The Philadelphia Eagles officially announced that they’ve signed Brandon Graham to a three-year contract and the deal looks fair for all parties involved. After initially saying that the Eagles wouldn’t get a hometown discount, it looks like that’s exactly what Graham gave the Eagles, signing for between $12 million and $14 million per season.
The Eagles were looking at the possibility of losing three veteran defensive ends in Graham, Michael Bennett, and Chris Long. Now the Eagles possibly will lose both Bennett and Long as salary cap casualties.
Here are four takeaways from the Eagles re-signing their longest-tenured defender.
Graham was a priority to the organization:
The free agent class was loaded with quality pass rushers, yet Graham’s ability to create pressure was coveted by teams around the league and the Eagles didn’t want to lose that production.
Eagles must make a decision on Long and Bennett:
With Graham returning it’s highly unlikely that both Chris Long and Michael Bennett return to the Eagles who desperately need to continue to create cap space. Both are under contract for next season, but the Eagles could release both. Long indicated at the end of last year that he wouldn’t mind an increased role and more snaps, and after this season, he was unsure if he’d return next season.
Howie Roseman got Graham for a bargain:
Graham’s new deal is reportedly worth $40 million over three years, an average of about $13.3 million per year. Graham was projected to earn around $16 million on the open market, so Howie Roseman wins again, and we’ll have one of the top edge rushers in the league at a reasonable deal, considering DeMarcus Lawrence, Dee Ford, Trey Flowers, Jadeveon Clowney Frank Clark, Za’Darius Smith, Ezekiel Ansah, Preston Smith, and others will likely push the market up into $15M-$17M per season.
Eagles need to continue to free up cap space:
Losing Nick Foles will save the team $18.8 million, but that’s not enough. The Eagles were projected to be $2.15 million under the salary cap prior to the NFL Combine, and now they’re staring at being about $10 million over the cap again so moves will need to be made. The Eagles will need to look into restructuring contracts and could look to move on from the likes of Tim Jernigan, wide receiver Nelson Agholor, Jason Peters and, or Chris Long.
