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The Philadelphia Eagles recently made some changes to Chris Long’s contract, according to a report from ESPN’s Field Yates.
Sources: the Eagles re-did the contract of DE Chris Long, guaranteeing him $3M this season. His base salary jumped to $2.5M guaranteed (from $1M non-guaranteed), with the team eliminating his $750k in per-game roster bonuses & $750k in incentives. Doing a good player a solid.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) March 21, 2018
In simple terms, the Eagles gave Long more guaranteed money up front instead of making him have to earn it all through bonuses and incentives.
Long’s 2018 cap number reportedly increases from $2.35 million to $3.1 million. That means the Eagles now have about $5.48 million in cap space.
This is a nice gesture by the Eagles. For Long, it’s a well-deserved reward. He had hell of a season in 2017.
Regular season stats: 496 snaps, 20 tackles, 5 sacks, 4 forced fumbles, 14 QB hits, 33 QB hurries, 19 stops
Playoff stats: 92 snaps, 4 tackles, 1 fumble recovery, 2 passes defensed, 6 QB hurries, 6 QB hits, 3 stops
Review: What a season it was for back-to-back Super Bowl champion Chris Long. He was a fantastic pickup for the Eagles as a rotational pass rusher off the bench. Long’s pressure rate ranked seventh out of 39 4-3 defensive ends. A number of his four strip-sacks came in key situations, such as when he knocked the ball out of Jared Goff’s hands to help the Eagles clinch the NFC East in Week 14. Long was also responsible for pressuring Case Keenum into throwing a pick six to Patrick Robinson in the NFC Championship Game. Clutch player. Long made a huge positive impact in the community by donating all of his game checks to education. What a guy. Long’s off-field efforts were rewarded with the highest honor the NFLPA can bestow upon a player: the Byron “Whizzer” White award.
In a recent interview with SB Nation, Long didn’t seem fully sure whether he wanted to play this year or not. The fact that he agreed to these contract alterations would seem to indicate he’s coming back to play out the final year of his deal. That’s great news for an Eagles defensive line that’s already stacked.
Long turns 33 years old in one week from today, March 28. The Eagles gave him a nice little early birthday gift. Emotional intelligence.
UPDATE: So apparently Long hasn’t accepted the Eagles’ offer yet.
As @fieldyates reported, the Eagles earlier this month offered to upgrade DE Chris Long's 2018 contract. The guaranteed money is actually in the $4 million range. However, Long has not yet accepted. Still mulling over what a source says is a "football decision" whether to return.
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) March 21, 2018