Options Aplenty

The Philadelphia Eagles are ahead of the game when it comes to contracts and salary cap management.

On the latest episode of “Inside The Birds,” Adam Caplan and Geoff Mosher dove into the contract situations of the team’s quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers. 

The Philadelphia Eagles have locked in QB Jalen Hurts and WR A.J. Brown for long term contracts.

Jalen Hurts

Geoff Mosher: “If he plays at a top ten level for three years or just good enough starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, isn’t it more likely that in that third year, when the guaranteed money is up, they will probably look to restructure him? Because he is going to want job security.”

Adam Caplan: “This year, because he has a low base salary, his cap number is only $6.15 million. His first option bonus of $39 million is next year, so that will jack up his cap number more…The option bonus is fully guaranteed, but it’s prorated like a signing bonus.”

Rashaad Penny

Mosher: “I do wonder if them acquiring D’Andre Swift, which they didn’t know they were going to be able to do until draft day, changes their outlook on Penny. Did they really expect them to have Swift and Penny along with (Kenny) Gainewell and (Boston) Scott?

Caplan: “You need backs with size. If Trey Sermon, who has no guaranteed money on his contract, has a great training camp and preseason, he can push Penny off of the roster. Penny has 600,000 guaranteed of his $1.35 million and has another $170,000 of per-game roster bonuses.” 

A.J. Brown

Caplan: “His cap number last year was only $5.7 million. His cash this year, including his base salary and the fully guaranteed option bonus, is $11.5 million, but the cap number is $8.32 million because they are prorating the option bonus. That’s how you reduce it. A lot of teams are worried about that because what if they miss, but the Eagles are fearless. They trust their evaluation.”

Mosher: “2024 will be year one of DeVonta Smith’s extension, which means his cap hit will probably be low, but years two and three of Smith will coincide with the backend of the A.J. Brown deal. They are going to wind up needing to restructure Brown because you can’t have both wide receivers with cap hits of $25 million each.” 

Quez Watkins

Caplan: “If he doesn’t beat out Zacchaeus for the third receiver job, how do you justify keeping him as the fourth receiver for $2.743 million? What they can do is cut it down to the veteran minimum, but fully guarantee it.”