Now that we know the NFL is moving forward with free agency as planned, it’s time for a complete primer.
The legal tampering period begins at noon on Monday, but free agency doesn’t officially begin until 4 p.m. on Wednesday when the new league year begins.
But after the first year or two of the “open negotiation” period, teams don’t seem to care about the actual rules. Teams aren’t supposed to finalize deals during this time, but they do and we’ll hear about them long before free agency officially opens. So the unofficial start of free agency is noon on Monday.
It’ll be interesting to see if the coronavirus affects the normal flow of free agency. Many teams are working remotely and free agent visits obviously won’t be very easy this season. And, remember, all deals are pending physicals … and you can’t do physicals via teleconference.
Anyway, getting back to football, here are five big questions facing the Eagles now that we’ve made it to free agency:
Do Eagles make a big splash?
The Eagles went into the last couple of offseasons with very little salary cap room but they’re in a different situation in free agency this time around. The league salary cap is set at $198.2 million, which means the Eagles are projected to have around $40 million in salary cap space when the new league year hits.
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That puts them in the middle of the pack among NFL teams when it comes to salary cap space but that’s more than enough for the Eagles to make a big splash. And for weeks it has seemed likely that’s coming.
The biggest name that has been tied to the Eagles for weeks is Cowboys cornerback Byron Jones. Even though Jones has just two interceptions in five NFL seasons, the 27-year-old is considered to be the top cornerback on the market this offseason. And the Eagles are reportedly going to go after him hard. There are other options if the Eagles want to make a splash but there’s been a lot of smoke around Jones.
What happens with Malcolm Jenkins?
The Eagles will have to make some sort of decision on Jenkins by the end of the current league year. If they don’t pick up his option, Jenkins would become an unrestricted free agent. If they pick up his option, he’s under contract for $7.6 million even though he’s already said he won’t be playing on his current deal. But that would at least buy the Eagles some time to work out an extension or possibly trade him … although that would be a messy situation.
As a reference point, the Patriots just gave Devin McCourty a two-year deal, reportedly worth $23 million. That seems like a noteworthy contract considering Jenkins’ situation.
The Eagles will likely want to tread lightly with Jenkins, who will go down as an all-time great Eagle. On one hand, it might not make sense to extend a 32-year-old safety. On the other, Jenkins has been able to stay extremely healthy, continues to play at a high level (even if some think that level has dropped) and is the unquestioned leader of the Eagles’ defense. To me, it’s a no-brainer. I’d find a way to bring him back.
Which other players come back?
The Eagles have a bunch of pending unrestricted free agents who will hit the market when the new league year starts. Some of them won’t be back; Nelson Agholor and Halapoulivaati Vaitai are goners. But some realistically might return; Rodney McLeod, Jordan Howard and Jalen Mills are a few.
In recent years, the Eagles have prioritized keeping their own players. It’s fair to wonder if that changes this time around after Howie Roseman said they want to get younger.
How will Eagles prioritize positions?
It seems like if the Eagles spend big in free agency, it’ll most likely be at cornerback … but they have plenty of other needs too. They need receivers, linebackers, defensive linemen, a backup offensive tackle and a backup quarterback. The Eagles also have 10 draft picks next month, so their decisions in free agency will be made with that in mind. For instance, this draft is said to be extremely strong at the receiver position. So perhaps the Eagles avoid spending big on a receiver in free agency and use a high draft pick to grab one. That would make sense, right?
Will the Eagles cut Alshon Jeffery?
Since the new CBA was approved, the Eagles will have the option to release Jeffery as a post-June 1 designation. That would basically mean they’d split his remaining cap hit over the next two years — roughly $16 million this year and $10 million in 2021.
If the Eagles do want to get rid of Alshon, they could also attempt to trade him, but it seems unlikely any team would take on an aging and injured player, especially with his price tag. It would probably take a Brock Osweiler-type deal, where the Eagles need to ship a draft pick to some team willing to take on the contract. And there’s always the possibility the Eagles just hang on to Jeffery for the 2020 season and see what happens.
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