On September 12, 2021, Nick Sirianni coached his first NFL game. The Eagles beat the Falcons 32-6 in Atlanta. Jalen Hurts threw for 264 yards and three touchdowns. DeVonta Smith caught his first NFL touchdown. Jason Kelce was at center. Brandon Graham was lining up off the edge. Miles Sanders was the lead back.
Five years and a Super Bowl LIX trophy later, the roster looks almost nothing like that group. Of the players on Sirianni's first 53-man, only eight remain on the 2026 Eagles roster heading into Week 1 vs. the Commanders.
This is who those eight are, and what they represent.
The Eight Survivors
1. Jalen Hurts, QB
Drafted in the second round in 2020, Hurts entered the 2021 season as Sirianni's first-time franchise quarterback project. He's now a Super Bowl MVP, a two-time Super Bowl starter, and 57-25 as a starter in Philadelphia. The franchise's foundation.
2. DeVonta Smith, WR
Sirianni's first first-round draft pick. The 10th overall selection in 2021 caught a touchdown in that Atlanta debut and has been a 1,000-yard staple of the offense ever since. Now entering Year 6 alongside the same quarterback who threw him his first NFL touchdown.
3. Dallas Goedert, TE
The longest-tenured offensive skill player on the roster. Drafted in 2018, Goedert was already an established starter when Sirianni arrived. He's still TE1 in 2026, even with rookie Eli Stowers behind him.
4. Jordan Mailata, LT
The 2018 rugby project who became one of the highest-paid left tackles in football. Mailata was a developmental rookie when Doug Pederson was still here. Now he's a Pro Bowl tackle protecting the franchise QB's blind side.
5. Lane Johnson, RT
The Eagles' 2013 first-round pick is heading into his 14th NFL season, and still grading out as one of the best right tackles in football. The dean of the locker room.
6. Landon Dickerson, LG
The 2021 second-round pick out of Alabama who started 13 games as a rookie in Sirianni's debut season. Now a three-time Pro Bowler and a cornerstone of the league's best offensive line.
7. Brandon Graham, DE
The most iconic Sirianni-era survivor of them all. Drafted in 2010 by Andy Reid, Graham is entering Year 17, older than the franchise's last Super Bowl drought. Still on the active roster. Still answering the bell.
8. Jake Elliott, K
Signed off waivers from the Bengals in 2017. He kicked the game-winning field goal in Super Bowl LII over the Patriots. Nearly a decade later, he's still the most reliable leg in franchise history.
What This List Tells Us
Three things stand out about who survived and who didn't.
First: the offensive line is the spine. Three of the eight survivors, Mailata, Johnson, Dickerson, are starting offensive linemen. Howie Roseman has spent the Sirianni era turning over almost every other position group, but he has refused to let his trenches age out without succession plans.
Second: the skill talent has been preserved. Hurts, Smith, and Goedert give the Eagles five years of continuity at QB, WR1, and TE1. That's rare in the modern NFL.
Third: the defense has been completely rebuilt. Brandon Graham is the only defensive player from Sirianni's first roster who is still here. Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Jonathan Greenard, Nolan Smith, Zack Baun, Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, and Andrew Mukuba have all arrived since 2022. The defense that won Super Bowl LIX is a completely different unit from the one Sirianni inherited.
The Departed
The bigger names from that 2021 opener who are no longer on the roster include:
- Jason Kelce, retired after the 2023 season
- Miles Sanders, signed with Carolina in 2023
- Javon Hargrave, signed with San Francisco in 2023
- Jalen Reagor, traded to Minnesota in 2022
- Derek Barnett, left in free agency
- Anthony Harris, Rodney McLeod, Avonte Maddox, Steven Nelson, all turned over multiple times in the secondary
The Bottom Line
Five years from now, this list will almost certainly be even shorter. Graham can't play forever. Lane Johnson is 36. The eight survivors of Sirianni's first roster are a reminder of how quickly NFL rosters turn over, and how rare continuity actually is.
But they're also a reminder of why the Eagles have stayed in the championship window for half a decade. The players who matter most have stayed. The right ones got paid. The right ones got drafted to back them up. And when Hurts takes the field in Week 1 against Washington, seven of his Sirianni-era teammates from Day 1 will still be lining up around him.
That's not an accident. That's a plan.
