Milton Williams snap count just went up recently which is still not half overall (28 snap average per game at 45%). He needs to prove he can play about 75% of the snaps before you give him a boatload of money. He's been banged up a lot over the years. Also,  think he's been main beneficiary of Carter and would be overpaid based on stats and actual usage. Put the money into every down positions with Beckton and Baun. Both positions of Right Guard and Linebacker have been a revolving door in recent years. I'd let Rodgers and Sweat walk unless they sign team friendly deals, which is realistic here. Maybe 10M per year. I love Williams, but he's gonna get Hargraves' contract at least. Gotta think about long term deals with Jurgens, Davis, Dean, Blankenship and Carter as well. Too many mouths to feed here. If it's at all possible, maybe franchise tag him for 1 year. Estimate is $23.5M for 2025. Just an idea before throwing a huge contract there at him.

 

 

One more thing to bear in mind -- Jalen Carter is hopefully the generational player on our defense for a decade. How much will he value keeping Davis and Dean around, and how much do those guys help get the best out of him? You might be inclined to prioritize them over Williams if you think they make Carter better.

Lol

 

Smith will probably play. Hope he's 100%. If not, give him one more week.

20 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

You have to stop with the $286mm number. The NFL called it out as abnormal due to COVID repayments. The $30mm increase was the largest in history by both dollars and percentage due to the one-time impact.

As I said, IF @Ace Nova's projection is accurate.  He presented his logic.  Who am I to contradict that logic?

 

Just now, mattwill said:

As I said, IF @Ace Nova's projection is accurate.  He presented his logic.  Who am I to contradict that logic?

You've been presented with proof that the 2024 salary cap escalation was a one-off, and you're choosing to ignore it. 

2 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

One more thing to bear in mind -- Jalen Carter is hopefully the generational player on our defense for a decade. How much will he value keeping Davis and Dean around, and how much do those guys help get the best out of him? You might be inclined to prioritize them over Williams if you think they make Carter better.

I would wonder how much Jordan Davis is actually helping him. Since the Bye when the D really turned around, and Carters play went up, Davis is playing on average 30ish % of the snaps, while Carter has been playing around 85% of the snaps. Meanwhile Williams has been playing more than Davis in that span around 45% of snaps. Carter also gave Williams a ton of credit against the Ravens.

As I typed this out, I realized I was dumb and you likely were referring to Davis/Carter being friends and college teammates and Davis "keeping Carter in line". If it were me, I would prioritize whatever was giving the best on field results and worry about friendships second. Either way I think Williams is probably gone though. 

I probably like Milton Williams more than most, but the discussion around which pending FA to keep and which to let go is all relative to what is the best use of salary cap resources.  The input of Eagles scouting department is also central to the process.  They will know, not only who is likely available at picks 28-32 where the Eagles are likely to be drafting, but also the depth of the draft class at each position.

Does it make more sense to extend Milton Williams at $18-20M AAV if you believe there will be another Milton Williams in the 3rd round at the draft?  Maybe the next couple of drafts are weak at DT in their assessment, and stronger at other positions of need.  Same calculus for Becton, although I think he would re-sign more cheaply than Williams would.  Becton endured a crap show with the Jets, and maybe wouldn't be in a huge rush to take the biggest $$$ to go back to another crap show.  JMO on him.

I also agree with others it's hard to imagine the Eagles early picks won't be spent on OL and DL.

9 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

You've been presented with proof that the 2024 salary cap escalation was a one-off, and you're choosing to ignore it. 

Yea, I'm not really understanding why anyone would think it would go up the same percentage or amount. It's based off projected and YoY revenues. Record profits will make it go up somewhat but it would have to be a substantial increase from 2024 to 2025 like it was from 2023 to 2024 for the cap to go up that much. The Media deals had a substantial increase the first year because it was a new contract. It will have a slight increase next year, but not the same jump at all. Also factor in the COVID one off, I'm not seeing anything that would shoot revenue up that high to have another massive jump in salary cap.

