Philly Front Office

Jeff Stoutland was forced out, and everyone is going to leave! Vic Fangio is going to retire! AJ Brown has been demanding a trade for months! Sean Mannion is destroying the team! KEVIN PATULLO IS STILL IN THE BUILDING!!! If you have decided that all of these things are not only true, but that they will all cause the Eagles to fall apart, PANIC…but don’t worry. I’ve got you covered. Will change come for the Eagles this spring? Yes. Will the team be left as a decaying husk in the depths of the NFC? No. Still, let’s look into all the possibilities and answer all your panicked questions.

Eagles Offseason Part 1: The Salary Cap

Panic #1: Jeff Stoutland and the Exodus

There are conflicting reports over whether Stoutland left semi-voluntarily or was basically constructively discharged.¹ Either way, the only offensive line coach that our entire unit has had in their careers is gone. Does that mean a mass exodus? Let’s go down that road…

• Landon Dickerson: Dickerson was a sleeper roster casualty going into the offseason already. He’s been plagued by injury and in the thick of a big contract. Dickerson has a very manageable $10m cap hit this season right now, but with $27m of dead cap waiting in the wings. To cut him brings all of it to the 2026 cap sheet. A June 1 cut spreads it out to $15m (26) and $12m (27). A trade though, that’s different. That would come with $17m in cap hits either all at once or $5m and $12m. WOULD A TEAM EVEN WANT HIM??? Dickerson is only 27 and still has All Pro upside. An acquiring team would be on the hook for around $19m in salary next year, but that would only mean around $5m in cap hit for 2026 with no guaranteed money left on his deal. That would be worth the gamble. WHAT IF HE RETIRES? Dickerson has $10m of his 2026 compensation already guaranteed. If he retires (or just takes the year off), the Eagles are going to ask him to give that back, which he would likely agree to. That would trim the $27m hit to $17m, with only $5m coming this season. The Eagles are not going to just cut him, but retirement or a trade is possible.²
• Lane Johnson: The worry is that Lane will retire now that Stoutland is gone. If he does, that will cause some serious OT in the accounting department. Lane renegotiated his contract last year essentially to enable him to play through the 2027 season and then be Post June 1 cut before 2028. The deal gave him an extra $25m. If he messes with the plan, he and the team will be looking at a grievance because retirement acts like a cut. Johnson has $40m in outstanding cap obligations. Whether it is split over 1 or 2 seasons, that’s a big number. The 26 cap hit would actually come down by about $5m but next year’s would go up by $5m. While retirement is technically possible, expect a guy like Johnson not to take the $25m gift they gave him lightly and to stick it out at least 1 more season.
• Cam Jurgens: Somehow Jurgens is the worst situation despite only signing his extension last offseason. Lane’s situation is that if he leaves it’s bad, while if he stays that’s good. With Jurgens, I don’t know if there is a good situation. His contract is bad AND his play was bad. Not only is his $11.5m option bonus for 2026 guaranteed, but his 2027 bonus of $14.5m guarantees on the 3rd day of the league year (March 14th). That means no post June 1 cut. YIKES. To cut him means a $20m cap hit (that’s $15m more than his current cap hit). Good luck finding a trade partner either. While a trade would help the Eagles substantially, that would be at the expense of an acquiring team. Nobody is going to want to take our damaged goods and pay all the money. It’s the opposite of the AJ Brown situation. The best case scenario with Jurgens is that he was hurt all last year and recovers or slides over to guard. That would be a big cross-your-fingers situation. Either way, Jurgens isn’t going anywhere.
• Alternatives: The big wild cards in all of these scenarios is the draft and Willie Lampkin. A Lane retirement would prompt the Eagles to draft a future RT in round 1 with no exceptions (that already might be the plan). Lampkin, the talent the Eagles stole from the Rams last offseason, could play center or guard. He will either be replacing Dickerson straight up or be the center between Jurgens and Steen (or the RT of the future).

Eagles Offseason Part 2: Extensions

Panic #2: Vic Fangio Will Retire and the Defense Will Collapse

When Vic Fangio told the team he was thinking about retirement, they canvassed the league for a replacement. When they could not get a commitment from their top choices, they then convinced him to stay another year. He is staying another year.

• Christian Parker: The Eagles former defensive backs coach is now the DC in Dallas. There was no way for the Eagles to prevent this from happening. People have lost their mind about not just promising the job to him when Vic leaves. There are two problems with this. 1. If the Eagles defense has a bad year, they would not give the job to Parker, promise or no promise. It is simply not a good business or career move on his part to turn down the guarantee of the Dallas job for the possibility of the Philly job. Plus, the Cowboys D is so bad, that he can’t help but do a better job as opposed to following a legend here. 2. What makes everyone think that Parker is their choice to replace Vic? The defensive end/OLB coach is a guy named Jeremiah Washburn. His unit has absolutely dominated for years and he is the son of defensive line coach Jim Washburn (former Eagles DL coach too). That’s not to say Parker wouldn’t make a good coach and Washburn will, it’s just that everyone made an assumption and lost their mind over it without really knowing anything.
• Nakobe Dean and Reed Blankenship: It is probably a good assumption that either one or both of the duo will leave this offseason. It wouldn’t be crazy that both of them follow Parker to Dallas either. That would suck. However, it would also suck to waste a 1st round pick on a LB with no path to playing time. Jihaad Campbell was very good as a rookie then couldn’t get on the field when Dean came back. You can’t pay everyone and the Eagles already have a succession plan. This is what happened with Milton Williams last year. The problem is that there is no real succession plan for safety. The Eagles will probably resign Marcus Epps and hope Andrew Mukuba can stay on the field while taking another safety in the draft. The problem with Reed is that he is good not great. Howie gives money to great, not just good. Paying Reed at the top of the safety market to not be a star is bad business.
• Extensions: Priority #1 on defense this offseason will likely be extensions for Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and, yes, Jaelan Phillips. Davis leveled up this year and is irreplaceable on this defense. Carter has DPOY potential. Phillips was no less important though. No one is better at maximizing the salary cap than Howie Roseman and the pass rush clearly needs that extra guy to pair with Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt. Howie knows this considering he traded a 3rd round pick for Phillips last year. If Phillips isn’t the guy, then someone else will be. Stop losing faith in Howie, he hasn’t let us down in years.
• One thing to remember, this is not only one of the best defenses in the league, but one of the youngest too. The only starter that is firmly in his prime years is Zack Baun. They are still ascending.

