What Brandon Graham’s re-signing means for the Colts

Brandon Graham just got re-signed by the Eagles, how does this affect the Colt’s plans?

During a break in the NFL Scouting Combine, the Eagles announced they had signed Brandon Graham to a 3-year $40 million dollar contract. It was somewhat surprising to see Philadelphia dedicate that kind of cash for Graham. He has been a great player but just turned 30 years old, had 4.0 sacks last year and the Eagles are are working with a tight budget.

Perhaps the decision was more in line with Chris Ballard’s philosophy to re-sign homegrown talent and develop locker room chemistry. Eagles GM Howie Roseman referred to Graham as, “a legend in Philadelphia.”

While seeing a player like Graham sign may not strike Colts fans as a huge blow, he did have value as a possible mentor to our young, developing edge rushers. I don’t think that value works out to $13 million a year.

On the plus side for the rest of the league, the Eagles are left with only $18 million dollars in cap room for 2019. Once you consider the need to pay their incoming rookies, they have closer to $8-10 million dollars to spend. This makes it highly unlikely that they will be able to re-sign a player who could be a real difference maker, cornerback Ronald Darby — note that he tore his ACL in Week 10.

At the end of the day, the Eagles overpaid to re-sign an aging (30) home-grown edge player (drafted 13th pick in 2010), eating up a lot of their cap and likely accepting that they will have to allow some of their more talented players to leave on the open market.

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