2 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

You've been presented with proof that the 2024 salary cap escalation was a one-off, and you're choosing to ignore it. 

Where was that proof presented?  I'll be glad to revise my speculations if there is indeed proof. 

With that said, speculations are speculations.  Nothing more, nothing less.  I have clearly labeled mine as "(somewhat optimistic)"

 

2 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

Yea, I'm not really understanding why anyone would think it would go up the same percentage or amount. It's based off projected and YoY revenues. Record profits will make it go up somewhat but it would have to be a substantial increase from 2024 to 2025 like it was from 2023 to 2024 for the cap to go up that much. The Media deals had a substantial increase the first year because it was a new contract. It will have a slight increase next year, but not the same jump at all. Also factor in the COVID one off, I'm not seeing anything that would shoot revenue up that high to have another massive jump in salary cap.

Fair enough.  Time will tell.

6 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

I would wonder how much Jordan Davis is actually helping him. Since the Bye when the D really turned around, and Carters play went up, Davis is playing on average 30ish % of the snaps, while Carter has been playing around 85% of the snaps. Meanwhile Williams has been playing more than Davis in that span around 45% of snaps. Carter also gave Williams a ton of credit against the Ravens.

As I typed this out, I realized I was dumb and you likely were referring to Davis/Carter being friends and college teammates and Davis "keeping Carter in line". If it were me, I would prioritize whatever was giving the best on field results and worry about friendships second. Either way I think Williams is probably gone though. 

It's really trying to quantify the unquantifiable -- how much better is Jalen Carter because he has Jordan Davis around to keep him inline and working? The reason JC dropped to us were maturity, work ethic and off the field issues. If Davis is instrumental in maximizing Carter's potential, then you have to think about that. 

Makes me think the right answer is to pick up JD's 5th year option, then talk to both of them after the 2025 season about extensions. You could also let JD play out the contract and then he's a FA when JC's 3 years are up and he is being extended. Might make sense to make them a package deal. 

In my mind, Jalen Carter has Aaron Donald type talent. Maximizing that is the key for the defense for the next decade. If that means paying JD instead of Williams, so be it.

56 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

The NFL called out the abnormal nature of the 2024 cap increase due to COVID repayments and new media deals. Assuming another $30mm cap increase is folly.

https://operations.nfl.com/updates/football-ops/nfl-announces-2024-salary-cap/#:~:text=The NFL announced today,and benefits for retired players.
 

 

 

2 minutes ago, mattwill said:

Where was that proof presented?  I'll be glad to revise my speculations if there is indeed proof. 

With that said, speculations are speculations.  Nothing more, nothing less.  I have clearly labeled mine as "(somewhat optimistic)"

 

Look above

4 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

Yea, I'm not really understanding why anyone would think it would go up the same percentage or amount. It's based off projected and YoY revenues. Record profits will make it go up somewhat but it would have to be a substantial increase from 2024 to 2025 like it was from 2023 to 2024 for the cap to go up that much. The Media deals had a substantial increase the first year because it was a new contract. It will have a slight increase next year, but not the same jump at all. Also factor in the COVID one off, I'm not seeing anything that would shoot revenue up that high to have another massive jump in salary cap.

The only one time benefit we could see for next year is the Netflix Christmas games. So maybe that makes the 273 more like 278 or something. Hard to say.

23 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

 

BG does a lot of trash talk so that's probably why

54 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

Honestly, looking at the most recent estimates, the 5th year option on JD is going to be around $11.5mm for 2026. Might be the best route, then see if you can get Williams done and keep all 3 together for 2 more years. Obviously Carter will get a monster deal after the 2025 season, but gives you through 2026 with all 3.

Yeah, that’s my thought process. Keep them together for this window with our young D and the offense all in their prime and locked up on multiyear yea.

