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2023 NFL Cap Space, By Team

February 2nd, 2023 at 1:36pm CST by Sam Robinson

Earlier this week, the NFL revealed its 2023 salary cap. Teams can now budget for their offseasons, knowing a $224.8MM ceiling is in place. This year’s nonexclusive franchise and transition tag numbers also emerged, giving teams more clarity on those fronts as well. With that in mind, here is where every team stands in terms of cap space:

  1. Chicago Bears: $90.91MM
  2. Atlanta Falcons: $56.42MM
  3. New York Giants: $44.28MM
  4. Houston Texans: $37.56MM
  5. Cincinnati Bengals: $35.55MM
  6. New England Patriots: $32.71MM
  7. Seattle Seahawks: $31.04MM
  8. Baltimore Ravens: $26.87MM
  9. Las Vegas Raiders: $19.78MM
  10. Arizona Cardinals: $14.47MM
  11. Kansas City Chiefs: $13.96MM
  12. Detroit Lions: $13.83MM
  13. Indianapolis Colts: $12.59MM
  14. Denver Broncos: $9.07MM
  15. San Francisco 49ers: $8.28MM
  16. Washington Commanders: $8.24MM
  17. Philadelphia Eagles: $4.24MM
  18. Pittsburgh Steelers: $1.03MM
  19. New York Jets: $1.31MM over the cap
  20. Dallas Cowboys: $7.18MM over
  21. Carolina Panthers: $8.94MM over
  22. Los Angeles Rams: $14.19MM over
  23. Cleveland Browns: $14.64MM over
  24. Miami Dolphins: $16.45MM over
  25. Green Bay Packers: $16.48MM over
  26. Buffalo Bills: $17.88MM over
  27. Los Angeles Chargers: $20.38MM over
  28. Jacksonville Jaguars: $22.35MM over
  29. Minnesota Vikings: $23.43MM over
  30. Tennessee Titans: $23.67MM over
  31. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: $55.03MM over
  32. New Orleans Saints: $60.47MM over

These figures (courtesy of OverTheCap) will change dramatically in the coming weeks, but this is where each team stands ahead of Super Bowl LVII. After that point, cap-casualty cuts can begin taking place. Restructures, extensions and trades will commence as well, with the Saints of recent years doing well to prove there are a few roads to cap compliance.

While New Orleans is in its usual February place, the team actually was further over the 2021 and ’22 caps at this point on the NFL calendar. Using void years to load up its roster during Tom Brady‘s three-year stay, Tampa Bay has seen much of that bill come due. If Brady does not re-sign a procedural deal, which would allow for the Buccaneers to spread out his dead money, the team will be hit with a $35.1MM dead-cap charge this year.

The Browns led the league by a wide margin in cap carryover from 2022, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. Cleveland carried over $27.6MM in cap space. The Browns paced the league in cap space throughout the 2022 season, bracing for the Deshaun Watson contract’s spike. As of now, Watson’s cap figure will balloon from $9.4MM to $54.9MM. No NFL player has ever played a season on a cap number higher than $45MM.

The Panthers, Broncos, Bears and Raiders rounded out the top five in carryover dollars, ranging from $10.8MM to $6.7MM. Chicago ate considerable dead money via the Khalil Mack and Robert Quinn trades. The rebuilding team is still paying most of Quinn’s salary, doing so in order to secure a better draft pick from the Eagles. The Bears will have quite the opportunity to bolster their roster in Ryan Poles‘ second year in charge, leading the league by a massive margin and holding the No. 1 overall pick. The Falcons still have $12MM-plus in Deion Jones dead money on their 2023 payroll, but the team is rid of Matt Ryan‘s record-setting dead-cap hit ($40MM).

Baltimore will have a major decision to make in the coming weeks. GM Eric DeCosta said he has not decided if the team will place the exclusive or nonexclusive tag on Lamar Jackson. Even the nonexclusive number — $32.42MM — will dramatically change the Ravens’ budget ahead of free agency. The exclusive tag, which prevents other teams from submitting an offer sheet to Jackson, is expected to come in just north of $45MM.

NFL Places Eagles OL Josh Sills On Commissioner’s Exempt List

February 1st, 2023 at 1:51pm CST by Sam Robinson

A grand jury in Ohio indicted Eagles offensive lineman Josh Sills on Wednesday on one count of rape and one count of kidnapping, according to ESPN.com’s Tim McManus. The rookie is no longer on Philadelphia’s active roster.

The NFL placed Sills on the commissioner’s exempt list, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The exempt list or “paid leave” will prevent Sills from practicing or traveling with the Eagles ahead of Super Bowl LVII, and his future with the team should be considered very much in doubt.

