Evaluating roster quality is different than evaluating roster longevity (the ability to maintain the status quo, especially with key players). Understanding where the roster is headed requires diving into Eagles contracts, which can be reviewed on the web site Spotrac . Looking at the Eagles Salary Cap status exemplifies a quote from Geoff Mosher ( Inside the Birds Podcast done with Adam Caplan ), that “No team borrows against tomorrow like the Philadelphia Eagles.” The Eagles do this advantageously, stealing from tomorrow’s greater salary cap years (where the cap will be higher, so those $ are more plentiful and therefore cheaper to use) to help pay players today. Concepts like “voidable years,” “ cap hits, ” “ roster bonuses,” “prorations,” “option bonuses,” “dead money” and others get leveraged to manipulate future vs. present dollars so the Eagles can seem to endlessly “find money” to sign players. It’s a team effort spearheaded not onl...
Going into this 2023 draft / RFA (Rookie Free Agency) period, this author felt the greatest needs were, ironically, the Eagles areas of greatest strength… Offensive and Defensive Lines. Why? In addition to the loss via 2023 Veteran Free Agency of two Pro Bowlers (Javon Hargrave at DT and Isaac Seumalo at Right Guard), simple… age. When managing a salary cap, ya can’t keep everybody), DT Fletcher Cox, DE Brandon Graham and C Jason Kelce are likely entering their final seasons in 2023, and RT Lane Johnson appears to have just 2-3 seasons left. These players have been extraordinary franchise cornerstones: Kelce- future HOF, Johnson can solidify that same stature over his few remaining seasons, Cox has legitimate arguments for the Hall of Fame, starting with being a member of the all-decade team of 2010-2019. Graham, while not a Hall-Of-Famer, certainly belongs in the “Hall of Very Good” as a franchise icon including owning perhaps the great...