You probably have to let Davis walk after the option year, but I think we can handle that and it gives us 2 more shots at a ring.

That's how good the D has been

39 minutes ago, jojodancer said:

Milton Williams snap count just went up recently which is still not half overall (28 snap average per game at 45%). He needs to prove he can play about 75% of the snaps before you give him a boatload of money. He's been banged up a lot over the years. Also,  think he's been main beneficiary of Carter and would be overpaid based on stats and actual usage. Put the money into every down positions with Beckton and Baun. Both positions of Right Guard and Linebacker have been a revolving door in recent years. I'd let Rodgers and Sweat walk unless they sign team friendly deals, which is realistic here. Maybe 10M per year. I love Williams, but he's gonna get Hargraves' contract at least. Gotta think about long term deals with Jurgens, Davis, Dean, Blankenship and Carter as well. Too many mouths to feed here. If it's at all possible, maybe franchise tag him for 1 year. Estimate is $23.5M for 2025. Just an idea before throwing a huge contract there at him.

Williams is worth good money, just not great money.  They should make every effort to re-sign him, just need to be willing to let him walk if someone gets stupid.

One of my under the radar takes about the Ravens game was the impressive variety of pronunciations Jim Nantz used when calling the name of Britain Covey. He worked them all in.

12 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

 

Look above

Okay I will bite.  Where in that announcement is there anything about the 2025 Cap?

The NFL announced today that the 2024 Salary Cap will be $255.4 million per club, with an additional $74 million per club payment for player benefits, which includes Performance Based Pay and benefits for retired players. Total 2024 player costs will be $329.4 million per club, or more than $10.5 billion league-wide.

The unprecedented $30 million increase per club in this year’s Salary Cap is the result of the full repayment of all amounts advanced by the clubs and deferred by the players during the Covid pandemic as well as an extraordinary increase in media revenue for the 2024 season.   

Nor is there anything in that announcement about ...

Graziano also noted that the increase could've been even higher if some cap space wasn't pushed to 2025.

"In fact, in the negotiations between the league and the NFLPA to finalize this year's cap, an agreement was reached to "float" about $8-10 million of this year's increase into next year," Graziano stated. "Yes, this means that this year's cap could have been as high as $265 million if it were based solely on the raw revenue-production numbers."

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10112020-nfl-rumors-2025-salary-cap-not-expected-to-make-similar-jump-to-2024-after-30m-rise

9 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

That's how good the D has been

Are they in contract talks? I've only ever heard of a player refusing to play if it's because of a contract year

Just now, Mike030270 said:

Are they in contract talks? I've only ever heard of a player refusing to play if it's because of a contract year

I think he was in uniform but when the coaches said "Diontae, you're up!"  He said "ummm, nah." .... or something to that effect.

Something like Antonio Brown did in Tampa, without the melodrama.  

I think there is some nuance to the relative importance and replaceability of Davis vs. Williams that we, as fans, can't quite appreciate.  Even Howie, to a certain extent.  Vic has this defense hitting all cylinders and...maybe most importantly...has players settling into well defined roles in the front 7 for the first time in a long time.  

Maybe Williams is the beneficiary of Carter's attention and Ojomo/draft pick could easily handle that job.  Maybe Williams really is becoming a stud (playing next to an all-pro or not, consistent interior disruption is a rarity and a big deal...I don't think the Rams ever got big production out of Donald's DT2).   

Or maybe, despite the low snap count, Davis' sheer size and immovability is adding a dimension to the defense that Fangio isn't willing to lose...or maybe he believes that a 2 down run stopper is easily replaceable.

Or maybe Vic thinks that this 3 DT rotation is essential to the functionality of the defense and sacrifices need to be made elsewhere to keep all 3.

I've seen each angle of those viewpoints argued (and well argued) on the boards.  No absolute truth there...but Fangio has been pushing al the right buttons with them, so I sort of trust that he knows who is replaceable and who is not.