Sills, 25, is alleged to have engaged in nonconsensual sexual activity and is accused of holding a victim against her will in December 2019. The Eagles signed Sills as a UDFA in May. Although Sills was on Philadelphia’s 53-man roster as of Wednesday morning, he has played in one game this season.

“The organization is aware of the legal matter involving Josh Sills,” the Eagles said in a statement. “We have been in communication with the league office and are in the process of gathering more information. We have no further comment at this time.”

The accuser said she has known Sills for seven or eight years, having gone to high school with him. She accused Sills of sexual assault, saying in a statement he both touched her inappropriately and forced her to perform oral sex on Dec. 5, 2019, according to ESPN. The woman received emergency room care at Southeastern Ohio Regional Medical Center, with a nurse informing a police officer bruising could be found in the back of the woman’s throat and inner lip. Bruising also was present on the accuser’s right ear and back of her knee.

A Sarahsville, Ohio, native who transferred from West Virginia to Oklahoma State in 2020, Sills has been an Eagles backup this season. He played four regular-season snaps — all on special teams — but has spent his rookie year as a gameday inactive. The NFL will review this case under its personal conduct policy.

Latest On Eagles QBs Coach Brian Johnson

January 31st, 2023 at 11:45am CST by Adam La Rose

The Eagles have made it to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in franchise history this season in large part due to the jump in production seen from quarterback Jalen Hurts. To little surprise, his positional coach is drawing interest during this year’s coordinator cycle.

[RELATED: Eagles, Hurts To Discuss Extension]

Brian Johnson began his coaching career at the college level in 2010. Over the course of the following decade, he spent time with four different programs, working as QBs coach and/or offensive coordinator at each stop along the way. That landed him his Eagles post in 2021, his first foray into coaching in the NFL.

This season, his second as a full-time starter, Hurts has taken a substantial step forward. The former second-rounder led the Eagles to the NFC’s No. 1 seed, putting himself in the MVP conversation along the way. That earned Johnson considerable praise alongside the other key members of the Eagles’ offensive staff, particularly OC Shane Steichen. It has not, on the other hand, resulted in much in the way of interviews so far.

The only meeting Johnson reportedly took was with the Rams prior to their decision to hire Mike LaFleur for their OC position. Contradicting that, CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones writes that Johnson has yet to take part in any interviews. Part of the reason for that, he adds, is the possibility that he could be waiting to see if the Eagles’ OC role becomes vacant after the season with Steichen being hired elsewhere. If that were to take place, Johnson, 35, would represent a logical candidate to be promoted.

In any case, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler names Johnson and Kevin Patullo as names on Philadelphia’s staff to watch closely as teams fill out their OC positions (Twitter link). One such team is the Panthers, who have Frank Reich in place as their new head coach but plenty of uncertainty with respect to the rest of his staff. A push from Carolina to hire Johnson for the role is “probably coming,” per Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. Breer adds that Johnson would have also been the preferred candidate for Steve Wilks, had he been given the full-time HC position with the Panthers.

With five OC spots still yet to be filled, plenty is still to be determined in the coming weeks as the coaching cycle plays out. Regardless of the outcome of the coming Super Bowl, though, Johnson will figure to be on the radar in 2023 and beyond.

Eagles, Jalen Hurts To Discuss Extension

January 30th, 2023 at 10:26pm CST by Sam Robinson

Five years after building a Super Bowl-winning roster around Carson Wentz‘s rookie contract, the Eagles are back on the NFL’s biggest stage thanks to a similar formula. Jalen Hurts, who replaced Wentz late in the 2020 season, has piloted the team back to the Super Bowl and is now in a contract year.

The Eagles will not have as much flexibility with Hurts compared to their Wentz negotiation window, with their current starter’s contract not including the fifth-year option. After a 2022 offseason that included links to high-profile passers, the Eagles are prepared to move forward with Hurts. They are planning to meet with Hurts’ agent about an extension this offseason, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com notes (video link).

After struggling down the stretch last season and undergoing ankle surgery last winter, Hurts entered the 2022 offseason with a somewhat uncertain future. The Eagles looked into Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson; the team’s Watson research dates back to the 2021 season. Watson ended up not waiving his no-trade clause for the Eagles. Ownership advised the Eagles against bringing in Hurts competition that year, and the former Alabama and Oklahoma dual threat showed promise. After the Eagles built a roster comparable to 2017’s this past offseason, they are 16-1 in Hurts starts and one win away from their second Super Bowl title. The dramatic leap Hurts has taken puts him in commanding position for an extension.

Seeming like they surfaced years ago, the franchise’s connections to other QBs and doubts about Hurts are in the past. There is no longer any doubt about Hurts’ future in Philadelphia, Rapoport adds, and the team’s increased faith in the former second-round pick will lead to big numbers being thrown around soon.

