Philly Front Office

The NFL was under the impression that Dallas Goedert would become a free agent at the start of the league new year, joining everyone else. That didn’t happen. Then it was supposed to happen on Friday. That didn’t happen either. The new date is now the end of Monday. What’s going on?

NFL Salary Cap 101

Everyone by now should know the Eagles work void years into player contracts. These are used to extend bonus proration to work around the salary cap. What makes them a void year is that there is no base salary. You can’t play for nothing. The contract still exists though. To prevent this from being a contractual paradox, there is a date clause that makes the team cancel the rest of the contract by a certain time and the player will becomes a free agent.

Goedert has four years left on his salary, but no actual money attached to it. The only thing stopping him from becoming a free agent is that the void date keeps getting mutually extended. That word “mutually” is key here. The team can’t unilaterally keep the player from reaching free agency. Goedert is in on this too.

Why?

I have been hammering all offseason that despite Goedert being 32 years old, he will likely come back. The reason is his cap hit. Because of previous contract structures, the outstanding accounting accelerates to the current year leaving $20.5m in dead money on the books for 2026. NO CASH AT ALL, but a big cap hit all the same. Once his contract is voided, there is nothing Howie Roseman can do about that number. Until then, there is room for contractual gymnastics.

If Goedert signs a new deal before the void date, most of the money does not have to be accounted for in 2026. Instead, it is only around $7.5m plus whatever is on his new contract with all the usual void bells and whistles.

Ok, But Why Again?

The simple answer is that Dallas Goedert wants to be here and the Eagles want him here too. That is the only way this works. Goedert would not agree to keep extending his void date if he was in a hurry to get to free agency. At the same time, he knows he has leverage with the Eagles by giving them the opportunity to not take a dead cap bath. The Eagles would happily give him more money before the void date because it would lower the cap hit. Signing after the void date loses that advantage.

Eagles Offseason Part 2: Extensions

How Much are We Talking?

In my other life I have been through a lot of negotiations. When two sides are far apart, the job of a mediator is to get the parties to a common ground that neither side is truly happy with. Weird right? The idea is that it is fair. I’m assuming that is where the Eagles and Goedert are at. They aren’t close enough for a deal, but not far enough to declare things impossible.

If I were to guess, Goedert sees the 3/$39m deal Mark Andrews signed with the Ravens and wants what is coming to him. Goedert is 32 and Andrews is 29, but Goedert’s production has outpaced Andrews over the last 3 years. At the same time, other than George Kittle and Travis Kelce, there isn’t much precedent in giving a 32-year-old TE more than a one-year deal. Maybe the Eagles would go to two years, but probably do not want to. Even another 1/$10m agreement would lover the Eagles cap considerably.

My guess is that they meet in the middle at 2/$20m, but give the Eagles some perks as well to prevent this from happening again next year. The deal would come with minimum salaries plus a $10m in signing bonus. the remaining $8m comes in the form of an option bonus for 2027 that has to be exercised after June 1. If the Eagles want to, they mess with his contract a little more to have the option in 2028. If not, they get the 2-year cap relief that comes with a post-June 1 cut. Since it is a reasonable amount, there is a good chance the Eagles keep him around with good production. Win/Win.

The Cap

Let’s say Goedert signs for that 2/$20m pact. His 2026 cap number will be around $10.5m ($7.5m already there +$1m minimum salary + $3m¹). All of a sudden, the Eagles go from having around $22m in cap space to $32m in cap space for 2026. They also would not need to go find an immediate replacement for TE1 and can still draft an understudy to play TE2.

The cap hit for 2027 if the option is declined would be $9m. His 2028 hit would be $12m. All of that is unbelievably more reasonable than taking a $20.5m hit in 2026 with no Dallas Goedert!

Trading AJ Brown Doesn’t Make Sense

Wait, I Heard if the Eagles Sign Goedert They Can’t Keep AJ Brown

This rumor made the rounds on the internet this weekend and it is simply wrong. That didn’t stop everyone from running with it though. Let me explain how AJ Brown is connected to this:

• If the Eagles trade AJ Brown before June 1, his cap hit goes up $20m to $43m. That cap hit hits the books right away. The Eagles could technically do it, but the money would be VERY tight.
• As explained, a Goedert contract lowers the cap hit freeing up some breathing room in a Goedert deal.

What everyone forgot is that AJ BROWN IS STILL ON THE GODDAMN TEAM ALREADY!!! This is not a situation where only one can stay. In fact, they can both stay fairly easily and that should be the likely outcome.

This is why the whole Brown/Goedert angle is absurd. The media is speculating that the Eagles are waiting to have a Brown trade lined up before moving Goedert. However, since the void date is a mutual agreement, that would mean that Goedert is purposely delaying his own free agency and earning power in order to make sure that AJ Brown leaves town. You would have to be insane to believe that Goedert would be complicit in AJ Brown shenanigans. Yes, extending Goedert makes it more possible to trade Brown, but to think Goedert is waiting to sign to facilitate a deal is preposterous.

Please, do not believe the AJ Brown rumors out there. They are crafted to make you mad and to completely ignore the realities of the situation.

1. $10m signing bonus divided by 5 years ↩︎