Pandemic Further Complicates Trade of Alshon Jeffery
There are a number of big-name veteran players around the NFL being shopped as the 2020 NFL Draft approaches.
Some have real value like Washington left tackle Trent Williams and Jacksonville edge rusher Yannick Ngakoue and others, like Eagles’ injured receiver Alshon Jeffery, are essentially NBA-like salary dumps.
No matter what lip service you hear coming from Howie Roseman, the belief around the league is that Jeffery will not play another game in Philadelphia, a nod to both his perceived disruption of the locker room and his descent as a player.
The issue is that Roseman reworked Jeffery’s contract before last season began and guaranteed things through the 2020 season for the lengthy wideout.
It’s foolish to blame the Eagles’ general manager for not possessing a crystal ball that would have allowed him to see Jeffery dialing Josina Anderson or another tick of stopwatch speed being lost to Father Time by a receiver whose game wasn’t based on speed.
Sometimes evaluations just aren’t correct and the Eagles believed Jeffery would be a key part of their offense through the 2020 season before the need to move on would arise. They were wrong and now the mess must be cleaned up.
In perfect circumstances that would be difficult because a Lisfranc injury that ended Jeffery’s 2019 season prematurely means he’s unlikely to be healthy at the start of the 2020 season if there are no delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There are always things that come up that you never see but I don’t see Alshon getting traded, I see him staying in Philadelphia,” ESPN analyst Adam Schefter said on 97.5 The Fanatic Wednesday morning.
While football issues are included in that sentiment the bigger issue is the pandemic, according to Schefter.
“In these uncertain financial times, would you want to take that $10 million dollar risk on a guy like Alshon right now?” said Schefter. "... the high price guys with real money involved, the trades this year in the pandemic become more challenging than ever before and it makes it more difficult to move guys like that.”
Maybe the best-case scenario for the NFL right now is playing in empty stadiums this fall, something Schefter noted would cost the average team about $100M in revenue and send the salary cap trending downward. And that would make commitments to players even greater on a percentage basis.
SI.com reached out to former agent turned CBSSports reporter Joel Corry to get his take on how the pandemic might affect NFL contract business moving forward.
“Too soon to make that assumption,” Corry said via direct message. “Most teams wouldn't focus on extensions until after the draft anyway if players were pushing for them. Elite players are going to market value regardless of the environment.”
The complication for the Eagles is that Jeffery is no longer elite - and injured on top of that - but he's still being paid like he is.
John McMullen covers the Eagles for SI.com and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every day on SIRIUSXM’s Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes, Every Tuesday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SBNation Radio, and every weekday on ESPN 97.3 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
