Thoughts on a few players after Sunday’s Super Bowl:
Miles Sanders. He had a good contract season, rushing for 1,269 yards and 11 touchdowns while staying healthy for the first time in his career. But he came up awfully small in the Super Bowl, carrying 7 times for 16 times. Kenneth Gainwell played more and was more effective; Gainwell is a better pass catcher (he caught 4 passes in this one, the most he’s caught with Hurts at quarterback this season).
So where does that leave us? I think the Eagles will want to re-sign Sanders, but I don’t think he’s a priority. I don’t think they’ll be willing to break the bank for him. I think they’ll want to bring him back on a modest deal, having him share time with Gainwell. I would think it will be more of a one-two punch backfield next year. If some other team wants to give Sanders a contract worth about $8 million per year, the Eagles probably will be comfortable finding some other back to pair with Gainwell.
Kadarius Toney. He had two big plays in this game: the 65-yard punt return and a touchdown catch. But in general, he was underwhelming during his partial season with Kansas City, with a pair of injuries and a limited role. He was on the field for only 6 plays in this game. Even if he somehow stays healthy (which isn’t going to happen) I don’t think he’s ever going to move up to being a top-15 type receiver for Kansas City. I think he’s going to be an accent piece.
Skyy Moore. He wasn’t much of a factor as a rookie, but he made a couple of notable plays at the end of the postseason – the key punt return against the Bengals, and a touchdown catch late against Philly (his first touchdown catch as a pro). I expect he’ll be similar to Toney next year, contributing some key catches and plays along the way, but probably also with plenty of games where he’s not much of a factor.
JuJu Smith-Schuster. Smith-Schuster is going to make some money. He signed a one-year deal with KC, recall, that Spotrac reports was worth only $3.7 million. He was a key factor yesterday, with 7 catches (all but one of them coming the second half). For the season, he caught 88 passes in 19 games. With lesser speed, he’s not a No. 1 receiver, but he’s a starter, and I imagine Kansas City will want to have him back. I wonder if some other team is interested in paying him a lot more (and how much less Smith-Schuster would be willing to take to remain in Kansas City). He’ll be starting somewhere.
Dallas Goedert. He hasn’t been used a ton, but there are definitely days where he looks like one of the top half-dozen tight ends in the league. Like yesterday. Caught 6 passes, and two of them were of the really impressive variety.
Jalen Hurts. To me, Hurts looks like the Derrick Henry of quarterbacks. He’s built like a tank. I feel a lot better about Hurts running extensively than I do about either Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson. He’ll be a top-5 quarterback on my board next year. He came up huge in yesterday’s, pretty consistently driving the ball down the field. I thought the Eagles had this game in their grasp for the majority of the game, and it’s hard to believe they somehow let it slip away. There was the key penalty-turnover sequence in the second quarter, a three-and-out in the fourth, and a breakdown on special teams. I would have liked to have seen how this one would have played out had KC had to kick a field goal to go ahead with 1:45 left.
—Ian Allan