The Eagles roster is viewed as one of the best NFL. After the acquisitions of A.J. Brown, Haasan Reddick, James Bradberry and what is viewed as a strong draft, there are not many holes left on the roster that is set to report to training camp next week.
The safety position, however, appears to still be a weak point on the roster — which is why the possibility of the Eagles trading for Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates is continuing to be floated around.
On the surface, a potential trade between the two teams makes sense. The Eagles need a safety and have a ton of draft capital. The Bengals appear too cheap to pay Bates and would be wise to collect an asset for him now instead of seeing him walk next offseason.
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Still, there is now one major issue that wasn’t there before — the fact the important July 15 deadline has passed.
With the Bengals and Bates failing to reach an agreement on a deal or a trade before July 15 they are now no longer allowed to negotiate a new deal. Bates must play the 2022 season on his franchise tag — for whatever team he plays for — which carries a one-year salary of $12.91 million.
There is an argument that Bates is worth that money. He is an elite safety and would be a huge boost to the Eagles’ defense.
The chances the Eagles acquire Bates on the franchise tag, however, seem slim.
The Eagles very rarely have a player play out a season with a very high cap hit. They are currently set to have just one player this season — Javon Hargrave — play with a salary over $8 million. They only have two players on the roster with a salary cap hit over $10 million. The Eagles giving up a high-level asset to acquire Bates, and then pay him $12.9 million this season, and then paying him a new signing bonus with a new contract next offseason seems extremely out of character for Howie Roseman. Plus, after trading for him, the Eagles would have almost no leverage in negotiations next offseason, considering they would be under huge pressure to sign him after giving up (likely) a top-two round pick to get him.
There is also the issue of the Eagles salary cap space. They currently have just over $9 million in space. They usually like to keep around $10 million in space heading into a season. The Eagles would have to open up $12 million in salary cap space to acquire Bates and still have the comfortable cap space cushion they almost always have. The only way to do that would be to extend Hargrave, but the fact they haven’t done that yet makes you wonder if they don’t want to commit to Hargrave beyond this season.
This doesn’t mean there is no chance the Eagles acquire Bates. Roseman has been ultra aggressive this offseason adding talent and could decide adding Bates, who is only 25-years old, is worth making an out-of-character move for.
Still, when you add everything up — the passing of the July 15 deadline, the Eagles salary cap space and salary cap situation — the chances seem to be slim a deal gets done.
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You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com