* So, on Monday, a reporter — not me — asks DeMeco Ryans if he sees a correlation between the decline and fall of the Eagles' run defense and the season-ending Week 9 pec injury to rookie linebacker Jordan Hicks. Not a good question to ask a guy who very well could very be out of a job next year when Hicks returns. "I think a lot of people keep saying 'when Jordan went down . . . " Ryans said. "I mean, Jordan's a great player. But it's 11 guys out there. If I knew what went wrong, it would've been fixed. But for some reason, guys just weren't playing up to our level of how we were playing earlier. It just dropped off for some reason. That three-game stretch – Miami, Tampa, Detroit – that's where it just went downhill. That's where we lost the season right there.''

*Imagine this unlikely, but possible offseason scenario: The Eagles don't re-sign Bradford and don't put the franchise tag on him. He signs with, drumroll please, the Rams, which would give the Rams the player they traded for (Nick Foles), the guy they traded away (Bradford) and the second-round pick they got in that deal with the Eagles last March.

*While the Eagles' new head coach likely will be free to hire all of his own assistants, I'm told four of Chip Kelly's assistants will be recommended by Lurie and Howie Roseman as possible "keeps'' to the new coach: special teams coordinator Dave Fipp, running backs coach Duce Staley, defensive backs coach Cory Undlin and offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland.