Shifting Dollars
Posted: May 27th, 2017 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 107 Comments »This should be a nice, quiet weekend for the Eagles (and all football teams).
The #Eagles created about $2.4 million in cap room by converting $3.225M of Rodney McLeod's salary to a bonus https://t.co/eKGS9DfqMf
— Jason_OTC (@Jason_OTC) May 27, 2017
That helps the Eagles cap situation. Per OTC, they now have $3.64M in cap space.
The Eagles have some flexibility if they want to make a minor move. I wasn’t anticipating anything, but Jimmy Bama made an interesting point.
The last time the Eagles restructured a player's contract (Zach Ertz back in March), they signed a guy (Nick Foles) that day. https://t.co/D1nImtCpWv
— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) May 27, 2017
Could the Eagles be looking to make a move?
There aren’t a lot of obvious holes on the roster, beyond CB. That is a position where we really don’t know what to expect, as I wrote recently. The Eagles just got a look at players at the OTAs. Maybe they saw something they didn’t like and feel like a move has to be made.
The big name on the market is Darrelle Revis, but I just don’t see him playing for the Eagles. His best days are behind him and he’s due big money from the deal he played under last year. It will take a big deal to get him to sign somewhere and I don’t think he is worth that.
Sam Shields, Brandon Flowers, and Tramon Williams are still on the market. Alterraun Verner is too, although he reportedly wasn’t in good shape for a recent workout for another team. None of those guys are compelling.
Maybe some other team is looking to trade a veteran CB. As I look around other rosters, I don’t see many good candidates. The Eagles aren’t making some mega-deal to get Richard Sherman or Malcolm Butler.
Some speculated this move was strictly to free up room to sign Derek Barnett. That’s possible, but the Eagles aren’t in a rush to get him signed. They can wait to cut Ryan Mathews and then have the $4M in space from that to get Barnett officially inked.
This move to free up space can’t be random. At the same time, that doesn’t mean a deal is coming today or that any move being made will be significant or all that interesting. There aren’t great players available right now so you wonder what this move could be. We’ll have to wait to see what happens.
The Eagles have some space. What will they do with it?
*****
I made a comment about there not being many holes on the roster. I chose the word “holes” for a specific reason.
The Eagles do not have a great roster. There are obviously areas that could be improved. Those aren’t holes. That is when you lack a functional starter at a particular position. You can argue that at CB, but I’m not sure you can do that anywhere else.
You might not like Jason Kelce at C or Mychal Kendricks at WLB or whoever, but these are players who have proven they can start and be effective. That doesn’t mean they’re headed to the Hall of Fame any time soon, but they can get the job done. Both players have talent, but have been too inconsistent.
A hole could also refer to a lack of depth at a spot. CB is the biggest possible weakness in terms of depth. Lots of unknowns. Players could pan out, but you just don’t know.
LB depth is uncertain as well. Najee Goode is a solid backup. Joe Walker showed a lot of promise last summer, but he’s coming back from a major injury. I’m a big fan of Steven Daniels, but he is new to the team and has to show he can fit in and stay healthy. Kamu Grugier-Hill, Nate Gerry and Don Cherry are young players with potential, but they are completely unproven. If Walker gets healthy and Daniels fits in, the Eagles could have good depth at LB.
There are starting-caliber players on the street who are better than some backups on the current roster. The problem is that those starters cost more money, don’t like playing STs and don’t always make good backups. They want to start.
Trying to improve depth is very tricky. You want young, cheap, hungry players. You mix in a Chris Long or Allen Barbre here or there, but you don’t want too many of those guys.
We’ll see what happens.
_
Just say “NO!” to Revis!
You still pissed about our cap situation? Still think we overpaid for Blount?
It’s not “OUR’. You are a dumbshit loser living in a fantasy world.
Jeffery and Blount clearly were the two big signings for this year. Everything else was about slightly improving a position or a stopgap. But those two will have the biggest impact on the win column. I think Blount’s potential impact is being underrated.
hopefully its to resign jordan matthews, we need him locked up long term!!
hes the exact type of player howie always talks about wanting here long term.
he was drafted by the eagles, he produces and he is a leader. the chemistry he has with wentz is very important. we must resign jordan!!
If Matthews wants to sing for 4 years / $24 million or less I’m good with it.
If He has a very good year and we wait to give him a new deal then he will get 9-10 mil per year. if we sign him right now then he will get 8 mil per year on avg. I would prefer we trade him now for a 3rd in 2018. It is unlikely we sign both Jeffery and Matthews to long term deals IMHO.
