The Eagles picked up Zach Ertz‘s 2021 option earlier today, but that wasn’t the front office’s only move. The NFL transactions report shows that the organization exercised the options on quarterback Carson Wentz, wide receiver Alshon Jeffery, defensive end Brandon Graham, offensive guard Isaac Seumalo, and defensive lineman Malik Jackson.
As Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com writes, these moves were merely “procedural,” and similar to the Ertz move, they’re not all that surprising.
Jordan Dajani and Jeff Kerr of CBS Sports provide some helpful insight on these moves. For instance, Wentz’s option had to be exercised by today. Otherwise, his 2020 salary was set to jump to more than $30MM, and the remaining four years of his extension would be void. Instead, the quarterback will earn a $1.38MM base salary with a cap hit of $18.65MM.
The Jeffery move is a bit surprising, as the team was reportedly looking to move on from the wideout. On the flip side, the organization would have been hit with more than $16MM in dead cap by making the veteran a post-June 1st cut. Therefore, it’s not shocking to see the organization make a procedural move until they find a potential trade partner.
Per Dajani and Kerr, Graham will earn a $1.36MM base salary with a $6.28MM cap hit in 2020. Seumalo’s option bonus means the 2022-24 portion of his contract kicks in, while Jackson’s $2.4MM option bonus prevented his base salary from jumping to $10MM.
Howie is a genius when it comes to moving money around. I’m good with all these moves, even the Alshon Jeffery one. I thought they were going to keep him IMO. It doesn’t make much sense to get rid of your best WR when you are in fire need of good WRs
Short OTAs if they happen at all. Don’t expect qb, Wr or Te to contribute much in 2020 anyway
The Jeffrey’s contract was a clusterf*ck right off bat. He painted himself into a corner.
I’m a little worried about his strategy of adding the dummy years to push current salary into the future.We have over 14m in dead space this year from declining the options on Jenkins,Bradham,and Darby.We could have a similar situation in 2 years with Graham,DJax,and M.Jackson.We’ve also been fortunate to have players restructuring.Wentz’ cap number is just starting to hit high numbers,and 18 is still low for a QB.We don’t have much committed at rb or lb,and in the secondary beyond Slay.Most of the space we had this offseason was from rollover.Anything we spend from here on,is basically from that rollover.
If Graham and both Jackson’s make it thru the 3 years,they will leave over 25mil in dead space for 2022.Wentz’ cap hit in 22 will be over 31.Graham and M.Jackson would only offer about 1.5m in savings next year.Djax would offer over 5 next year,and moving on from him a year early would only knock 4 off that 25.And moving on from him and Jeffery next year would leave over 15 in dead money next year.So they’re pretty much committed to having 15+mil in dead space the next 3 years now.Howies gonna need to hit on alot of his draft picks and udfa’s to avoid cap problems.
I forgot Jason Kelce also had another one of those deals voiding after 2021.Thats another 7.2+ in dead space for 22.Pretty much gotta hope him and Graham retire before those deals void.
Winning cures all wounds. If they are winning and Alshon is getting targets, he and Carson will be just fine.
well if they dont add another vet and Alshon stays healthy there will be plenty of targets for him. IMO he’ll be well worth keeping this year.
Yea, he will be on the shelf recovering from Lisfranc until August or Sept anyway. So they may not see him on the field, if the season starts on time.
“Otherwise, his 2020 salary was set to jump to more than $30MM, and the remaining four years of his extension would be void. Instead, the quarterback will earn a $1.38MM base salary with a cap hit of $18.65MM.”
I can’t of another more convoluted sign of NFL contracts. Worth more than $30m, to be paid $1.3M, & could cost them 18m.
Especially when they need a new QB
The Falcons will need a QB sooner than the Eagles will…All anyone can say about Wentz is that’s he’s gotten hurt.And he missed 3 and 5 games in 2 of his 4 years.His rating is just about the same as Matt Ryan’s,and Ryan has had arguably the best receiver in the league.Even before Julio,he had Roddy White.People can say what they want,but I’m still happy the Eagles made the move up for Wentz.
you’re not kidding
The system was made up to make sure only a few people knew how it actually worked. Otherwise you, me, and every other joe blow could be GM.
What are you talking about? I could draft just as bad as the Jags, Skins, Browns, Bengals, Chargers et al. I could have at least flipped D Hop for a 1st.
Your comment was about the way the salary cap and contracts work. The draft is a different topic.
If you think every GM since the 1990’s is a genius because none have been over the cap, then so be it.
what the heck are you talking about, stop drinking hooch and posting…. your OP is about the salary cap system and how it doesnt make sense… now you don’t make sense
I feel like it’s gotten to the point where “Comprehending the NFL Salary Cap” is a four year college degree…
I’m so confused by the Alshon situation. Can he still play? Is he a locker room cancer? Will he be ready to play to start the season? Maybe Alshon wasn’t the problem child as reported. Maybe it was Agholor? Personally Alshon looked shot to me last year. He was never a burner but I kept thinking I was watching old NFL Films footage from the 60s when he was running routes.
Maybe it was Jenkins.He wasn’t happy with his contract a year ago,so maybe seeing Wentz get a new deal made him try to critique his game.
Alshon was the problem, everyone says Agholor was a great teammate that worked hard but was too close Alshon…good riddance!
Alshon has always been like that. BM trains him well in Chicago.
They can still release him next year. Basically buying time one way the other. Trade, play, release. It’s unlikely hes around next season barring a SB run.
Howie said Alshon is staying. They both want to win and the media is blowing up the Alshon hate. Not sure if that’s true or trying to boost trade stock.
Eagles have always been known to try and spin things in the media one way or the other. Like the DJax was a Crip leak many years ago.
It’s basically all standard procedure. Carson does deserve more than he’s getting this year. holding on to Alshon right now is smart, because we did not pick up any free agent WRs. This year’s draft will have a tough time with the shortened offseason.