Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Howie the Juggler

Posted March 14th, 2026 | 1 Comment »

Howie Roseman is a great general manager. He’s made some terrific trades over the years. He has had some great draft picks. He’s also done a really good job with free agency signings. Howie and his staff have done a great job of working the salary cap to give the Eagles every advantage. All this work led to three Super Bowl appearances and two wins over the last decade.

Right now Howie is facing a couple of very tough situations. He’s got the AJ Brown situation to deal with and he’s also trying to re-sign Dallas Goedert. Trading AJ is incredibly complex. He is a great player and the Eagles don’t want to deal him, but AJ seems to want out of town. Trying to get good value for a great player is never easy. Then you factor in the salary cap side of things and the deal is even harder to do.

At this point it feels like AJ will be traded. That could happen next week, April or in June. Right now the Eagles are talking to at least three teams about this. The Patriots, Rams and Broncos all have interest. All three want to win a Super Bowl and could be in a “go for it” mode that would lead them to pay a steep price.

Normally this type of deal would be Howie’s primary focus. But he’s got to juggle this with DG’s situation as well. There was a deadline on Friday for the Eagles to re-sign Goedert or they would take on dead cap money. The Eagles don’t have much cap space so the smart move is to re-sign Goedert. He’s still a solid player and it feels like he wants to be back.

This situation isn’t easy because Goedert took a pay cut last year and I’m sure he wasn’t thrilled about that. I think he was hoping to hit the open market and get a good deal. Unfortunately the market for TEs this year featured a lot of activity, but no big deals. Teams didn’t throw big money at the TEs. There weren’t great options, but it was still surprising to see the contracts be so reasonable. There is a good TE class in the draft and that might affect things. It also feels like teams focused on other spots. Look at how edge rushers were getting huge deals. You can’t pay everyone.

Goedert knows that re-signing helps the Eagles. I’m sure that has him pushing for a figure that is higher than what Howie wants to pay. Both sides agreed to delay the deadline from Friday to Monday so would indicate they are still actively talking and both sides want to get something done. If you want a more detailed explanation of the cap side of things, go read this piece. The Eagles really benefit from keeping DG around.

Right now it is hard for Howie to know what cap space he has and what moves can be made. The Eagles still have a hole at safety. They might want to add another edge rusher or wide receiver. Who can they afford? These positions might be addressed in the draft, but you can’t expect them all to be done then.

This will help.

The Eagles structured Woolen’s contract so his cap hit this year is just $3.4M. They are trying to do everything possible to have enough space to make more moves, as well as being able to handle the cap ramifications of trading AJ.

This is probably as challenging of an offseason as Howie has had to deal with. He’s worked a lot of magic in the past. It will be interesting to see how he and the Eagles come out of all of this.

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Still no update on the Jonathan Greenard situation. The Vikings are shopping him. The trick is finding someone to pay the right price. They might be asking for too high of a pick right now. With as crazy as the edge rusher market was this past week, I’m surprised we haven’t heard about more teams going after him. The Eagles are in contact with his agent so stay tuned to see if anything happens.

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Eagles Add An Edge

Posted March 13th, 2026 | 2 Comments »

Howie Roseman finally addressed the edge rusher position on Thursday night. It wasn’t a big, splashy move, but looks like another smart addition at a good cost. The Eagles haven’t had a lot of cap room so they’ve had to be selective shoppers.

This isn’t as fun as signing Trey Hendrickson or trading for Maxx Crosby, but Ebiketie is a good scheme fit and the cost was certainly right. He fits a profile the Eagles like. Ebiketie is a former high pick (second round) and he’s just 27 so he’s still in his prime. The Falcons let him go because they felt he wasn’t good enough. The Eagles are hoping Ebiketie will be able to reach his potential with better coaching and in a better scheme fit.

Ebiketie had 6 sacks and 12 QB hits in both 2023 and 2024. Those numbers fell off last year, with just 2 sacks and 6 QB hits. Atlanta added a couple of rushers early in the draft and they became the key pass rushers.

The Eagles had Ebiketie in Philly for a pre-draft visit back in 2022 so this is a player they’ve had interest in for a while. When you watch him play you can see why Vic Fangio would like him. Ebiketie is a good run defender. He will take on blockers and set the edge. He was dropped into coverage on a regular basis in Atlanta so he’s comfortable when asked to do that. And he is an athletic pass rusher with the ability to affect the QB.

There is a lot to like in those clips. Ebiketie reminds you of Nolan Smith when you watch that. Some will say this is just like adding Josh Uche or Azeez Ojulari, neither of whom worked out well last year. I disagree with that. Uche had a total of 5 sacks and 9 QB hits in the two seasons before coming to Philly. He fell out of favor in NE and then struggled to get on the field in KC. Ojulari had injury issues throughout his time with the Giants. He also didn’t play much on STs. Ebiketie has. He’s been a starter and a role player. He understands how to contribute to the team.

While the move makes sense on paper, there is no guarantee it will work. Yoa  never know how guys are going to perform on a new team and in a new scheme. We certainly saw that with Uche and Ojulari last year. Uche had his moments, but Ojulari was a complete disappointment. Ebiketie feels like a safer bet.

The Eagles now have Nolan Smith, Jalyx Hunt and Ebiketie. Brandon Graham might return. That would give the team a solid group of rushers. Howie could still look to add a top talent if the price is right. The addition of Ebiketie means the Eagles aren’t desperate. That could help if they want to negotiate with the Vikings about trading for Jonathan Greenard.

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This gives the Eagles more cap room this year. They could spend that on Dallas Goedert. Today is the deadline for the Eagles to have to re-sign him or to deal with his dead cap money. Keeping him makes a ton of sense from a financial perspective.

The Eagles might also need to add a WR in free agency. It sounds like the NFL insiders expect AJ Brown to be traded, even if it doesn’t happen until June. How is this for an interesting scenario?

This is going to be one long offseason.

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I wrote about the signing of CB Jonathan Jones last night. I focused on him being primarily in the slot. It turns out he’s got more outside experience than I realized. I still don’t know if Fangio would want him outside at just 5-9, 183. That kind of size is usually a better fit for nickelback. Still, it is good that he’s got the versatility to play inside or outside. He also had a bit of safety experience. The coaches will really value his versatility.

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