Patriots' Bill Belichick Praises Eagles' 'Dominant' Pass Rush, Calls It NFL's Best

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick praised the Philadelphia Eagles' pass rush Wednesday in advance of the teams' season-opening matchup.

"Their front is a very dominant front," Belichick said, per Kevin Patra of NFL.com.

"They're the best pass rushing front in the league by, I'd say, quite a bit, with good depth. So they can roll those guys out of there pretty comfortably and bring in other guys that are just as explosive, dangerous. They have a great combination of power and speed in the pass rush front."

The Eagles amassed an NFL-high 70 sacks last year and return some big names from their defense, including Haason Reddick (16 sacks), Brandon Graham and Josh Sweat (11 sacks apiece).

Philadelphia did lose a key component of its pass rush in Javon Hargrave, who left in free agency for the San Francisco 49ers. But they loaded their front back up by adding former Georgia Bulldog stars Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith via the draft.

Philadelphia's pass rush is so deep that defensive end Derek Barnett, a starter at defensive end from 2018-2021, is gauging the trade market to potentially find a place to get more snaps, per ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.

Ultimately, protecting Patriots quarterback Mac Jones will be a tall order for New England against this tremendous defense, and we'll see how it all goes down soon enough when the Eagles visit the Pats Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET.