The Super Bowl may have left a sour taste in the mouths of Philadelphia Eagles fans, but the good news for the franchise is that the future is still bright for one major reason; a very talented pool of young players.

Howie Roseman has done an excellent job of compiling talent through the draft, and it is this talent maturing that could make the next few years even better for the Eagles than 2022.

The offensive youth tends to get a lot of attention due to the presence of Jalen Hurts, but the defense deserves its due as well.

Eagles fans already know Josh Sweat, but it seems like fans around the rest of the league haven't realized just how good the growing star and 2021 Pro Bowler is for the Eagles.

Sweat is a veteran at this point and has been productive through five years with the team, but the past two years as a starter have been a different level.

The growth through each year has been obvious, and it seems like Sweat could be on the verge of a major breakthrough after the best season of his career. 

The numbers tell an obvious story of upward move from 2021 to 2023, and the good news for Eagles fans is that all of the numbers point to the opportunity for even more production, production that could lead to Sweat becoming one of the best pass rushers in the NFL.

Eleven sacks last season is a great start for Sweat in his second year as a full-time starter, but the stat that should really impress Eagles fans is the 23 quarterback hits that #94 was able to earn.

These hits didn't end in sacks, but sacks aren't the only job for pass rushers. They never tell the whole story.

QB hits show that Sweat was finding ways to impact plays even when he wasn't able to get the quarterback wrapped. These plays led to pressure on the QB, taking them off their rhythm and making the passing attempt more difficult.

A play like this also leads to other pass rushers getting better chances at getting to the quarterback as well, especially when more teams have to start planning to keep Sweat out of plays.

Generally speaking, more quarterback hits usually lead to more sacks in following years, and keeping that number as high as possible is indicative of a player that has sustainable sack numbers, something Eagles fans should be very happy about.

The growth has been consistent, even if it was a little slow for some Eagles fans at first. Now, if Josh Sweat can just bring that 2022-2023 growth to 2023-2024, he could easily find his name amongst the most influential players in the sport.