Free Agents: Stay or Go – Offence
The talk of the town is how the Philadelphia Eagles will seemingly be unable to run it back with their 21 Free Agents pending this off-season.
GM Howie Roseman already confirmed during his end of season press conference that the Eagles expect to have several compensatory draft picks next year. Good news for the Eagles, who already hold 8 draft picks in the 2024 draft, including the Saints 2nd round pick, and a Vikings 5th round pick. Bad news for you favorite players (who are free agents)
While the free agent list is long, the offence doesn’t have too many pieces departing this off-season, however their are notable pieces that the Eagles will need to determine their future with, namely:
- Jason Kelce
- Isaac Seumalo
- Miles Sanders
- Boston Scott
- Zach Pascal
- Tyree Jackson
- Gardner Minshew
Below I’ll break down and discuss the offensive free agents, their contract value, suitable replacements (if needed) and what the Eagles could do with each player.
Offensive Line
Jason Kelce
Kelce has yet to confirm if he’ll be returning to the Eagles for one last ride, or if he’ll be hanging up the cleats and enjoying retirement after his 12 years in Philadelphia.
Should Kelce decide that Super Bowl 57 and getting to watch his brother Travis and former Eagles Head Coach Andy Reid celebrate would be his final game, it’s hard to blame him. There’s no guarantee for any team to make it back to the Super Bowl.
If Kelce decides to go the retirement route. The Eagles have already drafted his replacement in Cam Jurgens. Who had some pre-season moments and played a total of 35 snaps in the regular season. With a full year mentored by the future Hall of Fame Center, Jurgens should be ready to take on the starting role if called upon.
Coming off a 1 year, $9M cap hit. Spotrac has Kelce estimated at a 1 year $11.9M market value. With the Eagles cap crunch. Kelce might be offered a lower contract similar to his previous deal if he wishes to remain an Eagle.
Isaac Seumalo
Seumalo has been a part of an elite Eagles offensive line for the last few seasons. Missing the majority of the 2021 season was one of several season-ending blows to last seasons roster, including Brandon Graham who only played the opening 2 games of last season.
With a full season under his belt for the first time since 2019, Seumalo is in the market for a new deal. With Spotrac projecting Seumalo’s value to be a 2 year $24 million dollar contract with an average salary of over $12 million. The Eagles might have to make a decision.
Having extended Offensive Line Coach Jeff Stoutland just before the Super Bowl might have been the Eagles greatest move. With only so much cap space to go around, the Eagles might have to look towards the draft and another late round pick to fill another starting position with. And if Kelce decides to play in Philadelphia another year, Jurgens cross-trained to play both Guard positions this season. Should the Eagles want to look within for a new starter, he’s already there for numerous scenarios.
Running Backs
Miles Sanders
Having a career high during a contract year has to be one of the biggest curses in sports. From Johnny Gaudreau, to Ezekiel Elliott, you can’t trust a contract year to pan out on a big contract. Miles Sanders is also in this boat.
A running back with tendencies to bounce to the outside and not pick up the most yards available. For the first time in his 4 years as an Eagle. Sanders broke his previous season high of 864 yards with an astounding 1,269 and nearly doubled his 6 touchdowns from 2020 with 11 this year. While Sanders was able to carry the lead back role this season, the Eagles haven’t paid a Running Back big money since LeSean McCoy.
With salary comps from Joe Mixon to Leonard Fournette. Sanders salary could vary depending on what leverage he could use. Spotrac has his estimated value at $7.3 million annually. If the Eagles wanted to keep the offence the same, they could look to bring Sanders back.
Sanders recently shared this photo on his Instagram story, perhaps he’d be willing to work something out to stay in Philly?
If the Eagles decide to move on from Sanders, there’s more than enough options in the upcoming draft that could be available. Could Bijan Robinson or Tank Bigsby be waiting for Philadelphia at #10 or even #30?
Boston Scott
Boston Scott’s most recent contract was for a total of $1.75M. For an RB 2/3, (depending on whether you have Gainwell higher on the depth chart) Boston Scott’s numbers against the Giants are worth the money alone. If Scott continues his ‘Giant Killer’ mantle and adds to his 414 yards and 10 touchdowns in only 8 games. I’ll gladly keep the depth piece for another year.
Receivers
Zach Pascal
Pascal was brought in because of Nick Sirianni.
While most fans continue to look at the underwhelming season from WR3 Quez Watkins. (including a specific Super Bowl drop) Pascal was a great addition to the WR depth, at a very low cost.
Unless Pascal plans on having a breakout season somewhere else in a larger role, I could see the receiver signing another team-friendly deal to stay with Sirianni.
Tyree Jackson
The QB-converted-TE experiment is most likely over in Philadelphia.
The injuries continue to pile up for Jackson, with the Eagles Tight End depth being a concern during Goederts absence mid season, the Eagles should be looking elsewhere to bolster the position, unless they’re expecting big things from Calcaterra or Stoll in the near future. It’ll be unlikely that Jackson returns.
Quarterback
Gardner Minshew
The Eagles will mostly like lose Gardner Minshew in the off-season. If there’s a team out there planning on starting the Eagles backup, hopefully they didn’t watch his film from this season.
Minshew didn’t play extremely inspiring in the 2 games he started during Hurts’ injury. With tons of options available for the Eagles to find a suitable backup for Jalen Hurts. Hopefully Minshew is able to land himself a starting position on a team with uncertain plans for the 2023 season, giving the Eagles another sweet sweet comp pick.
Next we’ll break down the extensive Defensive Free Agents and who the Eagles might be looking at during the NFL combine.
4 Days until the Combine, 63 until the draft.
Go Birds!
Photo Credit: Bill Streicher / USA Today Sports
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Categorized:Eagles