The Eagles are set to have their first practice of training camp on Wednesday, the unofficial beginning of the 2022 season.
While most of the focus, rightfully so, will be on the field the beginning of the season is also a good time to take a look at the Eagles salary cap situation for this season and beyond.
When discussing the salary cap it is always important to note that for the Eagles the cap is more of a suggestion than a hard cap. Howie Roseman and cap guru Jake Rosenberg are among the best in the NFL at maneuvering the salary cap and finding ways to fit the players they want under the cap regardless of how impossible it seems from the outside.
So yes, on one hand, going over the Eagles salary cap is a somewhat pointless exercise.
Still, it is a good way to have a rough idea of where the team is at financially.
Let's start with the 2022 season.
The Eagles currently have $9.12 million in salary cap space, according to OverTheCap.com. That gives them enough money to add players if they want, but recent history shows the Eagles likely won't be big spenders from here-on-out unless they open up additional cap space. The Eagles usually like to roll over around $10 million in cap space from season-to-season, and at $9.12 million, they are currently right up against that $10 million number.
Minor signings and trade won't impact the cap much, but if the team is going to add a veteran of significance, chances are that move will come with either a very low cap hit in 2022 or they will restructure the contract of another player to open up the space.
That last part, however, is not as easy as it used to be. Perhaps the most interesting part of the Eagles current salary cap situation is their lack of cap flexibility.
To open up cap space the Eagles almost always just lower the base salary of a player, cut them a signing bonus check and spread that money out into future years.
After years of doing that to open up space, however, the Eagles have found themselves in a situation where the large majority of their cap hits are prorated signing bonuses, not base salaries.
Look at the difference between the highest cap hits on the roster and the highest base salaries:
Highest Cap Hits:
Javon Hargrave: $17.8 million
Lane Johnson: $15.76 million
Darius Slay: $9.73 million
Brandon Graham: $9.4 million
Jason Kelce: $8.045 million
Highest Base Salaries for 2022:
Javon Hargrave: $12.75 million
Lane Johnson: $7 million
Isaac Seumalo: $5.6 million
Jake Elliott: $3.75 million
Gardner Minshew: $2.5 million
As you can see, the Eagles only have one player on the roster that currently has a base salary over $10 million. Javon Hargrave is pretty much the only player the Eagles can go to if they want to open up any kind of significant cap space. The rest simply don't have a high enough base salary to really open up any kind of helpful cap space.
A result of the way the Eagles cap situation is built is they aren't really that many cap casualty candidates for training cap. Normally each year there are a few players whose base salary makes them more appealing to cut considering the cap space it would open up.
This year, if you really stretched, here would be the potential players who would be cut/traded to open up space:
Cap Casualties:
Isaac Seumalo: Would save $5.6 million
Gardner Minshew: Would save $2.5 million
J.J. Arcega-Whiteside: Would save $1.2 million
Anthony Harris: Would save $1.1 million
Le'Raven Clark: Would save $1.08 million
Cleary, the Eagles won't be outright cutting Seumalo. But if they like what they see from their other guards in camp, trading Seumalo to open up $5.6 million in space could be appealing. Same with Minshew — they likely won't be cutting him, but if Carson Strong and Reid Sinnett really impress, they could open up $2.5 million and get a draft pick back by trading Minshew. Arcega-Whiteside, Harris and Clark are all on the roster bubble anyway, and the roughly $1 million the Eagles would save by cutting each won't factor into the team's decision, but is noteworthy.
The bottom line for 2022 is this — the Eagles are up against it.
The good news is one of the reasons they are up against it is they have built a very talented roster that should be able to compete with almost all the teams in the NFC.
The bad news is they don't have the cap flexibility they usually do — which means Roseman and Rosenberg will have their work cut out for them if they do want to make a significant addition to the roster this season.
2023:
Looking beyond 2022, things are tight again for the Eagles in 2023.
The Eagles are currently projected to have $6.8 million in cap space, maybe the lowest number for the following season I have ever seen since covering the team. This number is usually around $20 or $30 million. What is even more surprising is that there are not any obvious ways to open up a ton of space. They already have $25 million in dead cap hits in 2023 for one player who might not be on the team (Fletcher Cox) and another who is already retired (Brandon Brooks).
The good news is that things are definitely going to change.
To start, the Eagles are currently set to roll over $9.12 million (the cap space they have right now), which more than doubles their cap space. Second, there is a good chance the salary cap is higher than it is projected to be, something that seems to always happen.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the Eagles always open up cap space somehow, someway. They will likely move base salaries from 2023 into 2024, where they currently have $40 million in cap space, lowering that number and rating their cap space in 2023. That could be trickier than usual, however, as they currently only have two players with base salaries over $10 million — Lane Johnson and Darius Slay. It is possible the Eagles open up significant space by committing to both players for future years, but considering their ages, that might be a risky move. Outside of Johnson and Slay, they don't have any other players with base salaries high enough to open up any kind of significant cap space.
The low cap number for next offseason isn't a red flag or a sign of big problems to come. But it is noteworthy as the team continues to push big cap hits further-and-further down the road — a strategy that works, but requires constant maneuvering and manipulating of the cap.
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com
