The Eagles made what will likely be one of their biggest signings of the offseason on Friday when they inked defensive end Brandon Graham to a three-year extension.
Here is a look at where the Eagles seem to stand after the Graham extension:
According to OvertheCap.com, the Eagles currently have around $189 million in salary cap hits for their top 51 players for the 2019 season. With a cap of $194 million, that leaves the Eagles with around $4-$5 million in salary cap space, depending on where the final salary cap number comes in. The Eagles have to be under the salary cap by the beginning of the new league year, which is on March 13. How Graham's deal is structered will go a long way in dictacting how much space the team has. Howie Roseman is a big fan of back-loading deals, so it would be surprising if Graham's hit for 2019 is indeed $13 million. It is likely that the hit will be around $5-6 million, which would eat up most of the Eagles' remaining cap space.
Bringing back Graham seems to be a storng indication that another move is coming to free up space. The three likely candidates to either be released or traded, or. to take a massive paycut, are left tackle Jason Peters, receiver Nelson Agholor and defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan. Trading or releasing Agholor would free up a little over $9 million in salary cap space. Releasing Peters would free up around $10 million, while moving on from Jernigan would free up $7 million.
The decisions the Eagles make this offseason will shape the franchise for years to come, as they have some key free agents that they have to decide what to do with. Quarterback Carson Wentz could also come asking for a new contract, which could end up significantly upping his $8 million cap hit he is set to have for next season. When it comes times for the Eagles to start spending, it would be surprising if they weren’t working with around $25-30 million in salary cap space.
Considering the holes they have on their roster, and the holes they will create by cutting players to save money, opening up salary cap space in the right way and then spending it on the right players is going to be absolutely crucial.