Changes are coming
There were a few reasons why the Eagles struggled to a 9-7 record in 2018. The main contributor was injuries, with an inconsistent secondary and backfield hurting the team (again, injuries) as well. But another one was the lack of production by several players. Fortunately for the Eagles, a lot of them are about to become free agents, so it will be easy to move on from them. For others, there are arguments for and against bringing them back.
Let’s go down the list in order of 2018 cap hit.
Brandon Graham (2018 cap hit: $8M)
What would you pay a 31 year old defensive end who has never hit double digit sacks and had 4 in 2018? Not a lot, right? What would you pay a key player on the unit that drives your defense who is also one of the leaders in your locker room? Quite a bit, right? This the dilemma facing the Eagles. The Eagles are certainly prepared to walk away, or they wouldn’t have let Graham get this far without an extension. They already have two capable starters in Derek Barnett and Michael Bennett so they are in a position to let Graham walk in free agency. Whether or not they should is a matter of debate that we’ll have plenty of time to have (or have in the comments today).
Golden Tate (prorated 2018 cap hit: $7M)
Including the playoffs, Tate played less than half of snaps in 5 of his last 7 games. In his half season in Detroit he was on track to have one of his best seasons, in his half season in Philadelphia he was basically Nelson Agholor in 2016.
Tate is still a very good player, evidenced in part by his ad libed game winning touchdown against the Bears. The Eagles didn’t need another slot receiver in 2018. But they might in 2019. Nelson Agholor’s 5th year option is $9.4M, a decision is going to have to come for his future with the team: do they lock him up long term or release him and go with someone else as the slot receiver? If it’s the latter, they’ve already got a potential replacement in Tate.
Mike Wallace (2018 cap hit: $4M)
On paper Wallace was the perfect addition, a deep threat who was also highly productive. Unfortunately he got hurt pretty much as soon as the season began. Only making $4 million this year, he shouldn’t cost much to retain if the Eagles want to.
Haloti Ngata (2018 cap hit: $2.7)
Ngata was a reasonable gamble on the one year ring chasing vet market, but he’s toast.
Jordan Hicks (2018 cap hit: $2.1M)
In his first two years Hicks was a playmaker, with 7 interceptions, 4 fumble recoveries and 2 sacks in 24 games. He hasn’t been that player over the last two years, and he’s only been healthy once. The Eagles should probably move on.
Chance Warmack (2018 cap hit: $2M)
There was a decent argument for cutting Warmack during training camp cut downs. He was a healthy scratch more often than not.
Jay Ajayi (2018 cap hit: $1.9M)
The Eagles need a reliable, every down back. Ajayi has the talent to be one, but he can’t stay on the field. 2017 was his only healthy season (the record will show he only played in 14 games, but that’s because he had a bye week with the Dolphins and then was a Week 17 inactive). And as soon as he joined the Eagles they started managing his workload in practice. When the Eagles traded for him it was almost certainly with the knowledge that they wouldn’t be re-signing him this year. But the injury, ironically, might change things. It’s hard to see a big market for Ajayi in free agency, which could play into the Eagles hands. On a short deal, bringing back Ajayi makes some sense.
Chris Maragos (2018 cap hit: $1.9M)
Hasn’t played since October 2017 and had two surgeries on the same knee in 2018.
Corey Graham (2018 cap hit: $1.7M)
A fine depth signing in 2017 who was over exerted in 2018. Avonte Maddox looked good in relief of Rodney McLeod, but he also looked good wherever the Eagles put him. The Eagles should have replaced Graham with a young player last year, now they have to.
Darren Sproles (2018 cap hit: $1.4M)
Darren Sproles can do whatever he wants, which might be retire.
Ronald Darby (2018 cap hit: $1.1M)
I originally was going to write this piece during the season after the Eagles were effectively or actually eliminated from the playoffs, but then they kept on winning. Midway through the season, you could make an argument either way to keep Darby or let him walk. Now there’s a stronger argument for letting him walk. After a few bumps, the secondary found its groove with young players, and suddenly Darby is an afterthought.
Jordan Matthews (prorated 2018 cap hit: $790k)
When the Eagles traded Matthews to the Bills, it was the right call. He was expendable since they were moving Nelson Agholor to the slot, and they weren’t going to re-sign him. But in his second stint, he looked good. There will be plenty of people arguing to bring him back (and apparently a few in the locker room who wouldn’t), and one of them will almost certainly be Carson Wentz. As a depth receiver you can do worse.
Richard Rodgers (2018 cap hit: $720k)
A reasonable depth signing in early April who has been made expendable by the selection of Dallas Goedert in late April.
Paul Worrilow (2018 cap hit: $720)
You’d be forgiven if you forgot he was on the roster, having torn his ACL in May. The Eagles can take him or leave him as a depth/special teams signing.
DJ Alexander (2018 cap hit: $705k)
LaRoy Reynolds (2018 cap hit: $630k)
The Eagles special teams were nothing special in 2018, and while that’s mostly because they haven’t had threats in the return game, there’s room for improvement elsewhere.
Nate Sudfeld (RFA) (2018 cap hit: $630k)
The team likes Sudfeld a lot, and in the preseason he showed flashes why. The #2 QB job will become vacant whatever will happen to Nick Foles happens to Nick Foles. After three years of expensive backups, the team should go with the cheap and familiar face.
Rick Lovato (2018 cap hit: $630k)
The best thing you can say about a long snapper’s performance is that it’s unmemorable. Rick Lovato has been completely unmemorable.
Jake Elliott (ERFA) (2018 cap hit: $555k)
I’ll give Elliott this: he’s consistent. He converted 83.9% of his FG attempts in 2017, and 83.9% of his FG attempts in 2018. He just did it in a very inconsistent way. In 2017 he converted 89.4% of attempts of 40+ yards, in 2018 just 69.2%. But he improved his <40 yard FGs from 75% to 94.4%.
And keep in mind, this is just scheduled free agents. There is still Timmy Jernigan, who looks to either be back for something less than his $11M salary or not back at all, along with the aforementioned Nick Foles, Nelson Agholor.
It’s going to be a busy offseason.
from Bleeding Green Nation - All Posts http://bit.ly/2FRh34C
No comments:
Post a Comment