unCovering the Birds with Jeff McLane

It was one of the most infamous spectacles in Philadelphia sports history: Terrell Owens working out in his driveway, hours after getting kicked out of training camp. The backdrop was a months-long contract dispute. Owens, the electric wide receiver who finally helped the Eagles get to their lone Super Bowl of the Andy Reid - Donovan McNabb era, felt that he deserved more money than he signed for...

To run or not to run? With Jalen Hurts entering his fifth season as the Philadelphia Eagles’ starting quarterback, the question becomes increasingly pertinent. Listen, there’s no doubting the dynamic that Hurts’ legs bring to the Eagles’ offense. For proof, look no further than the backbreaking scrambles he delivered in the team’s dominant Super Bowl victory over Kansas City in February. But as Hu...

How prepared are the Eagles to defend their Super Bowl title? This question likely won’t get answered until the regular season kicks off in a few months. Odds are, it might even take longer than that; a few games, perhaps, to gauge the Eagles’ 2025 potential. But one thing is for sure: NFL teams begin building their DNA and habits in the spring through organized team activities and minicamps. With...

There are lots of sources you can go to for comprehensive NFL Draft analysis, but there’s only one Mike Mayock. The suburban Philadelphia native and The Haverford School graduate played a few years in the league after a strong stint at Boston College, but his biggest claim to fame is indisputably as a draft expert. Between his seemingly endless familiarity with prospects and an ability to articula...

Imagine this: you’ve got an exclusive, high-profile, high-pressure gig; only 31 other people on the planet do what you do. You’re on vacation; your regular spot in a relatively obscure location. Then, off in the distance, you see someone familiar approaching. Could it really be one of your professional peers, out for a leisurely bike ride in the same vacation town? A little more than a decade ago,...

The weather in Palm Beach during the annual NFL owners meetings was touch-and-go by South Florida standards. One attendee, however, was certainly shining brighter than most. Yes, Jeffrey Lurie, on the heels of his Philadelphia Eagles winning a second Super Bowl title in seven years, was aglow. Not only that, his public comments sent a clear message to the rest of the league: he expects the franchi...

We know Howie Roseman is passionate. Obsessive, too. These traits have revealed themselves constantly throughout his 15-year tenure as the Philadelphia Eagles’ general manager, propelling him to the top of his profession. The characteristics, however, show up in other parts of his life as well, specifically one of his favorite endeavors away from the game. Join The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McL...

It’s been a little more than a month since the Philadelphia Eagles smashed the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 59. While the Eagles’ front office has been forced to move on from the victory rather quickly due to a flurry of offseason activity, the afterglow from the team’s second championship run still remains strong. A recent live taping of unCovering the Birds between The Philadelphia Inquirer’...

The scouting combine. It’s the NFL’s ultimate mixer. Every year, prospects, powerbrokers, pundits, and aspiring professionals in the football industry descend on Indianapolis at the end of February for a week of talent evaluation, networking, and late nights. The TV networks covering the combine want you to see the drills, testing, and player soundbites. The reality, though, is that the real actio...

What was the post-game celebration like inside the locker room and beyond? Who kept the festivities going way into the early hours of the morning? In the afterglow of the Philadelphia Eagles’ dominant win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 59, it was time to party, and the Eagles didn’t let the well-earned opportunity pass them by. From the mellow yet gratified vibes of the team’s defensive...

The last time Carson Wentz was in a Super Bowl, he was on the wrong end of a fairy tail script - injured and watching from the sideline as Philadelphia Eagles’ back-up quarterback Nick Foles led the franchise to its first ever title, finishing the job that Wentz started during the regular season before getting hurt. This year, should anything happen to Kansas City starter Patrick Mahomes, Wentz, n...

This time a year ago, Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman and head coach Nick Sirianni sat next to each other awkwardly on the dais at team headquarters, enduring a barrage of pointed press conference questions as they dissected the franchise’s emphatic failure to live up to the previous season’s Super Bowl run. Adding to the tension was prior speculation about Sirianni’s job, and wh...

It was a dynamic play, a defining moment during the Philadelphia Eagles’ playoff run that helped propel the team closer to its second-ever championship. Whether they ultimately achieve that goal remains to be seen. But what’s already certain is that, regardless of the outcome in Super Bowl 59, running back Saquon Barkley’s snow-blanketed, 78-yard touchdown burst in the NFC divisional round against...