Philly moved early on Wentz, locking the former No. 2 overall pick down with an extension in June 2019. That $32MM-per-year contract was not a top-market pact at the time, but it was not far off Wilson’s then-NFL-high $35MM-AAV accord. The Wentz deal did not work out for the team, though Philadelphia managed to collect first- and third-round picks for him in 2021. The Eagles are now free of Wentz dead money, but the Hurts deal will again change the franchise’s payroll.

Hurts, 24, becomes extension-eligible in the same offseason in which Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert do, and Lamar Jackson remains without a long-term deal. These passers will be linked for the foreseeable future, and contracts that start with a “5” will be tossed around. Aaron Rodgers remains the only NFLer tied to a $50MM-per-year contract — a short-term, uniquely structured one at that — but that will almost certainly change soon. The salary cap’s spike to $224.8MM represents good news for this quartet, among others in position to cash in, and the Eagles having a recent history of being proactive on extensions — as the deals for Wentz, A.J. Brown and a few offensive linemen have shown in recent years — should point to the Hurts talks becoming serious this offseason.

Minor NFL Transactions: 1/28/23

January 28th, 2023 at 3:23pm CST by Ely Allen

Today’s minor moves as we prepare for Championship Sunday:

Cincinnati Bengals

Kansas City Chiefs

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Eagles CB Avonte Maddox To Return For NFC Championship Game

January 27th, 2023 at 3:12pm CST by Sam Robinson

Avonte Maddox has battled multiple injuries this season. While the most recent malady did not send the veteran cornerback to IR, he has missed the past three Eagles games. He will not miss Sunday’s matchup, however.

The Eagles will go into the NFC championship game without Maddox on the injury report. The veteran slot cornerback suffered a toe injury in Week 16 but will return to action to help the No. 1-seeded team attempt to book its second Super Bowl berth in six seasons.

Philadelphia’s secondary has steadily reformed down the stretch. The team had been without both Maddox and C.J. Gardner-Johnson for extended periods this season. Both experienced slot players, the latter of whom being moved to safety following the trade from New Orleans this past summer, landed on IR this year and missed a combined 14 games. But Philly will have its full secondary available against San Francisco.

Signed to a three-year, $22.5MM extension in 2021, Maddox is the longest-tenured member of the Eagles’ secondary. He has been with the team since 2018. This season, however, brought ankle and toe problems for the former fourth-round pick. But he will take his place alongside Darius Slay and James Bradberry this week. Pro Football Focus ranked Maddox 30th among corners this season, though he only played nine games end left two of those early.

The Eagles used seven of their eight injury activations this season, bringing back the likes of Maddox, Gardner-Johnson, Dallas Goedert, Jordan Davis and Robert Quinn from IR. Lane Johnson and Jalen Hurts never landed on the injured list, despite missing multiple games. The 14-3 team will have every starter available against the 49ers.

Rams Interviewed Marcus Brady, Brian Johnson

January 23rd, 2023 at 8:18pm CST by Ben Levine

Mike LaFleur still appears to be the favorite for the Rams offensive coordinator job, but that hasn’t stopped the organization from considering other candidates. According to Albert Breer of SportsIllustrated.com, the Rams have interviewed Eagles QBs coach Brian Johnson and former Colts OC Marcus Brady for the job.

[RELATED: Mike LaFleur Expected To Join Rams’ Staff]

The Rams are now searching for their fourth offensive coordinator under Sean McVay, following Kevin O’Connell, Matt LaFleur, and the recently departed Liam Coen, who officially rejoined the University of Kentucky earlier this month. Coen’s departure lined up with LeFleur’s mutual parting with the Jets, and we heard immediately that New York’s now-former OC could be the favorite for Los Angeles’ open position. We also heard that Thomas Brown and Zac Robinson were internal candidates for the vacancy, and the Rams reportedly had interest in Frank Reich. Now, we’re getting wind of two outside candidates.

Johnson and Brady are both new additions to the list of known (and potential candidates). Johnson’s candidacy isn’t a huge surprise considering the progress of Jalen Hurts. Johnson has been Hurts’ quarterbacks coach for each of the past two seasons, and the QB took a clear step forward in 2022 with career-high passing marks (66.5 completion percentage, 3,701 passing yards, 22 passing touchdowns). The 35-year-old Johnson interviewed for the Jets offensive coordinator vacancy earlier this month.

Similar to Johnson, Brady is also a candidate for the Jets opening and spent the 2022 campaign with the Eagles (as an offensive consultant). The 43-year-old was the Colts QBs coach for two years before a year-plus stint as their offensive coordinator. He was fired by the Colts in November before quickly catching on with Philly.

Minor NFL Transactions: 1/20/23

January 20th, 2023 at 7:22pm CST by Ely Allen

Standard gameday elevations for tomorrow’s playoff games:

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

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