I've learned my lesson. No more big dreams. Total reealism on my part.

With only $13M available which is todays overthecap.com number after the draaft class i think we're going to preceive that we've had a have a terrible free agency period.

OK - we can cut Michael Carter III and add another $9M to our available funds. Jakorian Bennett, Ojukwu $1.1M saved, - That's a total of $23M.

We have 7 starters who are free agents. WR3 Dotson, TE1 Goedert, CB2 Adoree' Jackson, starting LB Dean, S Blankenship, Edge Phillips, Punter Mann. Call it 6 since we have ?Dean's replacement on the roster. Let's call Phillips, Goedet, and Blankenship the big 3.

We have 7 more contributers who are free agnets. OT Big Fred, OL Brett Toth, TE2 Calcaterra, Edge Uche, S Epps, TE3 Granson, LS Hughlett. Call it 6 with Cameron Williams replaceing Big Fred.

Other non-contributoes QB Howell, RB Dillon, WR Marshall, OL Pryor, Edge Ojulari, Edge Okoronokwo, Cb Nickerosn

How many of the 12 unreplaced starters and contributors can be retained with $22M? Probably 1 of the big 3 and 3 or 4 contributors.

So we keep:

Phillips $20M/yr, $10M cap hit, Mann $2M, Toth $2M, Uche $2M, Epps $3M

Free agent signings - TE Daniel Bellinger $2M (replaces Calcaterra)

The boards, WIP and the media overall will be wailing and gnashing their teeth.

Can't trade AJ due to a $49M cap hit. Can't cut Elliott due to a $6M cap hit. God forbit Lane retires pre-June 1 whiich would cause a $19M cap hit, or Landon with a $17M hit.

So we lose - starters WR3 Dotson, TE1 Goedert, CB2 Jackson, S Blankenship, LB Dean and contributors at OT Big Fred, TE3 Granson, LS Hughlett

And we have on ly 2 QB's on the roster. We need 4 - 3 active and 1 PS.

Draft -

1 - CB Colton Hood (replaces Jackson)

2 - WR Elijah Sarratt (replaces Dotson)

3 - Edge Dani Dennis-Sutton (replaces BG)

3 - TE Max Klare (replaces Goedert)

4 - S Jalon Kilgore (replaces Blankenship)

4 - OL Demetrious Crownover (replaces Pryor)

5 - QB Cole Payton (replaces Howell)

5 - LB Aiden Fisher (replaces Dean)

Undrafted free agents -

TE Bauer Sharp LSU (replaces Granson)

LS Veau Gardner Georgia (replaces Hughlett)

QB Tyler Van Dyke SMU (replaces Howell and is our practice squad QB)

WR Barrion Brown LSU (battles Wilson & Covey or replaces Marshall on PS)

OL Ryan Baoe Pitt (PS candidate battling Hinton and Pierce)

IOL Can Dewberry Alabama (PS candidate)

Edge Marvin jones Oklahoma (PS candidate replaced Okoronokwo)

Rob, I think this is a pretty reasonable take on the offseason with the cap space limitations. The draft haul is solid and I think there is a decent argument to go with a CB in the first round given the potential to start at CB2 right away, where a lot of mocks tend to pivot towards OL/DL selections. While I like Sarratt as a prospect and late 2nd round/early 3rd round is probably around the range he goes, I'm not quite as keen on using that 2nd rounder on a WR unless you're projecting A.J. Brown to be traded the following year, which is certainly possible, or you are expecting a big return on investment at upgrading the WR3 spot in the new offensive philosophy.

Prioritizing Jaelan Phillips is likely the best option in free agency, hard to argue with keeping him over Dean and Goedert if you can only keep one of the 3. The other re-signings are fine also.

Appreciate the time and effort you put in to create a realistic mock.

I like it I forgot about Aiden Fisher the few games of theirs I saw I like him. I’ll have to look into him more…

The big breaking news is that lane has told people he is coming back so that is good news.

Like it a lot…

No criticism but you have a habit of picking prospects who’ll replace vets who left instead of picking the best player at a position of need, whether or not for right now or for the near future.

IMO FA is for plugging glaring holes and the draft (especially the first couple of rounds) for infusing talent. Of course there are exceptions

6 minutes ago, Ray75 said:

No criticism but you have a habit of picking prospects who’ll replace vets who left instead of picking the best player at a position of need, whether or not for right now or for the near future.

IMO FA is for plugging glaring holes and the draft (especially the first couple of rounds) for infusing talent. Of course there are exceptions

You're right Ray. I don't think Howie has the near future to consider. The future is now and we can't have an incomplete roster.

I agree FA is for plugging holes but withthe limited cash and the number of our own FA's I just do not see it in the cards this year.

2 hours ago, Rob331 said:

You're right Ray. I don't think Howie has the near future to consider. The future is now and we can't have an incomplete roster.

I agree FA is for plugging holes but withthe limited cash and the number of our own FA's I just do not see it in the cards this year.

I do. If you reach for need, you make mistakes. I’m always for taking BPA as long as it makes some sense. Best case scenario is when need and BPA aline.

Just don’t overthink (like taking Reagor over Jefferson, Mychal Kendricks over Bobby Wagner), take the best player on the board at a position you feel comfortable taking there.

