The Eagles have a $43 million hole to work out of by the new league year on March 17th.
To do so, they are going to have to restructure the contracts of their highest-paid players, and according to Eagles insider Derrick Gunn, the team is already working on a new deal for defensive end Brandon Graham.
Graham is currently set to make $13 million in salary this season and with a cap hit of $17.9 million due to the $4.9 million from his prorated signing bonus. Although his contract doesn't really have three-years remaining on it, the team does have three-years to work with due to two dummy years at the end of the deal.
As a result, they will likely take a large portion of his $13 million salary and turn it into a signing bonus. That will give Graham a large check now, and also a little more job security beyond 2021 — but likely not enough where they would have to keep him, it would just be a larger cap penalty to move him.
Graham did something similar before when he took $7.1 million of his base salary in 2019 and converted it into a bonus, saving the team $7.1 million in salary-cap space. With a $13 million base salary this year, chances are restructuring Graham's deal could save the Eagles as much as $10 million.
Although a new deal for Graham does show a level of commitment to him by the team, it doesn't completely rule out a trade, as a lower base salary could make him a more attractive player to acquire for a new team.
In addition to Graham's deal, the Eagles will be making a number of move over the next week, including cutting players to get out of the salary-cap hole they are in.
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!
