Philly Front Office

[Updated]

I can’t say things have been quiet since the first day of free agency, at least not for Eagles fans. After the CJGJ trade shocked the masses, everyone has been in a state of panic thinking who could be next on the chopping block. If you read my posts, I hope it has calmed things down a bit by giving a sense of what the Eagles are thinking and not to worry. Still, a few minor deals have happened. Let’s ketchup…I mean catch up.

What’s Happened This Week:

• The Eagles lost Milton Williams, Josh Sweat, and Isaiah Rodgers on the first day of free agency
• CJ Gardner Johnson was traded to the Texans in exchange for crappy but talented guard Kenyon Green
• Kenny Pickett was traded to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for a 5th round pick. Last offseason, the Eagles traded for Pickett by basically swapping the #98 pick for the #120 pick. So, fine business in the new swap. The real story here is that the move freed up around $2.5m in cap space. Also, Tanner McKee is now the new QB2. While most teams are paying between $5m and $8m for a backup QB (except the Colts who are paying Daniel Jones $14m!!!) the Eagles are paying the league minimum and probably have a better option than everyone else. Quarterback factory is back!
• Mekhi Becton signed a MUCH lower than expected contract with the Chargers, 2/$20m. With the way the guard market has exploded, he should have received much more than that. The Chargers are probably the most ideal non-Philly place for him though as their O-line is very good. What we should take out of this though is that the Eagles are very much in cost cutting mode. If you had told me after the Super Bowl that Becton had signed this deal, I would have just assumed that he was coming back…and I would have felt bad for him for taking such a big discount.
• The Eagles officially post June-1 cut Darius Slay allowing him to sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers for 1 year and $10m fully guaranteed. The Slay cut will free up $4m in salary cap space…eventually. June 1 to be specific. Expect that to go towards extensions for at least Cam Jurgens, but probably Reed Blankenship as well. We knew this, along with a post-June 1 cut of James Bradberry, were going to happen as of last week, but it became official yesterday.
• AJ Dillon, aka Quadzilla, aka the Quadfather, was signed as a 3rd running back. Dillon missed all of last season with a neck injury but has been cleared to return to football. He is an enormous man at 6′ 250 pounds, apparently all in his legs. His deal is that he has good hands and knows how to block, not unlike the recently lost Kenny Gainwell. Speaking of which…
• Kenny Gainwell signed with the Steelers yesterday on a 1-year deal. No financial terms have been released yet. I had him pegged at a 3/$12m deal, so let’s hope he gets more than that $4m AAV. Kenny has the single best possible name to be a running back and I think we all irrationally loved him.
• Eagles resigned LB/FB Ben VanSumeren as he signed his exclusive rights tender. This means that he is coming back on a minimum contract and will not affect our cap space. Just solid business for a special teamer and gadget offensive player.
• Kick returner Britain Covey was not tendered a contract yesterday. This does not guarantee his time as an Eagle is over, but it doesn’t look good. Perhaps this means they will have Shipley or DeJean return kicks full time now.
• Josh Uche, formerly of the Patriots and Chiefs, signed on the craziest minimum deal you’ll ever see. About $1.5m with 4 void years. Just Howie being Howie. Uche is an EDGE who had a front row seat for the Eagles Super Bowl win and decided that midnight green confetti looked pretty good. He has an 11.5 sack season back in 2022, but nothing great last year. The 2017 Super Bowl team had a crazy EDGE rotation that was based on keeping bodies fresh to aid a relentless attack. Uche could be a throwback to this model.

What to Know Going Forward

• Compensatory picks! Thanks to the free agent losses and lack of signings, the Eagles are in line to receive the maximum amount of comp picks in next year’s draft. It won’t be official until next year, but we should receive:
  • 3rd rounder – Milton Williams
  • 4th rounder – Josh Sweat
  • 5th rounder – Mekhi Becton
  • 6th rounder – Isaiah Rodgers
• If you hear someone complaining about the Eagles offseason strategy or feel tempted to complain yourself, please read this handy complaint response guide.
• Dallas Goedert and Bryce Huff could be next on the chopping block, but they do not have to make a move on these guys right away.
• We are still waiting on word of Brandon Graham’s retirement. Considering he is not under contract when the league new year started, I am assuming this means his cap hit is due. If that is the case, it will be a $9m hit that has already been factored into the planning in my articles and on Spotrac. Overthecap still has him as if he is returning last I checked and therefore only a $5m hit.
• Next up is draft planning, but extensions can happen at any point with guys like Cam Jurgens and Reed Blankenship eligible. Then there are the curious cases of Nakobe Dean and Jordan Davis and how their contracts may affect their Bulldog teammates. There is no rush to get these deals done as long as they happen sometime this offseason.
• Nick Sirianni will be getting an extension this offseason as well.
• If you want to see how well I did predicting Eagles free agency or how poorly I did predicting the rest of the league, take a look.

I will keep you posted on all the Eagles wheelings and dealings.