18 hours ago, Ray75 said:

I do. If you reach for need, you make mistakes. I’m always for taking BPA as long as it makes some sense. Best case scenario is when need and BPA aline.

So let's keep this conversation going. Take a look at this mock. Do you see a reach or an obvious bypassing of a superior bpa?

11 minutes ago, Rob331 said:

So let's keep this conversation going. Take a look at this mock. Do you see a reach or an obvious bypassing of a superior bpa?

Not in this mock but it’s about position. You won’t have to address a specific position if you filled the most glaring holes in FA.

Try to go into the draft not having to force. That should be the goal…

1 hour ago, Ray75 said:

Not in this mock but it’s about position. You won’t have to address a specific position if you filled the most glaring holes in FA.

Try to go into the draft not having to force. That should be the goal…

We're 100% in agreement. Problen is that with the absence of cap space filling almost any need in free agency is a huge question mark, so there's only one way to replace those contributors - the draft.

To recap here are the needs - Edge (2 only 2 on the roster), safety (1 or 2 - Epps and Blankenship)), corner (a starter @CB2), LB (bottom of the roster player), TE (up to 3), WR3 (starter), OL (up to 3), QB (need 2), punter, LS.

That's a total of 17 contributors possibly moving on. If Howie can sign 5 or 6 of them he's a geniou. Best case, 2 more from other teams. At best that's 8 of the 17 contributor slots filled. That leave the draft and the 8 picks we have.

17 hours ago, Rob331 said:

We're 100% in agreement. Problen is that with the absence of cap space filling almost any need in free agency is a huge question mark, so there's only one way to replace those contributors - the draft.

To recap here are the needs - Edge (2 only 2 on the roster), safety (1 or 2 - Epps and Blankenship)), corner (a starter @CB2), LB (bottom of the roster player), TE (up to 3), WR3 (starter), OL (up to 3), QB (need 2), punter, LS.

That's a total of 17 contributors possibly moving on. If Howie can sign 5 or 6 of them he's a geniou. Best case, 2 more from other teams. At best that's 8 of the 17 contributor slots filled. That leave the draft and the 8 picks we have.

I don’t view it that way but I do agree we don’t have a lot of cap space. You have to operate with the room you have. Looking for bargains and one year proof it deals again.

Let’s start with the available safeties. If Blankenship is too pricy, who could you sign for (way) less?!

Included the link to spotrac for the available safeties;

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/available/_/year/2026/position/s

Some fit, others won’t. Some are older, some really young, some will sign in the first couple of days in FA while others will last weeks and even months after the start of FA.

Although I can see Howie freeing up more cap space, start with having a number in mind for a couple of holes you want to address in FA. Don’t have to be studs, just guys who will likely to be able to fill a hole, even if it’s a back up role.

Don’t restrict yourself to the cap. There are multiple ways to get around that. It’s about what your paying them this year. Don’t worry about 2027 yet. You can construct a contract in many ways.

What you won’t likely be able to do is sign a big time FA. Other than that, plenty of options at every position.

Fill the most glaring holes like TE if you don’t retain Goedert, S if you don’t retain Blankenship, Edge etc. Leave some blanks open, still time after the draft.

Heading into the draft, you should be able to play a game with the guys you have on the roster. The players you add in the draft are for the future and depth. Ideally they don’t have to fill huge shoes from the get go but have time to slowly integrate. That way you won’t have to force a rookie into a starting role.

That’s the way you approach the offseason IMO

On 2/19/2026 at 3:55 PM, Ray75 said:

I do. If you reach for need, you make mistakes. I’m always for taking BPA as long as it makes some sense. Best case scenario is when need and BPA aline.

Just don’t overthink (like taking Reagor over Jefferson, Mychal Kendricks over Bobby Wagner), take the best player on the board at a position you feel comfortable taking there.

I do agree with having BPA as a philosophy, but the examples you cited involved same position players in which the Eagles simply had the lesser of the two prospects higher on their board, although I'm sure their idea of "scheme fit" had something to do with it also. Mychal Kendricks was also taken before Lavonte David, I vividly remember watching that 2012 Draft unfolding in the 2nd round and wondering "why did the Eagles take the 3rd best of these guys" 😅.

6 hours ago, eaglesfan0075 said:

I do agree with having BPA as a philosophy, but the examples you cited involved same position players in which the Eagles simply had the lesser of the two prospects higher on their board, although I'm sure their idea of "scheme fit" had something to do with it also. Mychal Kendricks was also taken before Lavonte David, I vividly remember watching that 2012 Draft unfolding in the 2nd round and wondering "why did the Eagles take the 3rd best of these guys" 😅.

They took Reagor because they wanted a guy who could take the top off, a speedy receiver, instead of (clearly) taking the best on the board. They reached for a specific skill set there.

Same with Kendricks…he wasn’t better but tested faster and more athletic than David and Wagner. Again overthinking…

On 3/2/2026 at 4:06 AM, Ray75 said:

They took Reagor because they wanted a guy who could take the top off, a speedy receiver, instead of (clearly) taking the best on the board. They reached for a specific skill set there.

Same with Kendricks…he wasn’t better but tested faster and more athletic than David and Wagner. Again overthinking…

Agreed. They outsmarted themselves with this logic rather than letting the game tape guide their decisions with those picks.