Eagles GM Howie Roseman Quiet - For Now
The offseason is picking up steam.
The deadline for franchise tagging players has passed, and it spurred action in New York, where the Eagles’ NFC East rival Giants are spending big to keep Daniel Jones at home, with a deal that spans four years and will be worth $160 million, including $80M guaranteed over the first two years.
In Philly, there were no tags handed out. That’s no surprise, even in spite of a report last week that GM Howie Roseman would use it on safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. The Eagles use tags the way draft running backs in the first round – it just doesn’t happen.
The storm will come soon enough, as the calendar continues to march inexorably toward the March 15 new league year. The legal tampering period begins 72 hours ahead of that, so keep an eye on the clouds gathering on the horizon.
Until then, Roseman is like a duck on a pond, with his legs churning away under the water. On the surface, though, there is only a calm, nothing-to-see-here, yet veneer.
He is a marathoner, not a sprinter. He knows the finish line is months away.
Still, there will be moves forthcoming, such as a Jason Kelce decision on whether he will retire or play on.
Plus, Roseman is reportedly working on a two-year deal for Brandon Graham, who has said he wants to play 15 years, which means he needs to log two more. And he is on record as saying he wants to spend his entire career with the team that drafted him in 2010.
The contract could come in around $6M per year.
With just under $14M to spend under the salary cap, Roseman is likely working on restructuring the contracts of CB Darius Slay and RT Lane Johnson, who have cap charges of $26M and $24M, respectively.
Who knows if Slay may even be here?
Oh, he wants to be, saying on social media: “I love Philly, man. I plan on staying in Philly, but if it don’t happen, I know I got one more year left here. I want an extension with the Eagles. I love the Eagles. They took another chance on me trading for me, and I panned out of course.”
That could change if the report that the Eagles are considering hiring Matt Patricia to coach linebackers is true. Hiring the Bill Belichick disciple and former head coach to run some part of their defense, doesn’t seem like a good idea.
Slay and Patricia couldn’t co-exist in Detroit when Patricia was the head coach there, so there’s no way they would in Philly.
Slay felt disrespected by Patricia, and he even brought it up again during Super Bowl LVII week, when he said that he had told Patricia that he had worked out with Aqib Talin and Richard Sherman.
“He basically just said, ‘You are not in that category yet,’” Slay said during Super Bowl week. “At that time, I only had one Pro Bowl but now I’m at five, so I want to know how he feels about that. I don’t wish bad on him, but as a man, me and him just don’t get along. He’s a smart coach, he knows his Xs and Os, but the disrespect is not what I’m with.”
Maybe Roseman has a surprise up his sleeve, sort of like the one he the last year on draft night when he acquired WR A.J. Brown.
Perhaps this year, he will look to trade Slay and re-sign James Bradberry.
Now that would be something.
Of course, a big order for Roseman is getting an extension done with QB Jalen Hurts.
Jones has his deal, Derek Carr has landed in New Orleans with a four-year, $150M deal in place, and Geno Smith signed a three-year deal worth $25M per year.
Still unsigned are Lamar Jackson, who the Ravens tagged on Tuesday, Justin Herbert in L.A., and Joe Burrow in Cincinnati.
It would behoove Roseman to get a deal done with Hurts ASAP, though maybe Hurts wants to wait to see what Jackson, Herbert, and/or Burrow command.
Hurts is the best QB in the NFC, so he has plenty of leverage and will – and should – get more than Jones got from the Giants.
Soon enough, the storm will arrive, and decisions will be made with personnel.
Right now, though, all is quiet.
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglestoday.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
