Eagles free up cap space by reportedly restructuring Fletcher Cox’s contract

The Philadelphia Eagles and Fletcher Cox agreed to a restructured contract this past Friday, according to a report from ESPN. The new terms free up $6.5 million in cap space this season and $11.7 million more next season.

So the Eagles really ARE trying to trade for Le’Veon Bell, huh?

Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen are reporting that’s NOT the case.

[They] will not use the added salary-cap space to trade for for Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell, according to league sources.

However, even with the newfound cap space, the Eagles have not pursued a trade for Bell and do not have any plans to do so at this time, the sources said.

”It’s 100 percent misleading to think Cox’s restructuring was done with Le’Veon Bell in mind,” said one league source with knowledge of the Eagles’ thinking.

The Eagles created this cap space to be better positioned to re-sign their own players in each of the next two seasons. But it also gives them added flexibility in the event they decide to pursue a trade for another player.

Although this restructure took place before Jay Ajayi suffered a season-ending ACL injury on Sunday, it’s hard to imagine the Eagles weren’t planning to utilize this new cap space. Howie Roseman must have something up his sleeve, right?

If not Bell, maybe the Eagles look to acquire another running back from the AFC. There is some guy who used to play for Philadelphia that the Eagles reportedly tried to acquire last year, after all.

Stay tuned.