Could Beau Allen Return to Eagles?

It’s going to be a busy next two weeks for general manager Howie Roseman and the Eagles, with only a week remaining until NFL teams can begin negotiating with pending free agents.

It all starts on March 16, though official announcements on signings or trades cannot happen until the new league year officially begins at 4 p.m. on March 18.

My initial list of free agents the Eagles should pursue was published on Jan. 29, more than a month ago. It has changed a bit.

Here’s what the first list looked like:

Logan Ryan, Titans cornerback.

Robby Anderson, Jets receiver.

Joe Schobert, Browns linebacker.

Beau Allen, Bucs defensive tackle.

Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix, Bears safety.

I’m still in on Ryan, Allen, and Clinton-Dix.

It looks like, however, the Eagles will try to unload most of the $42 million they have under the salary cap on cornerback Byron Jones. Jones will be in high demand, and could very well stay in the NFC East, with the Eagles, Giants and Redskins all interested. One thing is sure – though in free agency, nothing is 100 percent certain until it actually happens - Jones won’t be back in Dallas next season.

Ryan is a tremendous locker room presence, though he is a bit outside the age profile the Eagles are probably looking for, having just turned 29 earlier this year. Ryan was highly productive in terms of numbers last year with the Titans, making four interceptions and forcing four fumbles.

Three years ago, he signed a deal worth $30 million for three seasons. Ryan probably won’t get more this time around and there is a chance he could get less. The Eagles should investigate and offer three years at $24 million.

Clinton-Dix was a bargain last year, signing a one-year deal for a base of $3 million. He has started all 16 games dating to 2015 and he had two picks, two fumble recoveries and 78 tackles for the Bears in 2019. Incredibly, those numbers are strikingly similar to Rodney McLeod’s numbers last year.

McLeod, who is a free agent, had 76 tackles, two picks and two fumble recoveries.

The difference?

Clinton-Dix is three years younger, just 27. McLeod will turn 30 in June.

Offer Clinton-Dix three years at $21 million.

Allen is just 28. He left the Eagles after winning the Super Bowl and signed a three-year, $15 million contract with Tampa. The contract was renegotiated in March of last year, with the Bucs reducing his salary from $5 million to $4 million guaranteed with the chance to earn back the rest in incentives. As part of the deal, Tampa deleted the 2020 year, setting Allen free.

He played in 13 games last year but made just 10 tackles. Still, he is familiar with the system and would be a nice fit in a rotation. Give him a one-year, $3 million deal.

I’m out on Schobert, who looks will want more money than the Eagles are willing to spend on a linebacker. Give me Chicago’s Nick Kwiatkoski instead.

Kwiatkoski has made 22 starts since entering the league as a fourth-round draft pick of the Bears out of West Virginia in 2016. He turns 27 in May and is the kind of under-the-radar signing the Eagles typically like to make in free agency. An offer of two or three years at $6 million might work.

As for Anderson, the receiver market is expected to be soft since the draft is deep in pass catchers. Still, Anderson may command more than the Eagles are willing to spend, and there seems to be some momentum toward signing Breshad Perriman, even though Perriman hasn’t lived up to the expectation of being the 26 player taken overall in 2015.

But he has size, can still run fast, and is just 26, so on that level it makes sense, and maybe he comes at a decent price.

To recap: my five free agent targets haven’t changed much, except to swap Schobert for Kwiatkoski and Perriman for Schobert.