Jonathan Greenard Extension Significantly Favors Eagles in Short Term And Pushes Back A Larger Problem

The Philadelphia Eagles have Jonathan Greenard signed to a four-year extension, which was reached immediately after the draft. This was the deal that pushed the Greenard trade through, as the Eagles added a premium pass rusher to compensate the loss of Jaelan Phillips in free agency.

The numbers of that deal are in, via Spotrac, and they significantly are in the Eagles favor. Greenard's deal is for four years and $98 million, with $50 million guaranteed.

The good news for the Eagles? The deal is essentially two years and $50 million, essentially paying Greenard $25 million a year. Greenard is locked in for the 2026 and 2027 seasons ith low cap hits in each of those years.

Grrrenard will cost the Eagles a cap hit of $6.1 million in year one and $11.1 million in year two (2027). That cap hit increases to $15.7 million in 2028 and $20.2 million in 2029 -- assuming Greenard is still on the roster and his contract isn't restructured.

Sounds like a great deal right? The Eagles did puch back more money, similar to other deals they have made over the last several years.

Philadelphia allocated $44.4 million in voided years starting in 2030, after the Greenard contract is expired. Those 2030 to 2033 years automatically void 23 days before the 2030 league year.

More voided years for the Eagles? Don't they have enough of them in other deals?

Why the voided years matter

The Eagles have plenty of fake contract years in contracts as a way to create cap space. The void years push back salary cap charges so that when the player's contract expires, the salary in the void years of the contract account for that season.

The voided years allow the Eagles to spread out cap space over the life of a contract, and well after the deal ends. If any player has void years in their contract and they are not re-signed before the contract voids, the remaining money from the voided years gets transferred into dead money for the next season.

Essentially, the Eagles saved cap space with the Greenard deal -- for now. The bill will have to be paid at some point.

How the Eagles maneuver their way around the voided years

The Eagles like to convert a portion of a player's base salary or roster bonus into a signing bonus, thus creating immediate cap space to make moves. Base salaries and roster bonuses count in full against the cap, but signing bonuses are prorated over the life of a contract.

The players get their money immediately in roster bonuses and signing bonuses, instead of weekly pay over the course of the year. Depending on how much of the player's salary the team wants to convert into a roster or signing bonus, that's how much the team saves in salary cap space. In turn, it frees up salary cap space to sign other players.

They could do this with Greenard based on the structure of his deal. Greenard has a $22.9 million option bonus for 2027 that's guaranteed, which can be converted into a signing bonus. His option bonus for 2028 is $21.9 million and 2029 is $21.8 million. The Eagles could maneuver those option years into a signing bonus to create more cap space in the immediate future.

The dead money does come

Dead money is the amount of money which still needs to be accounted for on the salary cap after the player's contract is no longer in effect. Basically, it's money the player has been paid but hasn't been accounted for on the salary cap.

The Eagles have paid the cash amount for players like Greenard, but have pushed back the salary cap in order to have a top-heavy roster with high-priced contracts. The Eagles are currently ninth in the NFL in dead money ($51,617,968), which will grow with the added number of voided years to contract (unless they restructure).

The only time this doesn't work for the Eagles is when a player wants out, like A.J. Brown. That's why the Eagles were waiting to trade him until after June 1, when they can split the dead cap into two years and preserve cap space.

The rising salary cap softens the blow of dead money, and it keeps rising at a rapid rate every year. The Eagles should be fine with the voided yeras on all these long-term contracts, but the bill has to be paid at some point.

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