Philly Front Office

The Eagles of today are looking pretty good. So instead of enjoying that, let’s look ahead to the off season and what we have going for us. The stops on this train include draft picks, salary cap, free agents, and any potential areas of concern.

THE DRAFT

The Eagles have done some maneuvering already in this draft and are left with a first, a second, a third (likely Miami’s), a fourth (Detroit), and three 5ths (Washington, Houston, and our own).

Someone: Wait, but don’t we always get magical extra picks?

Me: You mean compensatory picks?

Someone: Shut up you pompous jerk, you know what I mean.

Sorry, no compensatory picks this year according to Over The Cap. There is a formula based on free agents signed and lost that determines whether you get comp picks. With Barkley, CJGJ, and Huff, the Eagles took in more and better contracts than they gave out (Mariota and Swift). This means just the 7 picks we currently have. However, it is good to note that through trades, our 7 picks have more value than the traditional 7 picks you are afforded since we have three 5ths.

SALARY CAP

The salary cap next year isn’t finalized, but it is roughly $260m according to Over The Cap. NFL teams get to carry over any amount they didn’t use the year before. Right now we are estimated to be at around $32m in room. There are a few avenues to getting some more space though. It was simply not advantageous to cutting James Bradberry and Darius Slay last year. There would have been no savings in those moves. This year however, we can cut both using a Post-June 1 designation (a method spreading the remaining cap hit over 2 years instead of 1. You only get to do this for 2 players per year). This would save roughly $9m. That puts us at $41m to spend with 2.5 key free agents and several holes to fill.

FREE AGENTS

Zack Baun has been a revelation to this team. The only problem is that he is only under contract for 2024. With each week it seems like he earns a little more money on his next deal. If he starts peaking at the top of the market we might no play in those waters because Howie does not usually pay linebackers. Let’s hope Baun is the exception or an extension gets done before the end of the season.

The other free agent is Milton Williams. As his 4th year comes to a close, his rookie contract is up. This is a significant decision to be made. Jordan Davis has 1 more year and an option year on his contract. If Williams costs too much they are going to have to make a decision that likely effects Davis. They aren’t going to want to pay both a significant sum knowing that Carter will be up for an extension after next season. It isn’t an immediate problem, but you know Howie is thinking years out.

What is .5 of a free agent? Well Josh Sweat was nearly cut this last year but all of a sudden seems to have some juice. Is he a key free agent? I have no idea. I do know that he is a pretty big cap hit if he isn’t on the team ($16m!). That type of thing usually gets Howie into action. If Sweat maintains a level of “capable” I expect him to be back on a reasonable contract that smooths the cap hit and gives us depth (think Barnett a few years ago). If he gets too good or too bad though, he is probably gone.

AREAS OF CONCERN

Depending on what happens with Baun, we may have big shoes to fill at LB. Regardless of what happens with Sweat, we need probably 2 defensive ends unless Huff shows some kind of life. Then there is CB2/3.

There is a world where Slay comes back for another season and continues to be CB2 with DeJean staying in the slot. This would likely mean Isaiah Rodgers (free agent) is gone. Without Slay, Rodgers could likely be kept on the cheap to fight with Kelee Ringo for our depth CB. I don’t know enough about what it takes to be a slot corner to know if they could play the slot, but you can imagine between those 2 and DeJean we have CB 2 and 3 covered.

We haven’t discussed the offense at all because damn near everyone is under contract. Dallas Goedert only has 1 year left on his deal and is shockingly 30 years old. This is going to be the year we draft his replacement. Howie had him ready to replace Ertz and Ertz ready to replace Celek.

PREDICTIONS

We are going to draft a defensive end in the first round no matter what and probably use a later round pick on one as well. Our second pick is going to be for a tight end. Offensive line is always possible too. Unfortunately, we are at about that time to be thinking of Lane Johnson’s replacement.

Zack Baun has been just too good to let walk and such a key to this defense that he probably gets extended though it is a closer decision than we all realize. They will likely work to extend Dean either way, but his extension will happen immediately if Baun walks. Milton Williams probably gets extended as well. Same with Sweat.

Why are we extending everyone? Because we are not going to sign any big name free agents. Not only do we not have any glaring needs, but there isn’t anyone really out there. Defensive end would be the only logical place, but we just signed Huff last year. Expect that to be addressed in the draft with only depth coming via free agency. In case you were wondering, free agency starts a month before the draft.

This was just a really long way of saying things will probably stay the same this off season. That’s a good thing!