The Eagles cut yet another huge chunk of salary off their books for the 2021 season by giving defensive end Brandon Graham a contract extension on Monday, according to an ESPN report.
The deal is reportedly a two-year, $20 million extension that will keep Graham in Philadelphia through the 2022 season. Graham was set to become a free agent at the end of this upcoming season.
Although the details of the contract are not yet known, chances are it will get the Eagles very close to under the cap. Graham was set to have a base salary of $13 million in 2021. Assuming the Eagles move almost all of that into a signing bonus, the deal could save the team somewhere around $10-11 million in cap space.
As of Tuesday morning the NFLPA had the Eagles at $17.2 million over the cap, but that did not reflect Graham’s new deal. It does seem to already reflect the new deal for Brandon Brooks. That $17.2 million number should come down to around $5-6 million once Graham’s deal becomes official and goes through the NFLPA system.
The Eagles have until Wednesday at 4 p.m. EST to get under the NFL salary cap of $182.5 million. One move they likely will make is to release receiver Marquis Goodwin, which would save $4.2 million. From there, clearing the final $1-2 million will be fairly easy and won’t require any major moves.
Of course, the Eagles will want money to spend as well, and that should come pretty quickly once the new league year begins.
The Eagles will likely move on from Zach Ertz, and whether that comes via a trade or release, it will open up $4.9 million in salary cap space. They could release Ertz prior to Wednesday, which when combined with Graham and a move with Goodwin, would get them under the cap. There is also the potential of a Derek Barnett trade, which would open up $10 million. An extension for Barnett would also lower his hit significantly, potentially down to just $4-5 million.
The Eagles could free up around $10 million once something happens with Ertz and Barnett after the new league year. They will also get around $4 million total when Alshon Jeffery and Malik Jackson come off their books on June 2nd.
Add everything up, and the Eagles could have around $10-15 million to spend on free agents this offseason. While some of that will go to their 2021 rookie class, and $10-15 million might not sound like a lot, it is enough to make at least one big signing if they would like.
The final salary cap was set last Wednesday by the league, coming in at $182.5 million, which is slightly higher than expected, as the floor for the season was previously set at $175 million before the start of the 2020 season. Some thought it could come in as high as $185 million, but it fell short of that.
The cap coming in at $182.5 million is considerably lower than every team planned for. All teams, including the Eagles, make decisions around their salary cap years in advance. If there was no COVID-19 pandemic, the cap likely would have come in at around $208 million for the 2021 season — $10 million more than the $198 million it was for the 2020 season.
Instead, the massive revenue loss caused it to come in at $182.5 million — roughly $25.5 million lower than expected.
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!