Philadelphia Eagles: Super Potential For This Upcoming Season

The fans of Philadelphia have been fortunate to have a competitive football team for most of Andy Reid's tenure. Having a chance to see their team play in five NFC Championship games is not too shabby.

What is disheartening is the fact that they won only one of them and then proceeded to lose in the Super Bowl.The math is not hard folks. We have had Five NFC Title games, one Super Bowl appearance, and zero championships.

It would be irrational to sit here today and proclaim the Eagles as the team to beat in the NFC. As far as anyone should be concerned, until some meaningful games are played, the defending conference champions have to be the team to beat.

With that said, it can be seen that the Eagles do have the tools to compete for not only the NFC crown, but the Lombardi trophy as well.

Last year, the Eagles were in the top 10 in both offense and defense. Yes, they have lost a few starters on both sides of the ball. However, in many of those spots, they have improved.

They lost their two long-time tackles in John Runyan and Tra Thomas. But lets face the facts: Both men were getting old and Runyan is coming off of a serious knee surgery that he may not fully recover from in time for the season.

So what did the Eagles do?

They sign Stacey Andrews, brother of their mammoth offensive lineman Shawn. Although it is not a certainty at this point, Stacey looks to be slotted to play guard whereas Shawn will be moving outside to his natural position of tackle, where he played at Arkansas.

To fill the void left by Tra Thomas, the Eagles went out and made a bold move in trading for disgruntled left tackle, Jason Peters from Buffalo. Peters is seen by many as one of the top five tackles in the game today.

Advantage 2009 Eagles.

This years version also has an actual fullback in place for the first time since Jon Ritchie played in an Eagles uniform, after they signed Leonard Weaver away from Seattle.

It goes without saying this is an advantage for 2009.

In the draft, the Eagles added three more skill players on the offensive side of the ball with a ton of potential. Those being, wideout Jeremy Maclin, running back LeSean McCoy, and tight end Cornelius Ingram.

There can be no judgement on them until they put the pads on and play in the regular season, but the potential could mean for some exciting times this season for this offense. The defense is practically the same, except for one integral piece.

Brian Dawkins will not be manning his normal spot in the defensive backfield for the first time in his career, after signing a deal with the Broncos in the offseason.

It is true that he is not the same player he may have been five years ago, but he was still good enough to be NFC defensive player of the month in December. And you cannot speak enough about his leadership both on and off the field for this team over the last decade. This is the one place the Eagles may lack something. But the absence of Dawkins gives some of the younger guys their chance to step up and become the leaders.

Dawkins was not going to play forever. You can get the feeling that the players knew this day may have been coming. So the hope is that guys like Stewart Bradley, Mike Patterson, Quentin Mikell, and although unhappy about his contract, Sheldon Brown, can fill this void.

It may not be the same, but these guys have the potential to be leaders, especially Brown and Bradley.

So should Philly fans book their trips to Miami? Not quite. But if this team stays healthy and plays up to their ability, the sky is truly the limit.

And maybe, just maybe, Eagles' fans can celebrate after 49 years of waiting.