Howie Roseman Vows To Keep Two All-Pro Eagles' Jerseys Relevant With Contract Extensions

With Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter locked down, expect the Eagles to turn their attention to All-Pro players Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean.

Eagles Jordan Davis and Quinyon Mitchell get ready for the first day of training camp practice with coach Nick Sirianni in the background. | Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

PHILADELPHIA – Howie Roseman had a message for some of you wearing Eagles jerseys with your favorite players' names on the back. Basically, the general manager said, “It’s going to be OK.”

“I would say to our fans, if you're wearing a jersey with some of those guys with those names on the back, we fully intend for those guys to be here on the long term,” said Roseman on Wednesday, prior to the start of the Eagles’ first training camp practice of summer.

The implication is, there will be money for heavyweight secondary players Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean.

“When you talk about it, general managers get hired and they'll stand up and they'll have these microphones and they'll say, 'Well, how do you want to build your team?' And they say, 'We want to draft, we want to develop, we want to re-sign,'” said Roseman. “Since coach (Nick) Sirianni's here, that's all we've done. We've drafted players, we've resigned our players.”

Owner Jeffrey Lurie’s vault isn’t bottomless, and there is something called the salary cap, but Roseman knows how to keep finding money. Still, there will be casualties as we saw with Nakobe Dean and Reed Blankenship last year and Milton Williams, Josh Sweat, and Mekhi Becton after the 2024 Super Bowl season.

Some will get left out, perhaps players like Nolan Smith, Moro Ojomo, and Jalyx Hunt, could be on the outside looking in, but not if Roseman can help it.

Contract Restrutures And Sacrifices

Eagles GM Howie Roseman (left) and coach Nick Sirianni kicked off Day 1 of training camp by meeting with reporters before practice. | Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

“When you talk about culture, that's the first thing that comes to mind: 'If I do well, I'm going to get rewarded. I don't have to go somewhere else to do that,'” the GM said. “That's really a huge part of what we're trying to build. So, we're proud of that. That's going to be our first priority as opposed to getting to (free agency in) March and trying to go outside the building.

“The way that these drafts go about, it also allows you to structure your contracts in a way that you can continue to keep guys. Now, you're going to have to make sacrifices. You saw it in the offseason. We let players go that we care about, that we think are good players, that we think are really good people, that fit, but we had to move on because we have some game changing players and people that are part of this organization and we don't intend to lose.”

Expect All-Pros To Be Next

Eagles All-Pro DB Cooper DeJean gets ready to take a turn in the Eagles' first practice of training camp on July 29, 2026. | Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

Don’t ask how he does what he does. Nobody knows. Except Roseman. Most general managers are from the scouting and evaluation side of things. Not Roseman. He was hired in 2000 to be a salary cap staff council. He’s a lawyer. He knows contracts. He knows things none of us do, though we like to think we do.

One thing we can be certain of is that the salary cap will go up, and that will help.

The Eagles found money to pay Jalen Carter $106 million on a record-breaking deal signed the night before camp opened. That came nearly five months after giving Jordan Davis $65M guaranteed on his contract extension.

For those who think that’s a lot of money to tie up a pair of defensive tackles, you aren’t paying attention. The Eagles value offensive and defensive line play. They have paid a lot of money to offensive linemen through the years. Now, the emphasis is shifting to the defensive line, and they drafted a pair of stud tackles that they don’t want to lose.

So, Roseman found a way. And the thinking is he will do that again with Mitchell and DeJean. Hunt and Ojomo – and not in that order - could be next in the pecking order, if there is money to be found.

“I feel like the Eagles have done a fantastic job of drafting good talent that stays here,” said linebacker Zack Baun. “They look to build talent from within, develop, and just draft well. I mean, it's cool that you kind of see this shift from offensive core guys. Now we're building the defensive side. It's really a well-rounded machine around here.”