Howie Roseman’s offseason Eagles moves, good and bad, took center stage ahead of the NFL trade deadline

The Eagles held off a late charge to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 28-23, at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday.

The final score may have been closer than most would have expected given the state of the two teams and the lopsided score going into halftime. Still, the Eagles are winners of four straight and firmly in the hunt for first place in the NFC East with back-to-back division games upcoming.

Here’s what we learned:

Sunday’s game served as the halfway point for the Eagles season, making it fitting that the players added by general manager Howie Roseman over the offseason played such an instrumental role in the win.

Saquon Barkley is the unmissable one, serving as the force behind the offense. For the type of money that can buy teams a respectable No. 3 wide receiver on the open market, the Eagles left free agency with a scheme-defining player capable of touching the ball 30 times and making defenders miss in unforgettable fashion.

Zoom out from Barkley’s production, and you’ll see Mekhi Becton displacing defensive linemen at the line of scrimmage, fully transitioned from a first-round left tackle on the outs into a supersized guard contributing to the Eagles’ dominant offensive line play. Even Jahan Dotson, the receiver who hasn’t really caught on since Roseman traded a mid-round pick to the Washington Commanders for him at the start of the season, managed an impressive 36-yard catch after tipping a tightly contested pass back to himself.

On the other side of the ball, another positional experiment gone right may have resulted in the defense’s best player on Sunday. Zack Baun made a handful of key open-field tackles, got his second takeaway in as many weeks, and broke up a deep pass to Evan Engram on Jacksonville’s opening drive. The former outside linebacker who signed with the team seemingly eager for a chance to rush off the edge is now half of a linebacker duo playing at a surprisingly high level.

The Eagles weren’t flawless in the offseason (more on that momentarily), but Sunday’s game could have looked significantly different without some of the risks taken in March.

» READ MORE: Nakobe Dean and Zack Baun’s linebacker partnership carries the Eagles to a nervy win

The risks that haven’t paid off were also front and center during Sunday’s game.

Edge rusher Bryce Huff played just six snaps, with long spells spent on the sideline watching Nolan Smith, Brandon Graham, and Josh Sweat get the lion’s share of the work. Four of Huff’s plays came on the Jaguars’ final drive, when he didn’t make much of an impact as Jags quarterback Trevor Lawrence got the ball out quickly.

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said Huff was dealing with a hand injury that led to them being cautious with the 26-year-old, who has struggled in his first season with the Eagles after signing a three-year, $51.1 million contract in the offseason.

Huff was signed with the expectation that he could replace Pro Bowl edge rusher Haason Reddick’s double-digit sack contributions, but his role has progressively decreased so far this year. It leaves the Eagles with a potential need at edge rusher going into Tuesday’s trade deadline and makes the pass rush a one of the biggest question marks going into the stretch run.

» READ MORE: Eagles’ Bryce Huff did not play much against the Jags. Could a deal for an edge rusher be ahead?

Elsewhere, it’s worth remembering that Baun’s emergence also helped mask the fact that Devin White, the team’s primary attempt at shoring up the linebacker position this summer, lost his starting job in the summer and was released last month.

The misses, which can justifiably include Dotson despite his improbable catch on Sunday given the lack of overall production, aren’t as glaring as the hits from the offseason. Still, it may necessitate some extra work between now and Tuesday afternoon.

At the risk of being somewhat reductive, the swing in the game coinciding with A.J. Brown’s departure with a knee injury is hard to completely dismiss.

The Eagles offense did find its footing at times during the second half thanks to the individual brilliance of Barkley, DeVonta Smith, and Jalen Hurts in have-to-have-it moments, but the potential absence of Brown in the short term will once again show how important he is to the framework of the offense.

The receivers seldom sustained production in the three games Brown missed earlier this season. It’s unclear how long Brown might be sidelined this time, but the Eagles will need to reimagine parts of the offensive system if he does miss a few games. Considering how many of Hurts’ middle-field targets have been to Brown the last couple of weeks, it’s fair to wonder if the passing game will revert to an overreliance on sideline shots. It would be ill-timed to do so with pivotal matchups against the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Commanders coming up in the next two weeks.

» READ MORE: Saquon Barkley backward hurdles his way into becoming the centerpiece of the Eagles offense

Up, Cooper DeJean: Another week, another impressive performance for the rookie slot cornerback that included a key fourth-down stop. Similar to last week against the Cincinnati Bengals, Jacksonville tried to create traffic for the second-round pick near the line of scrimmage on a route toward the sideline. And, just like last week when he brought down star receiver Ja’Marr Chase behind the sticks, DeJean was up for the task, this time breaking up a pass intended for the Jags tight end Evan Engram. DeJean is consistently proving he’s not one to be picked on. In the modern NFL where teams often put their best players in the slot to exploit matchups, DeJean has been an equalizing force for the Eagles defense.

Down, Nick Sirianni’s game-management results: From two-point conversion attempts gone wrong to the Eagles going 0-for-2 on fourth downs, nearly all of Sirianni’s game-management decisions backfired once again on Sunday. This isn’t the first time the coach’s decision-making has been subject to scrutiny after poor results, but it’s fair to point out the process wasn’t bad on all of them. Still, the end product trumps all, and it was a major contributing factor when assessing how the Eagles doubled the Jaguars’ total yardage but still needed an end-zone interception late in the game to come away with a win.

Up, Lane Johnson: He’s been doing it for so long that sometimes Johnson’s stellar play can fly under the radar a bit. Johnson was dominant in the running game and rock-solid in the passing game against the Jaguars’ explosive edge rusher duo of Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker.