By Tucker Bagley, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
Despite their recent struggles, the Eagles have had some success against the two teams that will compete for the Lombardi Trophy on Sunday. Doug Pederson and company took care of business against Dan Quinn's Atlanta Falcons in Week 10 and the Birds beat Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in Foxboro last season.
Earlier in the week, NFL.com's Gregg Rosenthal tweeted out these graphics, depicting how the two Super Bowl rosters were constructed:
In color coded form … how the Patriots built this roster: pic.twitter.com/Cuct8nfojU
— Gregg Rosenthal (@greggrosenthal) January 31, 2017
And while I’m at it, the Falcons roster building is below. Last 2 years have been incredible: pic.twitter.com/FT35uMbL4G
— Gregg Rosenthal (@greggrosenthal) January 31, 2017
Which of course made me wonder how the Eagles' roster would stand up to the best two teams in the NFL.
The Birds roster looks something like this:
A few things stand out. First, it's amazing just how poorly the Eagles drafted in the past few seasons. While the 2013 draft class produced three starters, the next three classes combined to produce only five starters. Compare that to the Falcons who have drafted at least three starters in each of the past three drafts and the Pats who added five starters in the past two NFL Drafts.
Also, despite Howie Roseman's reputation for player trades, the Eagles only had three players who were acquired via trade, same as the Pats and one less than Atlanta.
What is also impressive is how all three teams have relied on free agents to fill a large portion of their starting lineup. However, those free agents aren't all equal. For instance, the Eagles have signed numerous veterans such as Malcolm Jenkins, Connor Barwin and Rodney McLeod to fill starting slots, the Patriots and Falcons have signed young, unheralded guys like Ryan Schraeder and Rob Ninkovich.
And that is the biggest challenge the Birds brass is facing right now. While the Eagles have tried to fill holes by taking on bloated contracts of veterans, Atlanta and New England have found diamonds in the rough, giving them a cheap source of talent. In fact, of the Eagles free-agent starters, only Allen Barbre wasn't an established starter upon his arrival.
If the Eagles want to make the jump from where they are now to where the Patriots and Falcons are, they need to find young, cheap talent. Utilizing the draft, waivers and undrafted free agents, Roseman and the rest of the front office need to create a pipeline of young talent, capable of surrounding Carson Wentz for the next decade.
Now, it's not imperative the team finds four potential All-Pros in this year's draft and another four starters on the waiver wire. Finding cheap talent is hard, but that's the front office's job. But if Roseman and company can't deliver and are forced to sign more and more veteran free agents, it will tighten the cap and back the team into a corner. It has been proven time and time again a team can't win without succeeding in the draft.
The Eagles path to success will start in April on the steps of the Art Museum.
