Justin Reid said a deal with the Eagles was “pretty close” to happening

The veteran safety probably would’ve ended up in Philly if salary cap didn’t cause some contract limitations.

The Philadelphia Eagles have been very busy already this offseason, and when they traded C.J. Gardner-Johnson to the Texans, people wondered who they might bring in as a replacement. Veteran Justin Reid was apparently in the mix, with the safety recently telling Kay Adams that if it wasn’t for cap space issues, they might’ve gotten a deal done.

“Pretty close [to a deal getting done] actually because me and the defensive back coach there have a really good relationship, the defensive system was the same defensive system that I ran at Stanford — so, that whole Vic Fangio system, I know it pretty well.

The conversations were pretty intense. The only drawback was they were just so limited in cap space that we couldn’t make a deal that made sense. But the situation — the conversation was happening.”

Reid ended up signing with the New Orleans Saints instead, on a three-year, $31.5 million contract to play back in his home state.

The Eagles seem to be looking ahead at all the big contracts they’re going to have to pay out over the next couple years, and are trying to keep outside and additional costs to a minimum. It would’ve been great to add Reid to the secondary, but Howie Roseman assuredly has other options in mind.