MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK

True but the Eagles have some easy outs to get back to being cap healthy.

Foles + Peters + Long would put the Eagles 20 million under the 2019 cap. Michael Bennett and Nelson Agholor also come with huge cap savings.

Jacksonville is probably in worse shape because they are over the cap and while they have some players they can cut to save....their entire team seems to be on a downswing and they aren't in position to throw money at that problem.

 

Yeah, I saw that - I didn't realize LAO was factoring in Foles, thought he just meant Peters and Long.

 

Are you talking about releasing Bennett & Agholor, or re-structuring?

 

"As of right now" is lazy though and GMs don't plan their team without looking ahead. The Eagles have multiple ways to fix their cap. It obviously isn't ideal but it isn't close to the worst cap situations teams have had the last few years when you consider what needs to be done. The Saints had it pretty bad last year and the Ravens were pretty bad a few years ago. I'm honestly not too worried about the cap right now. I'm a little nervous but it isn't bad enough that they can't try something with Foles if they decide to explore that path.

 

That's fine...as long as you apply that to EVERY team.

EVERY team has ways of fixing their cap. BWW brought up Jacksonville before - they've already cut Barry Church, will likely cut Malik Jackson and Blake Bortles. That's more than $20 mil in savings.

I'd be curious to hear how that work - I'm assuming "something with Foles" means keeping him...?

 

More or less. There are exceptions some years but the Saints may get a SB despite their situation that was pretty bad. Ravens may finally get money off the books when they were swimming in shit. Some teams go into years knowing they'll have to jump through hoops the next offseason or two but some of these numbers are misleading, like the Eagles. It's a bigger issue when you need FAs or many major extensions and are low in cap $.

I don't think this is a situation for the Eagles where they know they'll have to make a bunch of decisions they rather wouldn't if it wasn't for the cap.


As for Foles, the money is available. The question is if they'd like to allocate all that money. They need to be willing to roll with him on the roster if it backfires. I think they could suck it up and do that if it comes to that but as for exactly how I'd assume they'd like a deal in place with a team negotiating a sign and trade contract.

 

Not sure what the savings would be in a restructure. Currently their outright savings by being cut are huge.

Not that the Eagles would or should cut them. Was just saying that to illustrate that their cap woes are not bad at all.

 

I don't see this as being a likely scenario, at all. You say, "the money is available" - his option would be for $20 million dollars. In what world would the Eagles be able to ride with a $20 million backup quarterback and still keep their roster intact / competitive?

 

I get it - every team in the league is going to part ways with someone they'd prefer to hold onto. But overall, if you need to cut a number of players you don't WANT to cut, I'd probably argue that your cap situation is closer to "bad" than "good."

 

A bunch of money is on aging guys that are close to their way out naturally. And they aren't all full-time starters for health or rotation reasons. The only big one is Brandon Graham. Bennett could be cut to make money but that was always an option from the moment they got him.

 

The money is only available when you cut other players. I don't think you should cut depth in other areas to retain your backup QB.

 

Agreed. But I think at least a couple of the guys the Eagles can cut to save money are logical cuts. Not that they are bad players...but their output no longer justifies their cap number.

 

What are your thoughts on the two guys mentioned earlier - Bennett and Agholor?

 

If age wasn't a factor I'd agree. I don't think it's "Good" but I wouldn't call it "bad". It may be closer to "bad" if you had to pick a side but the roster isn't trending into a burning dumpster like some teams with cap difficulties.

 

Agholor may go for Tate. I expect that right now but nothing certain. I think Bennett stays if Graham goes (or even Long if they want depth) but they may want to use his money to get Graham to stay.

 

You say, "Aging" guys, but what I actually see are guys that go a long way in making this team competitive. If you cut them, you want to have similarly talented guys to replace them with. I don't see the Eagles having that. I'll stand by my original statement.

 

Agreed. It ain't ideal, but it ain't horrific, either.

 

Keeping Tate over Agholor would be an interesting move, given Tate's about 5 years older and will likely command more coin.

 

I dunno. Many think Agholor would want more. And to dline, these Eagles have been competitive without many of those aging guys that could be cap casualties.

 

I think we're considering two different realities, but the truth of it is, if they're keeping Foles for $20 mil - they'll have to be competitive without a lot of those guys. Otherwise, the organization will have two very expensive quarterbacks, and one bad roster.