Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 3/12/23.

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links ...

Free agency and trade buzz: Aaron Rodgers, Lamar Jackson, top sleepers - ESPN+
The Eagles have several key players they could bring back, and though it appears they are waiting for markets to develop before reacting, some around the league believe they’ve made a strong effort to re-sign safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, who appears set for the open market. That could open the door to re-sign cornerback James Bradberry or another player. [...] And a player whose market might surprise is Philadelphia’s T.J. Edwards. He could get more money than people think. He racked up nearly 300 tackles and 12 pass deflections in two seasons with Philly. [...] This isn’t perceived as a great free agent class, but the top of the defensive tackle market could get pricey. Philadelphia’s Javon Hargrave is expected to get a big-money deal from some team (probably not Philadelphia), but watch out for guys such as Denver’s Dre’Mont Jones, Jacksonville’s Arden Key and Arizona’s Zach Allen, who have been mentioned several times to me as players expected to draw strong interest on the open market.

NFL Mock Draft Simulation: Eagles land an edge rusher at No. 10 - BGN
Pick 30: Bijan Robinson, Running Back, Texas. Run from it. Dread it. The Bijan Robinson to Philadelphia hype is very real. Robinson’s fit is obvious with Miles Sanders headed for free agency. Robinson is a blue chip running back and could add yet another dangerous dynamic to the Eagles already dangerous offense.

Above the Nest with Raichele #76: BG signs 1-year deal + Eagles allow Darius Slay to seek trade - BGN Radio
Raichele Privette gets you caught up on everything that’s happened this week including Brandon Graham signing a one year contract extension ahead of free agency, a new linebackers coach hire and a potential Darius Slay trade.

Roob’s Observations: How much dead money is piling up for the Eagles? - NBCSP
1. One tool Howie Roseman loves to use to keep the Eagles safely under the salary cap is dummy years in a contract. Dummy years allow the Eagles to spread out signing bonuses over a longer period than the contract is really for, lowering a player’s cap hit for each year but extending the cap hits to years where the player might not even still be here. Dummy years automatically void when a player reaches the end of his contract, but the remaining pro-rated portions of the bonuses remain. So you have dead money from the original contract but you don’t have the player. The theory is that since the salary cap increases $20 to $30 milion per year, dead money doesn’t take up as great a percentage of cap space as it would in the earlier years of the contract. But on top of everything else, the Eagles in 2023 do have a ton of projected dead money - $54,727,983 at the moment according to Spotrac. That’s by far the most in the league, more than $10 million more than the Panthers. Trading, releasing or restructuring players can also create dead money. In 2023, the Eagles’ biggest projected dead money hits come from Fletcher Cox ($15.36 million), Javon Hargrave ($11.96 million), Brandon Brooks ($9.80 million) and Isaac Seumalo ($7.53 million) but also from players as obscure as John Hightower ($5,000), Jarrid Williams ($6,667) and William Dunkle ($6,667). Now, because of other tricks, namely carrying over cap space, the Eagles do also have the fifth-highest 2023 adjusted cap figure at $235,072,830. That’s more than $10 million above the NFL average. If anyone can build a roster around $55 million in dead money along with a massive quarterback extension, it’s Howie Roseman. But the cap limitations he’s facing this offseason are very real. The Eagles are in for a tricky next few weeks.

Eagles 2023 ‘stay or go’ final poll results - PhillyVoice
Sanders ran for 1269 yards and 11 TDs on 4.9 yards per carry, but there’s a decent argument to be made that he could have done more behind such an elite run blocking offensive line. He also didn’t leave a good final impression heading into the offseasn after a poor Super Bowl performance. On the other hand, Gainwell left voters with some optimism heading into 2023.