I would like to see JMatt resigned, but I think some team will offer more than the birds. As for trading for a 3rd, are you likely to get someone with his production at that spot? What is the % of 3rd round picks that become productive starters.?
nah he deserves more, closer to 10 mil a year, top slot WR money
? Who deserves 10M a year?
CK should be using “pull your leg” font.
jordan matthews deserves top slot WR money
so how’s 1st round pick worthy De’Anthony Thomas doing?
lmfao
jordan is doing well, among the best ever for his 1st 3 years.
yea no.
It’s Memorial Day, not April Fools Day.
man, u guys dont make much sense, if u want wentz to have weapons, youd resign jordan.
get ya shit together
I’m a fan of Jordan’s, but it’s time for him to put up like a real weapon. A pistol that jams can’t be counted on.
check his stats, his 1st 3 years are among the best ever
I hear you. Seems like his drops killed a lot of drives. Maybe subjective, not sure there’s stats for that. Don’t get me wrong, I hope he rises to the challenge.
hes had a few drops at bad moments for sure
but the number of drops by everyone on team combined give a false impression upon jordans game
imo
Jordan is an easy guy to root for. If things work out, the Eagles could have a great passing game this season. A lot rides on Carson, of course, but Jefferey is a real #1, I think Smith still has gas in the tank, and I’m hopeful that Matthews and/or Agholor will take their game to the next level. By the end of the season, we could be toasting the Birds air attack.
Ummmm he can’t catch. I do not trust him at all. I can easily see him costing us a playoff game with a key drop.
Don’t say he can’t catch. It insults our intelligence. Now, not trusting him in big situations, that’s different.
He can’t catch consistently.
I was done with him 2 years ago when on 2 separate occasions he let balls bounce off his chest that resulted in INTs. I specifically remember that really physical Panthers game where that happened.
There are guys that show up in big moments. JM is not one of them. If we are in crunch time I want him in the sidelines. No way I am giving him money. Trade him now if we can
He can body catch consistently. Does that count?
cant catch? go check how many rec’s hes had
hint – its a LOT!!
actually, his stats are among the best ever for a WR during his 1st 3 years
#Facts
also, we had cox and peters not show up for mini camps..
the one person who would have a legit reason not to be there was there.. his name is jordan matthews!! hes a leader!! Gotta resign him!!
I’m really not a fan of getting money by converting salary to bonus with Ertz and McLeod rather than cutting Ryan Mathews and/or trading Kelce / Kendricks.
They can’t cut Matthews until he passes a physical, so what’s the point of complaining about it?
Sokhar20, meet Media Mike.
they can, but have to eat half his salary in cap hit
Which given our cap situation essentially translates to “They can’t.”
Because the Rams found a doctor to put Case Keenum in a game after he suffered a traumatic brain injury; the Eagles should be able to find that guy to clear Mathews and get that cap money back.
That was insipid even by your standards.
The entire situation is being driven by Mathews’s rank uselessness. I find it doubly infuriating because Mathews was just as useless when he was a Charger. The fact that we have a lack of finality / surety on getting the maximum cap dollars back from guys who are dead end players will remain infuriating until they’ve successfully taken care of it. Mathews miking yet another injury causing impediments to the cut process to be slowed down is a further indignity.
Doesn’t much matter anymore. If they cut those other guys later, and get more cap space that way, then the cap space they gained with the McLeod move simply rolls over and is available when they need to “pay” the deferred McLeod cap hit. Though they would need the discipline to not use it for several years running, since the cap hits are now doled out over several years. Really though, those moves just give you flexibility this year, and if you need to use it this year, then you have a bit less in future years. But if you don’t actually use it, then not much harm.
You don’t think they are safe bets to finish out their contracts?
This got eaten twice, but I’m only a fan of “safe” contracts by Joe Banner where all of the guaranteed money is already paid in a prior year roster bonus.
I saw someone guessing at a Kyle Fuller deal. Are there scenarios that would fit with the cap shuffling?
Just trade them Jordan Matthews.
But then they’d have to give us Jordan Howard and all those other really good players on the Bears that I can’t remember for some reason…. because Jordan Matthews is worth like 10 1rst rounders, or if I take away the homerism, at least 20 2nd rounders and 5 thirds.
Because stats.
Matthews is the equivalent of a 15 points per game volume shooter that already hit his ceiling. I know he’s a fan favorite but you would have to be blind to not see that he’s not really good.
