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Heading into this offseason, the Philadelphia Eagles were projected to have the fewest amount of cap space in the league. Over The Cap had the Eagles at $12.1 million OVER the spending limit.
This figure was never a huge concern, though, as the Eagles had some moves they could make to clear up space.
In the past week, Howie Roseman has reportedly freed up around $19.2 million. That figure comes from the combination of Jason Kelce’s new contract ($4 million created), Timmy Jernigan’s 2019 option not being picked up ($7 million created), and Lane Johnson restructuring his contract ($8.2 million created).
So, how much cap space do the Eagles currently have? Over The Cap has them at just over $18.8 million and that figure DOES include Jernigan’s declined option and Johnson’s restructure but it doesn’t account for the Kelce updates. If you include that, the Eagles should have around $22.8 million. But then you also have to account for the fact that Brandon Graham and Isaac Seumalo received contract extensions. In other words, Philly actually has less than that $22.8 million.
The Eagles still have some moves they can make to clear even more cap space. If Jason Peters’ option isn’t picked up, that’ll save another $10.5 million. Trading Michael Bennett, which has been rumored as a possibility, would clear up $7.2 million. Nelson Agholor’s name has also come up in trade rumors and moving on from him would generate nearly $9.4 million. If the Eagles make all those moves in addition to what they’ve already done, they’d probably have around $40-something million in cap space. Of course, they’d also be losing some key contributors in the process.
When it comes to spending that money, the Eagles have lots of options available to them. They could look to retain some of their own free agents; there’s been a somewhat surprising sense they have interest in retaining Ronald Darby. If Agholor isn’t back, maybe they make a stronger effort to retain Golden Tate. Jay Ajayi could be kept. Alternatively, Roseman could be looking to spend in free agency. Le’Veon Bell has long been rumored as an Eagles target. Then you have rumors that the Eagles are interested in trading for Duke Johnson.
Free agency signings and trades can’t become official until 4:00 PM ET next Wednesday, March 13, so that’s when the action will really take off. In the meantime, we’ll still see some interesting reports and rumors. Remember that news of the Eagles trading for Michael Bennett broke the week before free agency last year.
Ever since the Eagles’ 2018 campaign ended, we’ve been saying that this team has a lot of questions to answer this offseason. It won’t be long before we see the Eagles making some more critical decisions.