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Free Agency Strategy

 

Free Agency is coming next week.  Understand the Eagles cap situation when evaluating Free agency acquisitions…  Some basics:

  • Unless the Eagles sign a “premier” free agent receiver, they’re likely out on DeSean Watson, probably because he refuses to waive his no-trade for Philly.  This means they would “own” the not insignificant cap hit for their premium draft picks (last year’s 15th pick represented a 4 mil cap hit in ’21). 
  • They will thus have multiple 1st round picks to sign, each currently a cap hit of around 4 million in 2022.
  • They will therefore attempt to trade at least one of these picks back to 2023, not only to stagger cap hits, but more importantly to provide “plan B” assets if Jalen Hurts is not the answer for the Birds at QB.
  • They may trade 1st round assets “back” for more 2nd day picks in this deep draft.

Eagles Lessons: When evaluating free agent activity, one must factor in the impact of draft pick salaries vis-à-vis the cap, especially when the team in question has multiple premier picks.  Also, getting one or more free agents to help attract other players (like a franchise qb) could be a strong motivating factor. 

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