I’m somewhere between those two on him. I don’t think “he’s not really good”. I do think he’s limited. I also think he’s way more solid than most teams 4th and 5th Wrs, and than what many Eagles fans like to say about him.
What he REALLY is, is not significant enough for us all to obsess over his status at this point. He’s either going to be on the team this year and put up some solid production, especially with Wentz development and the improved surrounding “weapons”, or he’ll be traded for moderate value. Neither outcome will make or break anything about this team. And in either case, he’ll be at most the 7th or 8thish most significant player on the offense.
That’s not saying much though. The 4th/5th guys are either irreplaceable/replaceable ST players or developmental guys that coaches keep on the roster so they don’t get poached.
We already have his replacement in Shelton Gibson so I don’t care what happens to Matthews.
Unless Gorh is some kind of wide-receiver whisperer and, boom, Matthews and Agholar get it together and live up to their potential (or what we imagine to be their potential).
If you are labeling Jordan Matthews a fan favorite, you are the one who is blind.
Are we at the point where I should use “was” before that?
Makes me sad that everyone wants to get rid of a solid young player. Imagine if Atl god rid of Roddy when he wasn’t amazing and onlu decent.
I think you’re blind.
That’s what Stevie Wonder said to Agholar.
Rumor has it he also said he has better hands than Ags too.
I’m glad someone can “see” the humor in this discussion.
Definitely has better fingertips.
Youngest artist to have a #1 hit, 13 years old.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhmq8JuPfJA
He’s such a high quality musician.
One in a million.
He has a fantastic catalog. I’m going with “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” as my favorite.
I’ve been singing “Overjoyed” a lot lately… hard to pick a favorite!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjLt991QfOs
Beautiful. He’s a true artists. I’m also into “Flower Power and, oldie but still goodie, My Cherie Amour.” Sign of a talented musician that it’s challenging to pick a favorite.
As a child, Stevie Wonder nearly fell into a well, because he didn’t see that well.
Well, that explains it.
If you think I’m blind, I’m sure you have invested thought into how I communicate here on the Blitz. I would love to know.
https://www.nvaccess.org/
Been helping NFL replay officials, whoever is supposed to call holding on Trent Williams, Giants fans, etc. for years.
So here is my reaction: either…
a) Matthews is so bad that despite the fact that our WRs were terrible last year, and we have (1) some of the same guys, (2) some mid- and late-round rookies, and (3) a guy who was suspended last year and had a higher drop rate than Jordan Matthews (gasp) the last time he played a season plus a guy who was pretty decent years ago before he got paid, so we should ditch Matthews because he is so utterly worthless that those options are unquestionably better.
In that case, why would anyone give us anything?
Or…
b) Matthews is the best WR on a bad squad last year, the best guy we added to that squad has some question marks for stability and the rest are dice rolls. But Matthews contract expires after this year and he is going to get paid because, you know, he is productive and hard working and reliable.
In that case, are we really willing to kick him to the curb just because he is a period when we want an exclamation point, despite the fact that everyone else is a question mark?
The argument that he simulatneously absolutely sucks, is going to earn 10 million a year in FA, and should get us a 3rd rounder in trade for a one-year rental is maddeningly contradictory.
A – No one is giving us anything because there’s not a market for mediocre WRs.
B – 10 million is speculation. Just because we know what Matthews is still doesn’t mean he’s worth overpaying for. If people were so afraid of question marks then we wouldn’t have plenty of things in the world. Matthews is a much better calculated risk to lose since we’re not going to lose much. Also reliable and Jordan Matthews in the same sentence is just ironic. Jordan Matthews is great off the field but on the field? There’s plenty of WRs out there to replace him.
Who is afraid of question marks? But why throw away the sure thing for “No one is giving us anything” value? Matthews does not prevent us from looking for guys who prove to be better. As evidence, I would point to the guys we brought in to try to find better. But let them prove it.
How is Matthews a much better calculated risk to lose when “No one is giving us anything” for him? Good calculated risks typically have some potential reward for taking it.
You don’t overpay for mediocre at best players.
I thing ATG was more talking about letting Matthews play out the season as opposed to overpaying Matthews as he enters free agency.
Yep. He makes 1 million this year. The dead money and veteran minimum replacement would total about the same. The comp pick if he gets overpaid is going to be higher than the trade value and either way there is a season between losing him and getting compensation.
It would be asinine to dump him because we wished he was better and someone might overpay him next year.