Jalen Hurts: ‘I didn’t walk through all that fire just to smell the smoke’ - PE.com
“When you run across the people that you do this with, run across the great teammates, when you accept awards like this, you give all the credit to the teammates. Being able to play in a place where I’m able to suit up every day with my best friend, A.J. Brown. I get to play with guys like DeVonta Smith, where I’ve built relationships with legends like Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson – hungry dogs – Jordan Mailata, Isaac (Seumalo), all of those guys. On the defense, guys like Darius Slay, Fletcher Cox, Haason Reddick, Marcus Epps – all of these guys, they built me to be who I am because we compete every day, we go at it every day. We truly all love the game. “The most beautiful part of all of this is there is beauty in anything that experience in life but you have to decide what that is and what that means for you and I know that I’ve experienced a number of agonies and pains but now I realize that that pain is my strength.” Hurts closed by saying that “this is only the beginning” and “I didn’t walk through all that fire just to smell the smoke” of a Super Bowl appearance. It was an appropriate message as this week begins and the Eagles start addressing the roster in earnest for 2023 and beyond.

Cowboys free agency: The latest buzz around Dallas before legal tampering period - Blogging The Boys
The Cowboys used their franchise tag to retain running back Tony Pollard for another season. By all accounts, the team would like to work out a long-term extension, but the tag allows negotiations to continue into July without other teams bidding for Pollard. Dallas has a history of using the franchise tag and waiting until the final minute to get an extension done. When wide receiver Dez Bryant was tagged in March of 2015, both sides didn’t agree on a new deal until July 15, very close to the deadline date. Fowler reports the Cowboys could wait until the running back market irons itself out and work around a long-term deal with the numbers handed out to free agents.

Julian Love: Contract talks with New York Giants ‘have ramped up’ - Big Blue View
Safety Julian Love said Friday on Sirius XM NFL Radio that “things have ramped up” in contract talks with the New York Giants since the team signed quarterback Daniel Jones and franchise-tagged running back Saquon Barkley earlier this week. Love can be a free agent if he does not sign a new contract with the Giants in the coming days. The free agent negotiating window open on Monday, March 13. The signing period begins on Wednesday, March 15. “They’ve [the Giants] constantly expressed interest,” Love told Bruce Murray and Mark Dominik. “Since the end of the season they’ve reiterated the interest to bring me back. I reiterated that I want to be back, hopefully, [if] we we can meet on the price.” Pro Football Focus projects that Love will get a three-year, $25 million contract ($8.33 million per year) with $15.5 million guaranteed in free agency. [BLG Note: Nick Sirianni’s biggest fan might be staying in NJ.]

Updated look at the Washington Commanders depth chart ahead of 2023 free agency - Hogs Haven
Carson Wentz was released; Taylor Heinicke will become a free agent on Wednesday, and based on comments his college coach made on local sports radio this past week, doesn’t appear to be on track to return to Washington for the ‘23 season. Right now, 2nd year quarterback Sam Howell, who has thrown 14 passes in an NFL regular season game, is the man, with Jake Fromm, who has actually thrown 60 NFL passes, as the only other quarterback on the roster. It’s possible that the team could use a mid-round draft pick on a rookie, but it seems much more likely that the Commanders will go bargain hunting in veteran free agency in search of a guy to compete with Sam Howell.

Rams, Dolphins agree to blockbuster Jalen Ramsey trade - SB Nation
The 2023 NFL league year has yet to begin, but teams are already making news. On Friday afternoon, the long-awaited trade of the first overall selection was announced, with the Chicago Bears trading out of the top spot in the 2023 NFL Draft in a deal with the Carolina Panthers. But before the league’s “legal tampering period” begins on Monday, the latest big piece of news was announced. According to reporting from numerous sources, the Los Angeles Rams have agreed to a trade with the Miami Dolphins involving star defensive back Jalen Ramsey. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the teams have agreed to a trade, which will be announced when the league year officially begins on Wednesday. Under the deal, the Dolphins will acquire Ramsey, in exchange for a 2023 third-round selection (pick 77 overall) and tight end Hunter Long.

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