The most significant question that the Eagles have at each position after returning from their bye

Barkley has been the Eagles’ best player early in the 2024 season. He has 435 rushing yards, 85 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns in four games. He’s also averaging 6.0 yards per carry and 2.2 rushing yards over expected per carry. He has been incredible and is proving that he’s still one of the best running backs in the NFL.

Barkley has 85 touches through four games, which comes out to 21.25 per game. That means he’s on pace for 361 touches this season. His career-high in touches is 352, which he had on the dot in 2018 and 2022. So it’s definitely possible that Barkley could keep up with this pace. The Eagles haven’t had a running back with this heavy a workload since LeSean McCoy had 366 and 340 touches in 2013 and 2014.

Receiver: Will Jahan Dotson start to be a productive WR3?

The Eagles traded away a third-round pick as a part of the deal to acquire Dotson from the Commanders. The former first-round pick had fallen out of favor with a new coaching staff in Washington and the Eagles brought him in to be their No. 3. But even without A.J. Brown and then DeVonta Smith before the bye, Dotson still hasn’t been very productive. He has just 5 catches for 25 yards and is averaging just 0.2 yards per route run, which is the lowest figure in the NFL among the 70 players who had run at least 100 routes. That’s very unproductive.

Now, the Eagles have Dotson under contract for this season and next so there’s a longer shelf life but it’s clear that this isn’t working out just yet. It can take some time for Hurts to trust his receivers and he and Dotson didn’t have training camp together because the trade didn’t happen until Aug. 22. But do they have time during the season to build a strong rapport? Brown and Smith are always going to be the top two options in the passing offense but the Eagles have been yearning for a more consistent No. 3.

Tight end: Can Dallas Goedert remain a big part of the offense?

It seemed strange that against the Falcons, in the first game Brown missed with a hamstring injury, that Goedert wasn’t a big part of the offense. He had just 4 targets in that loss. The Eagles corrected that in Week 3, when Goedert had 10 catches for 170 yards against the Saints. And he followed that up with a strong 7/62 day in Tampa. Goedert is now on pace for a 1,200 yard season and is averaging 75.3 yards per game.

While it would be unfair to expect that type of high-level production to continue when Brown and Smith are back after the bye, the Eagles also can’t let Goedert get completely lost. It’s clear he has the ability to be productive and the Eagles have to make a concerted effort to keep him involved.

Offensive line: Should the Eagles extend Mekhi Becton?

There were some concerns about the Eagles’ offensive line entering this season. After all, they lost a future Hall of Famer when Jason Kelce retired and then they were moving Cam Jurgens from right guard to center. But things have worked well so far. Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson are two of the best tackles in the NFL and the interior offensive linemen are playing well too. The biggest question is probably about Becton’s future.

The Eagles entered training camp with Tyler Steen at right guard but seemed eager to get Becton in there when Steen suffered an ankle injury on Day 3. Since then, Becton hasn’t left the right guard spot and the 25-year-old former first-round pick is playing pretty well. He’s with the Eagles on a one-year deal and there’s a chance he can use this season as a stepping stone to hit the free agent market in March. But if he likes it here and thinks working with Jeff Stoutland is the best thing for his career, maybe the Eagles try to extend him during the season. It’s at least worth exploring.

Defensive tackle: Can Jalen Carter be consistently elite?

Against the Saints, Carter completely took over the game. Even though he didn’t have a sack in that game, he filled up the stat sheet with 4 hits, 2 TFLs, a QB hit and two batted passes. He was dominant in that game. But he hasn’t been able to be that guy consistently. That’s the next step in his career. Because there’s no question that Carter has an elite ceiling but in order for him to live up to his extremely high potential, he needs to do it week in and week out.

Do the Eagles need more from Jordan Davis? Sure. That would help a lot too. But there’s no more important player on the Eagles’ defense than Carter. If they’re going to be good, he needs to be the engine