A few days ago, we worked out that the Eagles will have about $20-ish million to spend on the roster for the coming year. However, that number can be moved upward by giving out a few extensions. Yes, more money spent means more money to spend, the NFL is weird like that. Let’s dive into the first order of business for the offseason.
Extension Candidates
- Free Agents
- Dallas Goedert
- Braden Mann
- Nakobe Dean
- Reed Blankenship
- Jaelan Phillips
- First Extensions
- Jordan Davis
- Nolan Smith
- Jalen Carter
- Vets
- Jalen Hurts?
- DeVonta Smith?
Free Agents
The Eagles are going to need to make a decision on Goedert before anyone. While the other 3 on the list are more traditional free agents, Goedert carries a $20m dead cap hit that the Eagles may want to avoid. They also do not have anyone lined up to replace him and may face other more pressing needs in the draft. How could this work? Well, in one of two ways. First, they could work with him to essentially keep him on the roster until June 1 in order to pro rate hit cap hit over 2 years instead of 1 ($7.5m in 2026 and $12.5m in 2027) but he would have to agree to this. Second, give him an extension despite being 31. I think they do the latter. I’ll go into a deeper dive later in the offseason, but expect something in the 3/$25m range that guarantees most of that in the first 2 years. This would lower his cap hit to around $11m this season. Boom, up to $30m to spend.
Braden Mann is the forgotten free agent amongst the bigger names in this year’s class, but he has been the best punter of my life as an Eagles fan. The team used to give no effort to the position and would routinely hemorrhage field position. Not with Mann. Punters are getting paid a little more than you’d think lately with salaries inching up over $4m. I can’t see the Eagles setting a new bar, but something in the 4/$14m range isn’t crazy. Assuming a $5m-ish signing bonus, his cap hit will only go up slightly.
As for Nakobe Dean and Reed Blankenship, sadly I can’t see them coming back. The LB has been languishing for years and Dean is going to get paid. He is too good and too well respected not to. Some coordinator and GM will see him as the new captain of their defense and probably pay him more than Zack Baun received last year (3/$51m). When the Eagles drafted Jihaad Campbell last year, it spelled the likely end of Dean in Philly (even if that sucks). The wildcard here is that he is the leader of the Georgia guys on the team and Howie Roseman might not want to jeopardize that harmony. For that reason, it is possible that they trade Zack Baun and go with youth instead. I wouldn’t bet on it though.
Blankenship suffers from being too good for a small contract and not good enough for a big one. Once Trevon Moehrig signed for 3/$51, that changed the negotiations between Reed and the Eagles (and probably CJGJ and the Eagles too). They aren’t going to pay that kind of money. It is probably more likely that they either draft/sign a better CB2 and move Cooper to safety OR bring Marcus Epps back to pair with Andrew Makuba. (PS – I don’t want anything to do with Sydney Brown playing safety)
Jaelan Phillips is an interesting case. He comes with an injury risk, but he fit this defense like a glove last year. While the Eagles will likely not want to give him a Brian Burns level deal (5/$141m), something in a shorter term deal could be of interest. Greg Rousseau, Phillips’ teammate with the Hurricanes, has posted similar numbers but with a better track record of health. He received 4/$80m before last season. I can see 3/$60m being a decent compromise between the two sides if he wants to be here. 50/50 whether it happens though. A contract in this range will probably come with a $20m signing bonus that will only cost the Eagles around $5m in cap space for 2026.
First Extensions
Jordan Davis played out of his mind this year and solidified himself as a long-term piece of this defense (in my opinion). Not only was he relentless in the middle, but he has a great attitude and seems like a genuine pleasure to be around. He’s the kind of guy who you build with. As a player on a 5th year option though, he is now much more expensive than he was at $13m compared to around $5.5m. The best way to get him back to a good number is by giving him an extension. A few months back, I projected him at 4/$72m. That’s probably still a decent projection, but his floor rather than his ceiling. To be safe, let’s move it to 4/$80m. Assuming a little less than half of that is signing bonus, the Eagles would free up another $4m in space. We are now around $34m
A year ago, both Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith seemed destined for big paydays to start the 2026 offseason. While Carter will still likely get his early extension, the same cannot be said for Nolan Smith. When he played, his pressures and win rate were very positive, but he only had 3 sacks in 12 games. The Eagles need someone to be able to get home. If Phillips gets an extension, do not expect one for Smith this season.
I previously pegged Jalen Carter to become the highest paid non-QB in football. Then this season happened. From the opening game, it never seemed right with him. His talent is undeniable and he gets held every play, but there were no game wrecker moments this season. We need to see those. The Eagles will probably still offer him a major deal as soon as they can, but 5/$200m isn’t happening anymore. He will still easily top the 4/$106m that former teammate Milton Williams received though, the 2nd highest AAV among interior linemen. He may even top the 5/$158m deal of Chris Jones as well. How much though remains to be seen. If I were to predict it, I would probably go 4 years and between $120m – $140m. Depending on the size if his signing bonus, his 2026 cap number will likely go up a few million. He might want to wait a year and make a run at defensive player of the year first though.
Vets
Both Jalen Hurts and DeVonta Smith are destined to be Eagles for life. Both have the kind of attitudes that you wish every athlete had. They care about winning above all else and it shows. The Eagles know this. Extending them now would be for different reasons though.
For Smith, he signed a VERY team friendly extension before the 2024 season. Previously, the Eagles gave AJ Brown a proactive raise and extension to get ahead of a rising market and as a reward. Even though he has a very manageable $10m cap hit, something similar could be brewing for Smith.
For Hurts, he has a $31m cap hit this year that goes up to $42m next year. Both are manageable numbers, but the Eagles might want to get ahead of the next wave of QB extensions like they did last time. Jalen was the highest paid (in AAV) NFL player ever for a short time before the rest of the league caught up that summer. While I would bet his extension comes in 2027, it wouldn’t surprise me if Howie is extra pro-active.
Prediction
The Eagles will work out extensions with Braden Mann, Dallas Goedert, and Jordan Davis that will raise cap space to around $35m. From there that money will be used to give extensions out to Jalen Carter and possibly Jaelan Phillips. This should leave the team with about $20m to $25m to spend on the draft and free agency. With that kind of money, it is still possible to bring back Reed or Nakobe, but I wouldn’t hold your breath.
All contract info courtesy of Spotrac.com and Overthecap.com
Philly Front Office 
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