not only does he rank statistically as the top tight end to ever play for the team, he caught the decisive touchdown to bring Philadelphia its first Super Bowl victory, earned multiple Pro Bowl selections, and was regarded as a locker room leader. But for as strong a mark as he left on the city, Ertz had a coup...

The Eagles held a rookie minicamp over the weekend, which means that, for the first time this offseason, there are actual on-field football things to talk about! The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane and Olivia Reiner were on hand, and share what they learned from practice observations and locker room conversations. Plus, Jeff gives context to the recent departures of two key members of general...

The Eagles have a solid stash of draft picks (8) and, for a team just one season removed from winning the Super Bowl, a lot of positions that need to be addressed. Several elite members of the offensive line could be on the verge of retirement, while the wide receiver corps appears destined to lose a dynamic member. After bolstering the defense in the early rounds of the draft in recent years, wil...

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is a die-hard Eagles fan, and just like you, he’s got takes on the offseason, A.J. Brown, Jalen Hurts, and stadium plans. By the nature of his day job, however, he’s also ecstatic that Pittsburgh will become the epicenter of the NFL universe in two weeks, when the Steel City hosts the draft. It marks the second time in 10 years the Commonwealth has welcomed the m...

The annual NFL owners meetings has become the only event of year the Philadelphia Eagles formally make owner Jeffrey Lurie available to meet with reporters. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane covered the event, and puts Lurie’s recent remarks - from new stadium speculation to Lurie’s commitment to quarterback Jalen Hurts and wide receiver AJ Brown - under the microscope with columnist Marcus...

Eagles general manager Howie Roseman has stuck to a steady, mostly predictable formula this offseason: add depth to appropriate places via pragmatic, sensible signings. Whether his strategy stays the same moving forward remains unclear. Just last week, Roseman dipped his toes into a growing NFL trade market, and with the draft weeks away, along with the flurry of transactions that typically comes...

NFL free agency is underway, and the first week was kind of...just nuts and bolts for the Eagles. Howie Roseman made sensible, measured decisions, highlighted by a major investment in homegrown defensive talent and the smart, short-term signing of a proven corner back. Compared to past years, though, Howie SZN has been relatively chill. What does this initial strategy foreshadow for the rest of th...

A year ago, the Eagles’ roster seemed sound and solid. The franchise was coming off its second Super Bowl, buoyed by electric skill position players on offense and young, bruising talent on defense. Following a disappointing 2025 season, the personnel situation feels anything but stable. A.J. Brown might be on the trading block. Key contract decisions loom. Several positions could use an upgrade....

AJ Brown’s future, Sean Mannion’s hiring as offensive coordinator, Jeff Stoutland’s awkward exit, the Eagles’ strategy for free agency and the draft. These storylines have dominated the Eagles’ offseason. More than a month after the team’s unceremonious exit from the playoffs, its top two decision makers finally weighed in on these topics as well. Ahead of this week’s NFL combine, The Philadelphia...

The offseason is about to blast into full swing and, unlike this time a year ago, the Eagles are surrounded by question marks. On the heels of the team’s failed bid for another Super Bowl, coaching changes ensued, which are expected to usher in a significant philosophical pivot on offense. But with next week’s scouting combine approaching, the Eagles, along with the rest of the NFL, will start to...

The Eagles failed to make it back to the Super Bowl this year, but, as The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane can vouch for during his trip to the Bay Area, the team is still dominating conversations around the league. That’s because in the past week, the Eagles hired a new offensive coordinator, parted ways with a revered assistant, and, much to their relief, got word from their defensive guru t...

Banged up offensive line? Underperforming star skill players? A quarterback who failed to lift his team? The 2025 edition of the Philadelphia Eagles checked all those boxes on offense. Sure, you could make a scapegoat out of the first-time offensive coordinator, but placing the blame squarely at the feet of Kevin Patullo would misrepresent the extent of the Eagles’ problems. The Athletic’s Michael...

There was a lot said during the Eagles’ end-of-season news conference, but nothing stood out more to The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane than a comment general manager Howie Roseman made about his head coach, Nick Sirianni. What did Roseman say, and why was it so noteworthy? McLane and Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes read between the lines in this recap of Roseman and Sirianni’s Q&A with repor...

The Eagles might have been disappointed, but deep down, they likely weren’t surprised. The team that showed up in a 23-19 Wild Card loss to the San Francisco 49ers was the version of the team the Eagles had been for most of the 2025 season. Good enough on defense, yet woefully ineffective on offense. Instead of rebooting repeat Super Bowl dreams, the Eagles’ matchup with the 49ers marked the fitti...

A common refrain from the NovaCare Complex during the Eagles’ up-and-down 2025 regular season has been that finding ways to win, regardless of style or circumstance, is the team’s greatest strength. Based on the group’s track record, especially the past two years, the claim would be hard to dismiss. The Eagles’ belief in themselves, however, will be put to the test this weekend, when the playoffs...

Should the Eagles have rested most of their starters in Sunday’s regular season finale? After they blew a chance to jump up to the two-seed in the NFC, the question was certainly fair and ripe for debate. But the truth is, there’s nothing the Eagles can do about it now. They lost to Washington, and are subsequently locked into a Wild Card round matchup with San Francisco, an opponent with which th...

With only one game to go in the regular season and the playoffs looming, there’s little reason to think the Eagles’ offense will or is capable of changing its stripes. The defense, on the other hand, continues to prove its dominance (as it did again in Buffalo), regardless of which players it has available, or the opponent it faces. This combination, while imperfect, has still positioned the Eagle...

Are the Eagles really playing their best football of the season? That was their head coach’s claim following the team’s solid performance against Washington last weekend. But despite the Eagles outscoring the opposition by a combined 60-18 margin in back-to-back wins, trends are emerging with both promising and cautionary implications. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane and Jeff Neiburg highl...

Nakobe Dean’s value to the Eagles is as clear as the team’s improved defense performance since his return to play. Coming off his best game of the season in last week’s shutout win over the Raiders, the linebacker has made a remarkable turnaround from a serious knee injury that knocked him out of the Eagles’ Super Bowl LIX championship run. But what's Dean's future in Philadelphia beyond this seas...

For a game, at least, the Eagles looked like world-beaters, not the hardest thing to do these days when facing the lowly Las Vegas Raiders. The real question, however, isn’t if the 31-0 shutout win is going to be a cure all for the issues that ailed the Eagles during their three-game losing streak; it’s whether the progress the team showed Sunday can ultimately translate to the postseason, which a...

While cute and novel, the Positivity Bunny proved nothing short of an unceremonious bust. As soon as they could following a brutal overtime loss to the Chargers, the Eagles gave the preposterous 10-foot locker room inflatable the boot. It was not the good-luck charm they hoped for, and served as a reminder that, instead of wishing its woes away, this team will actually have to put in real work to...