I’ll disagree on the comp pick being higher. I can’t imagine a world where we don’t sign external players. I’ll have to see that to believe it.
Restricting yourself just to the draft is not something I see Howie willing to try.
There are levels of that for sure.
Likely true. Even with that, though, getting a season out of him and time to evaluate the prospective replacements is value enough.
He isn’t T.O so he is garbage.
There aren’t any examples of WRs taking 2-4 years to meet their potential in the NFL. Roddy White, Jeremy Maclin etc. are statistical anomalies.
Kyle Fuller grew up in my town. A few of my buddies played with him and are still close to him.
This woupd be kinda cool.
https://youtu.be/01-PA7RuXkQ
Rody is the man.
The only reasons to trade Matthews, Kendricks, or Kelce:
1. the return in the trade is incredible.
2. We’re punting on the season (ex: Wentz and Peters get hurt in camp, season is lost)
If you think a 6th rounder is worth it to miss out on a year of competent play, I’m just going to remind you of who we’ve drafted in the 6th round the past few years. Here’s a hint: the only one that did anything of value in the past ten years or so is one of the people you’re demanding be traded. You’d be trading them for the equivalent of Blake Countess.
3. Save cap space so we can get better players
$5.6 combined.
What better players do you think are on the market right now?
Who said right now?
Matthews, being traded or not,involves a ton of nuance. I can totally agree with your POV on that being maybe not worth it.
Kelce and Kendricks don’t provide play at a high enough level vs. the next man up for their snaps (Seumalo C / Warmack LG, Daniels / Walker) AND the combined $5.6 million we’d reap back for their trades.
The aggregate number of times I see Kecle steamrolled and/or Kendricks whiff on a tackle / blow a coverage make them easy to move on from.
$5.6m, especially this time of year, is only going to buy you replacement level players. You’re creating roster holes for almost literally no return just because you’re angry.
That $5.6 doesn’t have to be spent this year. It can be used next off-season.
You and I don’t see eye to eye on Kendricks / Kelce on their level of value vs. the quality of their replacements. I’d simply like to get 16 starts out of Warmack and 48 out of Seumalo before I have to pay them anything close to market wages. I don’t think the Barbre/Kelce, Seumalo/ Kelce, anybody/Kelce alliance is going to be as good as whoever wins the LG job /Seumalo.
If Warmack played like he did last year, you’d be screaming to get Barbre back in there after about a game and a half. If that long. If you want to count on Warmack, may as well count on Agholor being turned around by new coaches too — he probably has just as far to come, if not more.
That’s absolutely fair to categorize Warmack as pure speculation at this point. I can still make Barbre functional at LG (or Wis or see if Green or Gordon can win the job) while playing Seumalo at center. I’d like him to get a full season there while still having the advantage of bookend tackles playing at a high level because it’ll give him the easiest possible situation to grow his aptitude at making the calls there. Kelce is just waste of cap at this point who is going to slow the long term growth of other players while still allowing far too much pressure up the middle while moving no piles in short yardage.
It automatically rolls forward. That’s $5.6M more to spend next year.
You’re missing the scenario where Seumalo outplays Kelce. Also, no way Kendricks has a meaningful impact on the team. Trading him is certainly not a punt.
Unless one of the starting LBs go down – as much as Kendricks has flattered to deceive, the drop-off after him is drastic
Maybe. But I think Schwartz has already made his mind up. Clearly he wants more than just physical skills from his lb. With penetrating linemen, you can’t have lb who miss their assignment.
And nothing says “poor coverage and missed coverage” like Kendricks.
Well, the question is if Revis wants to play. If so, he could sign for the minimum. His Jets deal wouldn’t offset then. He won’t get a heavy deal from anyone, that’s for sure.
He’s from Pennsylvania, so one would think the Steelers and the Eagles were the two most logic landing spots for him, if he wants to play and if the team thinks he has something left in the tank.
I, for one, would welcome a signing like that, as long as it’s for the minimum. He knows he played with too much weight last year. He changed his diet. He’s no more Revis island, that’s obvious. But if you get a very intelligent veteran (Revis was never the fastest player on the field, he was as good as he was because of the film study, knowing what the WR will do) for the minimum, with the CB situation the Eagles have, it makes sense imo. He could be the competent stop gap until Jones is fully ready next season.
Revis will be 32 in July. Nnamdi was 30 when we signed him. No thanks.
