What's Wrong With The Philadelphia Eagles?

Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The Philadelphia Eagles are going to be one of the most interesting teams in the NFL this year. They have a new head coach, an unproven offensive system and a quarterback who barely has a hold on the starting job.

There aren’t many things we know for sure about how the season is going to shape up for the Eagles, but the one thing do know is that there will be plenty of bumps along the road. Chip Kelly is going to need all the help he can get from the leaders in the locker room. But where is that leadership going to come from?

The Eagles have only five players on their roster with double-digit years in the league. And two of those are the punter and the long snapper — so they don’t count. Michael Vick has the most years in the league on his resume with 12, but his leadership has always been a question.

Locker room leadership was a problem last year under former coach Andy Reid. When Reid, who had been with the team longer than any of the players, lost the locker room, things went bad quickly.

That could be the same this year. If Kelly and his new ways of doing things fail to produce wins on the field, the players are going to look amongst their ranks for leadership that will be hard to find.

The two best candidates will be linebacker DeMeco Ryans and receiver Jason Avant. Both players are more than capable of being leaders, but if your best leaders aren’t among your best players, then things get dicey.

There’s a lot to like about the new-look Eagles this year. Kelly is just what the NFL needs. He doesn’t worry about how he looks. He just worries about putting his team in the best position to win games.

Those wins will come more often than most believe this year, but the lack of veteran leadership on the team is what is wrong with the Eagles.

Ben Sullivan is an NFL writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @bensullivan52, “Like” him on Facebook and add him to your network on Google.