Philadelphia has dropped a little uniform news on a summer Friday.
The Eagles announced that they will wear their Kelly Green throwback jerseys two times in 2024: Week 9 against the Jaguars and Week 17 against the Cowboys.
The Week 9 matchup with Jacksonville is set for Sunday Night Football.
Philadelphia brought back the Kelly Green throwbacks last season. The team wore them twice last year. The club beat Miami at home on Sunday Night Football in Week 7 and then defeated Buffalo in overtime on a rainy afternoon in Week 12.
The Eagles stopped wearing their Kelly Green uniforms full-time back in 1996.
The Jaguars struck a deal to secure their future in Jacksonville this week and team owner Shad Khan would like to spend less time wading through the free agent market over the course of that future.
Jacksonville signed players like defensive lineman Arik Armstead, wide receiver Gabe Davis, center Mitch Morse and safety Darnell Savage this offseason and they made a lot of other notable additions via that path in recent seasons as they remade their roster. That helped make them a playoff team in 2022 and it set them up for another run in 2023 before a late season collapse, but Khan said this week that he doesn’t want it to be the long-term approach to roster building.
“I think there’s a sea change for us — and this is for our coaching, that they have to develop young players,” Khan said, via the team’s website. “Our solution isn’t going to be we’re going to be signing free agents every year. We don’t have the ability. Bottom line is that young talent has to be developed. The coaching, the coaching staff, their priorities have to change. Their mindset has to change. That’s where we’re going to get our future players. We cannot have this addiction to free agents.”
The Jaguars signed quarterback Trevor Lawrence and edge rusher Josh Allen to long-term deals this offseason, so they’ve developed some young talent in recent years. They’ll need to add to that total in order to fufill Khan’s wish for the future of the franchise.
Doug Pederson and Press Taylor shared play-calling duties for the Jaguars in 2022. In 2023, Taylor had the job full time for the first time.
Pederson has not said who will call the plays this season.
Owner Shad Khan was asked his opinion on who he wants as the Jaguars’ primary play caller in 2024.
“Yeah, I have an opinion,” Khan said, via Mark Long of the Associated Press. “But I don’t want to tell people ‘We need to do it’ because then things don’t work out, they look at me and say, ‘We did it because you wanted it.’”
Interestingly, Khan referenced a New York Times story that placed Taylor on the hot seat in 2024. Khan did not deny that was the case, and in fact, said, “If I were in that situation, I’d want my hands on the wheel” as the play caller.
“Doug, he’s empowered,” Khan said. “I’m going to let him decide.”
The Jaguars lost five of their final six games last season to lose the AFC South and miss the playoffs. Pederson is 18-16 in two seasons in Jacksonville.
The Jaguars held an event focused on the franchise’s future in Jacksonville on Wednesday, but team owner Shad Khan couldn’t completely put the past out of his mind.
Khan appeared at a news conference with Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan to discuss an agreement between the team and city to fund stadium renovations that is set to keep the team in place for years to come. The agreement comes months after the Jaguars went 1-5 down the stretch to fall out of first place in the AFC South and miss the playoffs entirely a year after advancing to the divisional round.
On Wednesday, Khan said he’s spoken to key players like Trevor Lawrence and Josh Allen to find out “how could this happen” and said he’s left feeling it was an “organizational failure” rather than something more specific.
“Not to be able to win two out of the last six games, it still stings,” Khan said, via Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com. “Even though the season’s over, it’s like I still can’t believe we couldn’t do it.”
The Jaguars resisted making major changes in the wake of their late season slump, but it’s hard to imagine the team making the same choice if they fall short of expectations again in 2024.
Of the 32 current NFL franchises, the Jaguars were the most likely to move to London. Now that the Jaguars have a deal with Jacksonville for a renovated stadium, they won’t be moving to London.
If not them, then who?
Probably no one. At least not anytime soon.
Really, who would it be? First, a team would have to be unable or unwilling to stay in its current city. Then, that team would have to choose being in London — and everything that goes along with that.
For starters, it makes more sense to have two teams in London than one, since it would create a natural rivalry and give both teams one road game that would be very close to home. Even then, there are logistical issues that would be hard to overcome, absent the return of supersonic passenger flight.
A road trip for a London team wouldn’t be one night away. It would be multiple weeks, with 3-4 games played in the U.S. before the team goes home.
Beyond that are issues with taxes and exchange rate and getting players to choose to live there. And if the league were to give the London team(s) extra cap space or draft picks, and if the London team(s) thrive, many will say that the benefits were excessive and unfair.
Also, some players would refuse to sign with a London team(s), setting the stage for draft picks making power plays far more often than every 20 or more years. And if/when draft picks refuse to sign with London and get their way, other draft picks might refuse to sign with other teams.
Finally, what happens when the London team makes the playoffs and, for example, hosts Seattle in the wild-card round? Or plays in San Francisco?
For all those reasons, the best approach is to keep doing what the league has been doing — and to expand it. Multiple games per year in London. Up to eight, the football equivalent of the shrink-wrapped variety pack of small cereal boxes.
While the league will surely reserve the right to dangle a periodic carrot regarding the possible relocation of a team, that’s just a way to coax the London media to take NFL football more seriously. It’s becoming more and more clear that the likelihood of a team being based in London is low.
With the Jaguars not doing it, there’s really no one else who will.