Jalen Hurts puffed a big a** cigar. Gillie da kid led a dance party. A pair of team-changing rookies basked in the shine of new hardware. These were just some of the snapshots from the Philadelphia Eagles’ victorious locker room following their NFC championship win over the Washington Commanders. Want to hear more? The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane serves as your fly on the wall during the E...

With all due respect to the quarterback, maybe we should be spending more time talking about the other “Jalen” on the Philadelphia Eagles’ roster. For as up and down a performance as Jalen Hurts endured in the Eagles’ Divisional playoff matchup with the LA Rams, Jalen Carter proved an indomitable force, especially in crunch time. It’s hard to imagine his team surviving the nail-biter without him....

The Eagles hear your concerns about the (lack of) offensive style points in their NFC Wild Card win over the Green Bay Packers. They know everyone’s got thoughts about which team they match up best against in the next round. Guess what? To borrow a phrase used by several players inside the victorious postgame locker room at Lincoln Financial Field, they “don’t give a f***.” Not because they’re bei...

45 player interviews. An array of perspectives. This was the assignment The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane embarked on over the final two weeks of the regular season, during which he spoke with nearly every member of the Philadelphia Eagles’ revolving 53-man roster for his annual year-in-review player survey. On the heels of a bounce back 14-3 regular season, Jeff polled players on five big p...

Byproduct of circumstance and the absence of key personnel, or warning signs of reasons for concern? What should be made of the Philadelphia Eagles’ disappointing last-second loss to Washington that halted a franchise-record 10-game winning streak, and diminished the Eagles’ chances of earning the no. 1 playoff seed in the NFC?The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane takes a measured look at the is...

First came a bombshell comment. Then, some backtracking and heart-to-hearts, followed by a few tears. In the end, there was reconciliation, capped by a most impressive win. All in a week’s work for the surging Philadelphia Eagles, which overcame internal tension stemming from Brandon Graham’s viral comments on WIP and a tough opponent in the Pittsburgh Steelers to earn a franchise-record 10th vict...

From backwards hurdles to dazzling touchdown runs, whenever Saquon Barkley makes a big play on the field, people notice. Behind the scenes, his gestures are more subtle, but the impact is just as significant. It could be a dap for an anxious rookie, or an invitation to a third-stringer to come over for Thanksgiving dinner. In speaking to over a dozen members of the Philadelphia Eagles organization...

He was much-hyped, and has much delivered. With five games to go in the 2024 regular season, Vic Fangio has the Philadelphia Eagles defense on pace to finish as one of the top statistical units in the NFL - an incredible ascent for a group that ranked towards the bottom of the league last year. Fangio’s fingerprints can be seen all over the place, from scheme to execution, and player development a...

It’s a question that’s been dogging the Eagles ever since preparations for the season began in earnest, and has only gotten more prevalent the more the team has won. “What are the lessons learned from last year?” With the Eagles sporting a near identical record heading into Week 13 as they did before the bottom fell out in 2023, media and fans alike seem eager to see if the 2024 edition of the Bir...

The last time the Philadelphia Eagles took a cornerback in the first round of the NFL Draft? Before this year, it was 2002. The last time they chose cornerbacks with each of their first two picks, like they also did this spring? Same deal, in 2022, when the team selected Lito Sheppard and Sheldon Brown - two mainstays during the Andy Reid-Donovan McNabb era. If early returns are any indication, th...

The Philadelphia Eagles handled the first team on their schedule this week - beating the Dallas Cowboys on the road. And it wasn’t just a win. It was a drubbing, marking the Eagles’ first win at AT&T Stadium in seven years. Now, on short rest, what figures to be a much stiffer, significant challenge awaits - a Thursday Night Football showdown with the Washington Commanders. At stake, sole control...

Four games into the season, the Eagles’ offense was stuck. With the team on its bye week, key members of the offensive line felt it was time to speak up. So they went to their head coach and offensive coordinator with feedback. It was straightforward and to the point. “We’ve got Saquon ‘F***ing’ Barkley. Let’s give him the f***ing ball.” Message received. Since then, the Eagles haven’t lost, climb...