Eagles Offseason Part 3: Team Needs

Panic #3: AJ Brown Will Be Traded

The media and fan drumbeat for an AJ Brown trade gets louder by the day. Considering this is not based on reporting or anything actually happening, it seems like an echo chamber constantly amplifying itself. Somehow, he is a cancer and a diva while also acting as the player personification of what we all felt last year concerning the Eagles offense. Well, guess what, THE EAGLES AGREED WITH HIM!!!

The claims that he wanted to be traded during the season are completely irrelevant now. He was frustrated with the Eagles offense, he was right, and now the team is making large scale changes. Why would he want out now? Despite everyone calling for his head for drops and effort lapses last season, he is still a well-liked teammate. He is also still an elite talent. The Eagles cannot simply “replace” AJ Brown. If it were easy, everyone would do it. That’s a common sense argument.

Who cares about common sense though, let’s look at the money. Brown has a $23m cap figure this year, but $43m in cap waiting to be accounted for. Best case scenario is a post June 1 trade (so after this year’s draft) that would still cost $16m this year and $27m (!!!) next year for him to not be an Eagle. Does that sound like something Howie Roseman would do?

Ok, ok, let’s say the Eagles want to trade him anyway. An acquiring team would only take a $7m cap hit in 2026 for a #1 WR. How much do you think that is worth? People are saying a 2nd round pick. Really? So, let me get this straight: a team gets AJ Brown, only has to add $7m to their cap sheet, and the Eagles will eat $43m and you think Howie would trade him for a 2nd round pick??? That’s insane. He is 90% not getting traded, but if he is a team will have to blow Howie out of the water with compensation.

Trading AJ Brown Doesn’t Make Sense

Panic #4: No One Wanted to be the Eagles OC and now Sean Mannion is Ruining Everything

Over the last few years, it has become part of the news cycle to report on everyone who interviews for a coaching job in the NFL. Because of this, we saw about 20 people interview for the Eagles OC position. The masses spun this into 19 candidates turning the Eagles down for the job. 19 rejected the Eagles because of Nick Sirianni. 19 rejected the Eagles because of Jalen Hurts. 19 rejected the Eagles because the organization is a total shitshow!

None of that is true. the Eagles interviewed many candidates but that doesn’t mean they wanted to hire everyone they interviewed. Maybe they targeted Mike McDaniel(s) and Brian Daboll(s) initially, but there is nothing out there that says they offered either the job. Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t, but they sure as hell didn’t offer the job to everyone. Chalking the long search up to Nick Sirianni is one thing. Hell, the coach has to be able to work with the OC, but doing it to Jalen is another thing completely. Literally everyone who interacts with Hurts loves him and he has proved to be nothing but coachable. There is a certain group out there who will only see Hurts as a negative regardless of evidence. That’s simply not reality.

In the end, the Eagles went with Sean Mannion. He is a young former QB who has been praised for his intelligence and creativity in designing an offense. He is a chess vs checkers comparison with Patullo/Sirianni. Despite all the other interviews, doesn’t he seem like exactly the type of hire made by Jeff Lurie? Andy Reid was once a young offensive genius with no experience. Doug Pederson had no experience either before coming in and winning a Super Bowl. Sirianni too, while not being a genius, has proved to be a leader and Super Bowl winner. Mannion certainly seems like he is on track to be the next coach of the Eagles. He is an investment.

He was also given what seems like complete control in changing the offense. This means all of the coaches, Jeff Stoutland included, on the offensive side are gone. Why is that strange to everyone? He will run a completely different system this year and needs coaches who can implement that system. Plus, none of the coaches from last year had an answer for the offensive failures. It was a total mess that never improved. Even the legendary Stoutland had no answers for why his offensive line couldn’t block anyone on running plays. We all wanted change and we are getting it. There’s no guarantee it will work, but we sure as hell weren’t going forward with what failed last season.

I cannot stress this enough, anyone is better than what we had last year. But Sean Mannion already seems like a huge upgrade.

Panic #5: But…but…Kevin Patullo?

Yes, he is still in the building for now. He was probably given a 5-year contract for $10m and has a lot left on the deal. Before they kick him out of the building, they probably want to see if he has any value to the team. This is simply not a big deal. This kind of thing happens all the time.

Take a Breath

So, what do you think is happening here? Do you really think Howie Roseman is going to punt a year of his championship window in order to hemorrhage elite talent, clean the books, and start over? Does that really seem like an Eagles thing to do? The defense is incredibly young, the QB is already a Super Bowl MVP, and there is still talent everywhere on this roster. Look around the NFL, do you think the Super Bowl window is really closed?

In the last 10 years, the Eagles have built two completely different Super Bowl teams. Let’s take a minute, relax, and give them a chance at a 3rd before we all jump off a bridge.

1. Quality of life being so bad that he had no other option but to quit. Think of a landlord refusing to fix your heat right now ↩︎
2. I personally LOVE Landon Dickerson. I even had a #56 shirsey made as soon as he was drafted only for him to change his number to 69 as soon as he could. ↩︎