Mailbag: When will we see the Eagles spend big in free agency again?

Question from @rbheaddg (via Bluesky): The Eagles have drafted well recently, stretched the salary cap as much as possible, and appear to be playing the comp pick game. Not that that is a bad thing! Given the cap outlook and potential surge in growth, when might they be in “buy” mode again?

There are two things that drive me nuts about the A.J. Brown trade discussion.

1) The way his dead money is framed is almost always lazy and incomplete. It’s framed as $43 million in dead money if he’s traded before June 1, and $16 million if he’s traded after June 1. That’s not fully accurate. More accurately, he’s going to count for $43,515,106 in dead money whether he’s traded before or after June 1. The only difference is that if it’s after June 1, then $16,353,497 would count toward the 2026 cap, and the remaining $27,161,609 would count toward the 2027 cap.

I get that getting into that added level of detail during a radio or TV hit gets a little long-winded, but that’s how it should be framed.

2) What is also never discussed are the financial opportunities trading him opens up in 2027 and beyond. If the Eagles were to trade Brown today, yes, there would be a big dead money number in 2026. But there would also be major savings in 2027, 2028, and 2029, when he is scheduled to count for $133,121,609 on the cap during those three seasons combined. That’s over $44 million per season. That’s all off the books completely if they were to trade him now. The Eagles would also save $113 million in cash payouts to Brown, including $29 million in 2026. You never, ever hear that part of it when the financial ramifications of trading Brown are discussed.

Anyway, I guess I went a long way to say that if the Eagles traded Brown — really whether that’s before or after June 1 — that would free up a lot of money to get contract extensions done with their young star players on defense, as well as more flexibility to make bolder moves in free agency in 2027.

Adding to that, the Eagles are projected to have a fair amount of cap space in 2027 and they don’t really have to worry about losing as many good starters in free agency next offseason as they have the last two offseasons.

I think they spend next offseason, and I think that trading Brown is part of that equation.

Question from @JackDespeaux: The Eagles didn’t pick linebackers in the first round until last year. They’re probably going offensive line, but what are the odds they buck their trend of not taking a safety in the first round this year too, with Caleb Downs, Dillon Thieneman, and Emmanuel McNeil-Warren all thought of as first-round prospects?

Though I didn’t think the Eagles would go as far as to select an off-ball linebacker in the first round of a draft, I did presume that they were going to place a higher importance on the position in general than they have over the years.

In 2023, their linebackers were horrid, and the Eagles had one of the worst defenses in the NFL by the time that season was over. The linebackers weren’t the only problem, but they were certainly a huge problem. In 2024, they got outstanding linebacker play from Zack Baun and Nakobe Dean, and OH HEY (!) that kind of made a huge difference in the defense’s overall performance. I believe the Eagles recognized that and adjusted their prioritization of the position.

Safety is obviously one of the Eagles’ biggest needs this offseason — as it is this time of year almost every offseason — but I don’t see the same type of evidence that would lead me to conclude that their prioritization of that position would be heightened.

I suppose I should never say never. Like, if Caleb Downs somehow fell, which does happen with safeties, could the Eagles grab him? I guess. I like Thieneman and McNeil-Warren, but I don’t see them as realistic first-round options for the Eagles.

I think you’re probably on the right track that they’re going to prioritize the offensive line in this draft, and really just the offense in general.

Question from On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely do you think one of Quinyon Mitchell OR Cooper DeJean – not both – leaves when their rookie deals are up?

1/10.

I think they’ll prioritize getting DeJean’s deal done first, next offseason, because the Eagles don’t have a fifth-year option to fall back on with him. And then I think Mitchell’s deal gets done shortly thereafter.

Question from InlandCaGuy: I’ve seen some presume that Cooper DeJean will play at safety in the base defense. Is this your understanding? And if so, could that explain why safety has been deprioritized? 

Maybe there’s a scenario where Riq Woolen turns out to be a great player, and the Eagles conclude that it would be nuts for him to come off the field. In that scenario, it would make sense to me to play Woolen and Mitchell at corner in base, with DeJean and Andrew Mukuba at safety. And then DeJean would play in the slot in nickel and Marcus Epps or Michael Carter or some other safety to be determined comes in and plays safety.

