Examining the Eagles’ Undrafted Money Allocation

When we reported the Eagles undrafted free agent class last month, we had a number of the significant guarantees needed to sign some of the more high-profile members of the group, including the $100,000 it took to get Michigan State defensive tackle Raequan Williams.

Turns out Williams, who had a draftable grade from just about every high-profile talent evaluator, wasn’t at the top of the ladder from a financial standpoint.

NBCSports Philadelphia got the numbers for the entire class and the most expensive to sign was actually Western Michigan center Luke Juriga, an All-MAC selection last season who started 52 games in his college career. Juriga received $116K in guarantees, including a $16K signing bonus while Williams got the $100K and $15K upfront.

Here are the rest of the guarantees:

Oregon State TE Noah Togiai - $100,000 guarantee ($10K signing bonus)

Baylor DB Grayland Arnold - $90,000 ($15K)

Louisiana-Lafayette DB Michael Jacquet - $90,000 ($15K)

Cincinnati RB Michael Warren - $57,500 ($7.5K)

Army S Elijah Riley - $50,000 ($10K)

Central Florida RB Adrian Killins - $42,500 ($7.5K)

New Hampshire CB Prince Smith - $34,000 ($9K)

Morgan State WR Manasseh Bailey - $32,500 ($7.5K)

Iowa State OG Julian Good-Jones - $32,000 ($7K)

Montana LB Dante Olson - $10,000 (No signing bonus)

Arizona WR Khalil Tate - $10,000 (No signing bonus)

The more important number is the actual signing bonus for two reasons: that’s the only money the Eagles are truly on the hook for in most cases and it gives you an indication that the player signed had other offers.

Offset language in the contracts which has become boilerplate in these types of deals means if the Eagles lose a player like Juriga on waivers the team that claimed him would be responsible for the guaranteed portion of the salary because in all UDFA cases that’s far less than the NFL’s minimum salary.

The same will likely hold true if a player is waived and signed to another practice squad as well although at a $10.5K a week minimum, the offsets may not reach the allocated thresholds in certain circumstances if players aren’t on a PS for a certain period of time. In Juriga’s case that would be in the nine-to-10 week category.

What the larger number does give you a good indication of is that the Eagles are planning to have players like Juriga, Williams, Togiai, Arnold, and Jacquet on their newly expanded 12-man PS if they don’t make a run at a 53-man roster spot.

John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM’s Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes, and every Tuesday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SBNation Radio. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

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