Dallas Goedert's Decision To Stay Gives Eagles More Financial Ammo

Dallas Goedert wanted to stay with the Eagles. So did Michael Carter, and Landon Dickerson wanted to give the organization that drafted him some salary-cap relief and took a bit of pay cut while reducing the contract extension he signed two years ago from three more years left to just two, knowing that injuries may not allow him to see it through.

Darius Slay wants to be an Eagle again, saying over the weekend that the only team who can call him are the Eagles. Jalen Carter would no doubt like to stay with the Eagles, too.

A.J. Brown, it seems, might the outlier. He may not want to be an Eagle again, and could be traded once June 1 arrives, if not sooner.

Now, thanks to Goedert’s decision on Sunday to return on a one-year deal, as well as some other astute moves by general manager Howie Roseman, there are options – namely to perhaps trade Brown before June 1 and/or get a contract extension for Carter.

Goedert could have really stuck it to the Eagles and let them take a $20 million salary cap charge by leaving in free agency. He reportedly had other offers, too. What Goedert did cannot be understated from an organization view.

Same with Jordan Davis, who agreed to a three-year extension to save the Eagles $8 million in cap space, and Carter, whose contract restructure saved Philly about $8M in cap space.

Rig Woolen wanted to be with the Eagles, too, and general manager Howie Roseman got a deal done with the free agent cornerback that will only count $3.5 million against the cap in 2026. He praised their winning culture, something he was familiar with after four years with the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.

It all adds up to an Eagles payroll that is below $40 million on the cap. That’s plenty of money to do a long-term extension for Jalen Carter. It also allows the Eagles to trade Brown before June 1, a move that would cost about $20 million in cap space.

Howie Roseman Has Options

There’s a theme here, though. Players want to play for the Eagles. Nakobe Dean would have loved to come back. Reed Blankenship, too. In the end, it didn’t work out for them.

It worked out for Goedert because he agreed to let the team continue to negotiate a new contract even after it expired. The tight end wanted to stay with Sirianni and Hurts.

It makes it harder to believe the reports that nobody wanted to be the Eagles’ offensive coordinator back when interviews began early in the offseason. If any of it was true, and they were scared off by – what was it? Unrealistic sky-high expectations? Too much pressure in a city that demands high performance? Hurts isn’t good enough? Sirianni is too…whatever?

In the end, the Eagles ended up hiring three of the coaches they interviewed for that job, starting with Sean Mannion to the be OC, Josh Grizzard to be the passing game coordinator, and Jerrod Johnson to be a senior offensive assistant/special projects. But because Brian Daboll, Mike McDaniel, and others weren’t hired, erroneous reports surfaced that they didn’t want the job for some reason.

Fact is, the Eagles are one of the better, more successful organizations in the NFL, with playoff trips in eight of the last nine years, three Super Bowl trisp in nine years with two Super Bowl championships, and a GM who is one of the best in the business, and now dangerous with millions in cap space.

Who wouldn’t want to coach in that environment? Who wouldn’t want to play in that environment? Maybe Brown, but he’s the outlier.