Russell Wilson Extension’s Effect on the Eagles
Right at the buzzer of his self-imposed deadline, Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson inked a new 4-year, $140M contract (per Spotrac), that places him firmly as the highest paid player in the league. The Eagles brass has already made clear that extending star QB Carson Wentz is a priority this offseason, and Wilson’s contract should provide a ballpark as to how much money such extension will demand.
Even though Carson has struggled to stay healthy through a full season, he’s already a household name in the NFL, with an MVP-caliber 2017 season and a Super Bowl ring in his young career. At the end of the day, his extension shouldn’t surpass Wilson’s deal, instead being somewhere between this and Kirk Cousins’ contract from a year ago, considering that he’s coming off back-to-back injury-shortened seasons. Still, anything in the $28-35M per year range is very heavy on the salary cap, so adjustments will likely have to be made to fit the deal.
Now, the Eagles have allowed themselves cap breathing room after savvy moves by exceptional GM Howie Roseman, but is it enough to accommodate such a large contract without implications to the roster? The top 5 cap hits on the team for the 2019 season are, in order (per OverTheCap): WR Alshon Jeffery ($14.7M), TE Zach Ertz ($12M), G Brandon Brooks ($11.9M), DT Fletcher Cox ($11.9M) and S Malcolm Jenkins ($11.3M). It’s safe enough to say that none of these players are getting cut anytime soon, especially considering the gigantic amounts of dead money it would incur, so that makes everyone look at WR Nelson Agholor’s $9.4M cap hit and production, which make him a prime candidate to be cut. The front office has already stated it doesn’t intend to cut Agholor this year but with newly acquired veteran DeSean Jackson, promising 3rd-year player Mack Hollins, possibly a rookie, and even AAF leading receiver Charles Johnson (45-687-5 in eight games) waiting in the wings, Agholor might become a cap casualty sooner than expected.
There are two very important lessons to be learned from this situation and how the Seahawks handled it. The first one is that you do whatever you have to do to keep the face of your franchise happy and playing for you. The second is you have to do well both in lower-round drafting and in UDFA signings, to fill out your depth with quality players on cheap rookie deals, that allow for massive extensions like this one.
The Eagles have all but mastered the latter, with players like Avonte Maddox (4th round), Jalen Mills (7th), Corey Clement (UDFA), Wendell Smallwood (5th), Josh Adams (UDFA), Nate Gerry (5th), Hal Vaitai (5th), and the aforementioned Hollins (4th) playing crucial roles, both as depth pieces and as starters.
It remains to be seen whether they’ll be willing to go all the way in an effort to fulfill the former.
Featured Image: Jeff Fusco/Philly Mag
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Categorized:Eagles