I just don’t view that as a realistic scenario. Woolen hasn’t proven yet that he should stay on the field for every snap. Maybe that’ll change. We’ll see. I believe that the easiest solution is to just go find a safety that you like instead of moving an All-Pro corner to a much less important position, even if only for the 15 percent or so of the defensive snaps that they’re in base.

Question from @flipstostock (via Bluesky): Any chance the Eagles try Kelee Ringo at safety?

Kelee has outstanding size and speed for a corner, but what I think he lacks is change of direction skills and football savvy. Guys who struggle at corner and move to safety typically do so because they have a high football IQ, but not necessarily equipped with all the physical tools (like speed) to play corner.

Take Malcolm Jenkins, for example. He ran in the 4.5’s, but he knew how to play. He just couldn’t run with the NFL’s fastest receivers. A move to safety made sense for him because he could read, diagnose, and attack. I don’t think Kelee possesses that skillset.  

Question from @Philly_Bul215: With the A.J. trade more than likely coming than not, do you see the Eagles making a slight move up in the draft for a WR?

This feels like a draft — I mean, like every other Eagles draft, lol — that they move all over. And sure, I think they could move up for a receiver, whether that’s in Round 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.

(I think the most likely scenario in Round 1 is O-line, but a receiver makes sense too.)

Question from @BigsWinz: This year the Eagles’ first round draft slot seems like a spot where Howie is going to trade up or down. My gut is trade up. Your thoughts?

Yeah, I think a very formative draft for Howie was the debacle in 2014, when they thought Brandin Cooks was going to make it to pick 22, and then, OOPS, the Saints traded up for him, and they were ultimately left with Marcus Smith. So I do think that they are cognizant of not hoping their guy falls to them and instead going and getting him.

One example that goes against that theory, however, is when Mitchell fell into their laps at pick 22 in 2024. They didn’t move and landed a blue chip player. I do think that was a better draft overall, and it’s more unlikely that they’ll stick and pick this year.

I will say that when I publish mock draft roundups, a lot of the guys projected to the Eagles are kinda like, “Ew, no.” So I’m with you that it’s unlikely they’ll pick at 23. We’ll have a full-on article just on this topic alone in April, as we do every year.

Question from @itskurt (via Bluesky): Was wondering this a couple weeks ago in light of the Jordan Davis extension (because of his FG block against the Rams) — what’s the biggest regular season play in Linc history?

I love this question, and I thought about the answer for a while, but I think it’s another special teams play — Jake Elliott’s 61-yard field goal Week 3 against the Giants in 2017.

To begin, this was at a time when we weren’t yet seeing guys make 60+ yard field goals on a weekly basis. So when the Eagles lined up to try it, I think most fans were prepared for that game to head to overtime. When he made it, it was a legitimate “wow” moment.

But more importantly, the Eagles were coming off a loss in Kansas City the week before, and a loss to the Giants would have put them at 1-2. They built on that win with a “home” win in L.A. against the Chargers, and then went on a dominant run in the middle of that season once they started to build up some confidence and a belief that they could do something special. Who knows how the rest of that season would have gone if Elliott had missed it and the Eagles lost in overtime.

But then also that kick had some memorable moments surrounding it, like Jason Peters telling Elliott, “No more misses,” or a mic’d up Carson Wentz telling Kamu Grugier-Hill he’d give him his next paycheck if Elliott made it. It was just a very cool moment in Eagles history that probably played a significant part in the team winning their first Super Bowl.

Question from @mattlinfante (via Threads): How would you rate the engagement between Threads, Bluesky, and X in terms of Eagles fans?

There isn’t much engagement on Threads. I think Threads had a chance to really capitalize on Twitter’s failings a few years ago, and they just… didn’t. The limited interactions I’ve had there have been positive though.

Bluesky has been good. The people who are on it are highly engaged, and for the most part, smart and respectful.

Twitter (or X or whatever) is the seventh layer of hell and I’ll be happy when I never have to log in again.

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