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ESPN Offseason Grades: Eagles rank above average compared to all NFL teams

How would you grade the Eagles 2015 offseason?

Pat Lovell-USA TODAY Sports

It's a bit of a slow period in the NFL right now so it's a great time for arbitrary things like lists, rankings, grades, etc. Slow time or not, grades are always a big deal. There are free agency grades. There are NFL Draft grades. There are even mock draft grades. Fun stuff.

As if those weren't enough, now ESPN has released their all-encompassing Offseason Grades. Let's take a look at how the Philadelphia Eagles finished. Via In$ider:

"Philadelphia Eagles: B ... Riddick was the harshest grader (C-plus) on the Eagles because he thought the team assumed a great deal of injury risk with Bradford, Murray, Alonso, Matthews and Thurmond. He did like what the Eagles accomplished in the draft.

"It's just that the entire free-agent class could blow up in one practice," Riddick said. "Sam could blow his ACL without getting touched. It is all stuff that is very easy to envision."

The price Philadelphia paid for Murray invited scrutiny, but Polian thought the overall moves made at running back would help Bradford greatly.

"They are a running team and so what they did at the position was a net plus despite all the sound and fury," Polian said. "My only question is, will Bradford be healthy?"

There are other questions to consider, such as the decisions to part with so many productive weapons on offense. McCoy, Maclin and DeSean Jackson were once players to build around. The Eagles have dumped all three in relatively short order under Chip Kelly, including McCoy and Maclin this offseason.

"Chip knows what he wants in his system," Polian said."

...

BLG Thoughts:

• It's fair to be concerned about signing so many players with histories of injury. The Eagles obviously feel like it's a risk worth taking. They strongly believe in their sports science program.

Sam Bradford is obviously the biggest injury risk. He should be ready by the start of training camp. Can he make it to the regular season? And then play all 16 games?

• Pouring a lot of resources into the running back position typically doesn't seem like a great idea. It's a demanding position where players don't typically age well. With that said, I've said many times before that the Eagles were at their peak under Chip Kelly when the run game was elite. Kelly loves to run the ball and it appears they're trying to get back to that after having an inefficient run game in 2014.

• There's no denying that Kelly willingly chose to move on from LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson, but including Jeremy Maclin in that group continues to be silly. It's just factually incorrect. Philadelphia tried to pay Maclin but the Chiefs offered even more money. That's not "dumping.

• "B" seems like a pretty fair grade, but who really knows? This Eagles offseason has been so crazy that I almost don't know what to expect this season. More than ever I'm genuinely interested in seeing how it all plays out.

• Around the NFC East: Washington gets an (A-), the Dallas Cowboys get a (B+), and the New York Giants get a (C+).

Now it's your turn. How would you grade the Eagles offseason?

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