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Eagles spin wacky offseason into 3-0 start

James Lang / USA TODAY Sports

No one expected the Philadelphia Eagles to be 3-0, but here we are.

After an unconventional offseason in which Philadelphia hired a first-time head coach, moved from No. 15 to the second slot in the draft to select Carson Wentz, and traded away its starting quarterback days before the regular season started, 2016 looked to be a lost season for the Eagles.

Then Wentz took the field, and everything changed.

The North Dakota State product has been a revelation through three games, and not in the up-and-down manner of most rookies. He's stabilized the Eagles' talented, yet flawed, cast of characters on offense, throwing for 769 yards, five touchdowns, and no interceptions so far.

The Eagles were thought to be a nice, but temporary, story entering their first real test against the Steelers on Sunday, but a dominant performance served notice to the rest of the NFC East that the Eagles are for real.

Their seemingly bizarre quarterback strategy leading up to the season grabbed most of the headlines, but the Eagles have been doing things differently across the roster.

The front office employed a unique roster management strategy, giving long-term extensions to Fletcher Cox, Vinny Curry, Lane Johnson and Zach Ertz. Philadelphia's paying big money not to stars, but to productive players who project to be stars over the next four years. The idea is that as the salary cap increases and player salaries rise, these 2016 contracts will become more and more team friendly.

It's a risky proposition, as the erratic nature of football always makes production regression a possibility, but the Eagles are doing something many teams don't have the guts or patience to do: trusting their evaluation of players and acting accordingly.

Through three weeks, that trust has paid off, and if Wentz continues to limit turnovers, the Eagles will be in a position to win the NFC East when December rolls around.

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