Eagles’ reported cap hits for Jalen Hurts shouldn’t be prohibitive

The Eagles and Jalen Hurts reached terms on a five-year, $255 million extension on Monday and now we’re learning more details about the deal.

And it looks like Hurts’ salary cap hits over the next few seasons won’t be very prohibitive as the Eagles try to build around him maximize his championship window.

The latest from ESPN’s Adam Schefter:

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Eagles’ QB Jalen Hurts’ salary-cap numbers for the next four seasons after today’s $255 million extension:

🏈2023: $6.15 million
🏈2024: $13.56 million
🏈2025: $21.77 million
🏈2026: $31.77 million
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 17, 2023

While we don’t know the full structure of the deal just yet, it always seemed very likely that the Eagles would backload this deal and use bonus money to limit the cap hits early in the contract. And that’s exactly what happened.

That cap hit of $6.15 million in 2023 is just about $1.36 million higher than what was scheduled in 2023, the final year of Hurts’ rookie contract as a second-round pick.

Of course, that means that Hurts’ cap hits in 2027 and 2028 and beyond will be much, much higher and this is all a part of a kick-the-can method that might make some fans nervous. But with the salary cap expected to continually rise, it’s a strategy that simply makes sense. And the Eagles have been on the forefront of maximizing that strategy.

How were the Eagles able to pull this off? Without seeing the full contract, we know the Eagles are utilizing a signing bonus and subsequent option bonuses over the next few years.

Based on @AdamSchefter report on the cap hits my guess on Hurts contract would be minimum P5s in each of the next 4 seasons, a signing bonus of $23.294M, a 2024 option of $38.875M, a 2nd option in 2025 of $40.83M, and a 3rd option in 2026 of $49.785M.
— Jason_OTC (@Jason_OTC) April 17, 2023

The way bonuses work is that they prorate over the length of a contract and that prorated money combines with base salary and likely-to-be-earned incentives to create the salary cap hit. It’s a way to spread out cap hits and, yes, push some big cap figures into the future as the league-wide cap presumably continues to raise.

Ultimately, the way for the Eagles to maximize Hurts’ championship window is to draft well around him. But for the next few seasons, they’ll still be able to supplement the roster with a smattering of free agents and they’ll be able to keep their own cornerstone pieces.