Eagles guard Brandon Brooks has agreed to restructure his contract (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo). The new pact will reduce his cap figure from $19.4MM to $7.1MM with just $1.12MM in non-guaranteed base salary. The deal was made with the expectation that Brooks will be playing elsewhere in 2022.
The cap is expected to rise to around $208.2 million in 2022, but the Eagles are currently projected to have about $14MM in cap room. That’s better than, say, the Saints, but not enough to spend big in March. Before the revision, Brooks was set to carry the second-highest cap hit on the team, behind only cornerback Darius Slay ($22MM).
While Slay enjoyed a strong season with a Pro Bowl nod, Brooks missed all but two games in 2021. The guard is scheduled to speak with local beat writers later today and some have speculated that he could even retire. Even if he does continue playing in the NFL, it’s all but certain that the Eagles will cut him.
Brooks also lost the 2020 season to a torn Achilles, but he performed as one of the league’s better interior lineman when he was healthy. The 32-year-old (33 in August) made the Pro Bowl every year from 2017-2019, despite a previous (and separate) Achilles tear and a shoulder injury.
The cap is a joke! Why even have it? NFL revenue still gets divided up? Plenty to go around. Great player. Perception IS NOT reality. Who really feels that there’s fairness anyways?
Brooks was an amazing player when healthy but unfortunately he has barely played in years because of series of devastating injuries. He will always be revered by Eagles fans but it’s best that he moves on.
He has indeed retired.