Howie Roseman doesn’t necessarily have a ton of options.
The start of NFL free agency is rapidly approaching, and the Philadelphia Eagles have already begun to make moves. Over the past few days we’ve seen reports that the Eagles plan to move on from two veteran cornerbacks in Darius Slay and James Bradberry, both with post-June 1st cut designations. Outside of those cuts, however, are there any more avenues for Philadelphia to create additional salary cap space? Do the Eagles actually need to create any more space this season?
Based on everything we’ve heard, the Eagles appear to be aggressive in the free agency and trade market. Rumors are swirling about a potential trade for Myles Garrett, and the team has a number of key impending free agents in Zack Baun and Milton Williams to consider bringing back. In that case, Philadelphia will be looking to squeeze every penny they can out of this cap.
The Eagles are maxed out on post-June 1 cuts
The Eagles best avenue for creating cap space was post-June 1st cuts, but with two of those already announced, the team won’t be able to utilize that method again until after June 1st. (A team can only designate two players as post-June 1st cuts.) As it stands, Philadelphia is slated to clear approximately $6.42M in cap space as a result of the Slay and Bradberry releases.
Philadelphia doesn’t have easy options for creating more cap space
Factoring in the estimated cost to sign the incoming draft class and the savings from the two reported cuts, the Eagles should have approximately $25.83 million in salary cap space to work with heading into the 2025 season. Given Philadelphia’s aggressive goals, that hardly seems like enough to accomplish everything they’d like to do. But additional avenues for the team to create space are, unfortunately, quite limited.
Other maneuvers to create cap savings are typically restructures, extensions, and trades. But a closer look at Philadelphia’s books reveals that they have few compelling options remaining.
The Eagles have already aggressively structured nearly all of their contracts for minimal cap impact in the upfront time period. As an example, the top 10 contracts in terms of cap hit on Philadelphia’s roster all already have their base salary set at the veteran minimum. There’s simply no way to squeeze additional money out of deals when that’s the case.
A Cam Jurgens extension could create Eagles cap space
There could a small opportunity to create some 2025 cap savings with extensions, namely for offensive lineman Cam Jurgens. Jurgens is entering the final year of his rookie contract and, as a result, carries a relatively high base salary number of $5.35 million. An extension for Jurgens could be structured to lower than base salary down to the veteran minimum and produce up to $3.4M in cap savings for 2025. The consequence is that the future years of the deal would likely have to be heavily backloaded, increasing the future strain on the cap.
Extensions to other players on rookie contracts, namely Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis, could also theoretically produce a small amount of savings ($1.3-$1.5M each), but that hardly seems worthwhile given the amount of negotiation that will be required in those deals.
Trading players won’t give Eagles meaningful cap relief, either
The only other option would be to explore trades, but there aren’t any compelling options there either. Pre-June 1st, only Cam Jurgens ($5.35 million) and Jordan Davis ($3.02 million) would provide any meaningful cap relief. I find it very hard to believe that trading either of those players would be worth it for Philadelphia given the minimal cap savings, and seeing as those are two critical pieces on offense and defense.
The Eagles have effectively maxed out their cap space
The reality of the situation is that the Eagles have maxed out their available cap space for 2025. An extension for Cam Jurgens makes sense and is likely the only real option for creating additional space. Assuming Philadelphia gets that deal done, the team would be working with a total of about $29.23 million in effective cap space this season. That’d be roughly 17th in the league, at this moment. So roughly league average, and potentially enough to re-sign a key player or two and perhaps facilitate a trade for Myles Garrett (given that the cap hit for the receiving team could be quite low).
Philadelphia has managed the salary cap very well in recent years, as the strength of their roster can attest. That task is going to get increasingly difficult given the Eagles’ postseason success, as the rest of the NFL will be trying to get their hands on the talent that Howie Roseman has assembled.
