If you want the Philadelphia Eagles to re-sign Jaelan Phillips, there’s some good news on that front.
The two sides have made “significant progress” on a contract ahead free agency. It’s said that there is “some optimism” that a deal will get done.
This much according to reporting from NFL insider Ian Rapoport:
“My understanding is that there has been significant progress made between the Eagles and Jaelan Phillips toward him returning to Philly. There’s been no decision, to my knowledge, and there is nothing final. But certainly there is some optimism that there’s going to be a deal, that he will remain a member of Vic Fangio’s defense. In fact, that’s one of the reason why he’s in Philly, because Vic Fangio is a huge, huge fan.”
Additional reporting from NFL insider Jordan Schultz:
“The Eagles remain very interested in bringing back OLB Jaelan Phillips — and talks are expected to continue and intensify, per sources. Phillips has a very strong market from what I’ve gathered and is poised to cash in big if he reaches free agency — but Philly isn’t done trying.”
There was also this from NFL insider Jeremy Fowler earlier on Sunday:
While I never sensed Philly heavily pursued Maxx Crosby, the Eagles are active in the pass-rush market. People inside the league believe Philly is attempting to re-sign Phillips to a deal that would pay him well above $20 million per year. But Phillips will have a strong market if he chooses to enter free agency.
The NFL’s negotiating window officially begins at 12:00 noon Eastern today, March 9. The Eagles have until then before Phillips and his representation can formally engage with other teams. But maybe it won’t come to that if a deal is reached this morning.
The Eagles aren’t in a position to handle Phillips a blank check. He wasn’t so good that the team needs to keep him no matter what. There’s been talk that Phillips could earn up to $27 million per year, which would make him the NFL’s 10th-highest paid edge rusher on an annual basis. He seemingly stands to benefit from a weak free agent class while teams have lots of money to spend.
In the event that Phillips’ price tag is higher than the Eagles want to afford, they’ll need to pivot to other pass rushing options. His departure would hurt since it’d leave the Birds with just Jalyx Hunt, Nolan Smith, and Jose Ramirez at edge rusher.
The Eagles re-signing Phillips would likely constitute as their big splash in free agency, similar to how the team didn’t do too much after extending Zack Baun last year. It would also likely seal the fate of impending free agents Dallas Goedert, Reed Blankenship, and Nakobe Dean finding new NFL homes.
The clock is ticking. We’ll soon see if the Eagles are able to prevent Phillips from getting to the market or not.
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