The Nnamdi $ level is a complete non-starter. There is a level of one year cheapness on a deal that might allow Revis to be feasible to the team, I’m just unsure of what that level is.
The 2 big questions with Revis would be;
a) At what $ level and for how long?
b) Does signing Revis take snaps away from the development of Mills and Douglas (or Grymes / Smith / Gratz) who you need to be 2/3rds of your future 3 starters at CB in a lower pressure year where some losses and/or missing the playoffs will still be acceptable?
This is man that has lost his confidence…“If I can still play outside, if that’s what coach feels I can do in the scheme. I can play more slot. I can play safety. The dime position. There are a lot of variables that are tied into it that me and coach will have to sit down and hash it out and see what’s the best thing.”
The whole article is worth a read.
http://nypost.com/2016/12/03/inside-darrelle-revis-plunge-and-next-step-an-ex-all-pro-mentor/
Revis is a Band-Aid at best. On top of that, he made $17M last season and has been averaging in the eight figures for the past 6 years. He is not all of a sudden agree to play for 4 or 5M, which I would still consider overpaying.
That settles that then; Revis isn’t being realistic at all.
I can’t see it as anything other than an attention grab, whoever signs him.
a) is obviously the big question.
b) Honestly, it doesn’t get much easier to crack the lineup at a position in the NFL than the CB position for the 2017 Eagles. Douglas is a rookie, so I’d give him more time, but for Mills, Smith and Grymes, it’s now or never. Revis is way past prime and Robinson signed for the minimum for a reason. If they can’t beat those two vets out, they don’t deserve to be on the roster/get snaps.
Also, there are probably 5 CB spots on the 53. You need Dime CBs and STers, also. If they show that they belong there, fine. If not, find someone else.
And while we won’t win the Super Bowl this year, I think this team has a chance to make the playoffs, maybe win one Playoff game if the right matchup comes along. Would be big for Carsons development to get one Playoff win early. We have the Offense to be solid, we have one of the best DL in the NFC (that’s not only my opinion, Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks agreed on that mailbag question, only NFC team who should have a better DL are the Vikings) and we have two good LBs. No depth there, but if they stay healthy, we’ll be fine. We also have one of the best Safety duos in the NFL.
CB is the huge question mark, like Tommy wrote and like every Eagles fan knows. I’d do whatever possible to improve this unit. Douglas will get his chance. Mills will get his chance. Next year, the latest, we’ll get Jones. But if Revis moves better than he did last year and if Douglas thinks he could help us until Jones is ready, and we’ll get him for the minimum, I’m all for it.
Long and Blount are smart veteran signings imo. They should help us next year and we have younger players at those positions. Revis would be kind of in the same mold.
Also, don’t forget: the young CBs could learn a thing or two from Revis when it comes to studying film and anticipating routes from the WRs.
His legs look finished to me.
Yeah, most of his work last year didn’t inspire confidence.
Well, if he signs for the minimum (otherwise I’m not interested) you just cut him if he’s done and the young guys are better. Eagles can’t lose in that scenario imo.
Someonw mentioned earlier he ia going to make a pretty decent penny to not work this year. Unless he just wants to play that bad, and he has never seemed like that type, I doubt it happens.
That’s a fair point. If Revis doesn’t want to play for the minimum, it doesn’t make sense for the Eagles.
Like the shifting dollars thru the hourglass of the nfl salary cap, these are the days of our franchise
Gil Brandt has 3 of the top 10 teams in the league coming from the NFC East, Eagles being the only exception. I look forward to that being proven wrong.
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000810782/article/patriots-steelers-falcons-among-nfls-10-most-talented-teams
Chrome / Comcast / Disqus can drop dead for eating my last comment rather than having reload after the internet cut in and out.
But……….
With no due respect, Gil can go get treatment for senility.
Dallas has a reshuffled o-line, a massively overrated game manager at QB who is about to find out what a year of film can do to bring his type back to earth, and a RB who is just as likely to be suspend as he isn’t.
The Giants are another fraud. Their D was repetitively lucky last year, they still can’t block anybody, and they didn’t make any roster upgrades of value.
Washington, although they drafted well, is also hot trash. They lost key players and didn’t add any free agents of quality. Pryor is a sucky and overrated bum who doesn’t produce any catches of value outside of garbage time.
I’m not saying the Eagles are any better or belong in the top 10, but the winner of this division is going to luck their way into an extra 2 wins that get them to 10-6 and the rest of the lot will be between 7-9 and 9-7.