The Eagles shouldn’t trade for Jamal Adams

Trade gossip is part of the air that Philadelphia Eagles fans breathe. That means when one of the best safeties in the league requests a trade, there’s bound to be some churning in the rumor mill. When that safety, in this case Jamal Adams, specifically mentions the Eagles among other favored destinations, that gossip intensifies rather quickly.

As it stands, Eagles sit in 6th in terms of odds to land the All-Pro safety Adams, behind teams like the Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans. Is that an accurate forecast or are the Eagles more or less likely to do a deal with New York Jets general manager Joe Douglas?

Trading for Adams has a couple of factors working against it. First, outside of first round pick swaps to move up and select a rookie (like a franchise quarterback), Howie Roseman has never traded more than a third round pick for a player.

Second, the Eagles are up against an already precarious cap situation for 2021 and 2022. In both of those years they’re already projected to spend the second most cap space on the defensive side of the ball. Roseman will hack and slash where he can to get the Eagles cap solvent, but adding Adams, who wants to be the highest paid safety in the league, is only going to exacerbate the problem.

Recently Benjamin Solak wrote about the possibility of trading for the talented Adams and at the end polled the gentle readers about their take on the matter. 62% were in favor of trading for Adams despite Solak’s argument against it...

“The fear of the 2021 (and 2022 and 2023 and 2024) cap ceilings being affected by COVID-19 and limited league revenue is too stark to ignore. The Eagles, perhaps more so than any other team, should be thinking about slimming their future books down. Spending capital on Adams, knowing you have to pay Adams, in a time when it’s going to be hard to pay anybody, is bad business.” - Benjamin Solak

What if you turned back time and added the financial particulars to the question? For instance, what if the Eagles moved on this deal before the 2020 NFL Draft and shipped a first round selection for Adams? Jalen Reagor is projected to make $3.3M APY on his rookie deal. Adams would likely want something in the ballpark of $15M APY.

Considering the Eagles cap situation, would you rather have Reagor and the extra $11.7M in cap space per year, or would you bite the bullet and send the trade off anyway?

I ran that poll on Twitter and saw almost the exact opposite results with keeping Reagor and the money being favored at 65%. Again, considering the financial situation for the Eagles, I’d side with taking a swing on Reagor and having the extra cap space to either provide relief or bolster the roster with at least one extra player. Losing premium picks and cost controlled rookie contracts is not something the Eagles should be entertaining at the moment.

We talk more about this subject, take a look at player/pick swaps from the past decade, and analyze Matt Pryor’s game on The Kist & Solak Show #185! Listen on the media player below or click here if the player doesn’t load. New to podcasts?! Check out our guide on how to listen and subscribe to BGN! FLY EAGLES FLY!