2023: Continued dead cap hell (Currently $54 Million)

[OCEaglefan]

Meh, deal with it next year 

[paco]

5 minutes ago, jsb235 said:

You also have to include Graham. But I think otc has bad numbers for the dead cap hits for both Kelce and Graham. We should know more about those contracts in the next month. I think both have a "poison pill" that inflates the cap figure. 

If i was going to guess, absent any resignings of our free agents with large dead cap hits - Kelce, Graham, Cox, Hargrave, etc. - $55 million is a good guess on our dead cap this year. 

Good call, I missed him.  Tired. Toddler.  Just got some Tea.  A fourth excuse.

$18,311,000, but he (instead of Cox) will likely be the 2nd post June 1st designation if he is not extended.  (He may even be a cut\resign like Cox if they decide to bring him back for reasons in the spoiler below). So it would be $8,163,000 this year and $10,148,000 next year   

Spoiler

Technically there are massive salaries in the late years of the contract that will guarantee if Graham is on the roster on the 2nd day of the 2023 league year. The reason for this instead of the void is to allow the Eagles to use a June 1 cut provision in 2023 and split the remaining dead money in the contract between 2023 and 2024.

 

[paco]

3 minutes ago, OCEaglefan said:

Meh, deal with it next year 

Shut your word hole, you fancy sock wearing California hippie.  I'm having fun here!

 

 

 

[TorontoEagle]

2 hours ago, paco said:

@downundermike :  What is the current 2023 dead cap hit.  I took a very quick, uncaffeinated look at it this am it its approaching 75 million?  Is that right?

 

Edit:

That is assuming the following are not resigned: Kelce, Hargrave, Semalo, and Bradberry

I also missed Kyzir White, who is another million.

 

I thought you’d know he’s suspended?

[EazyEaglez]

https://theeagleswire.usatoday.com/lists/philadelphia-eagles-news-2023-nfl-salary-cap-restructures-free-agency/?itm_source=parsely-api
 

I could certainly see some of these things happening especially the annual Lane Johnson restructuring. 😂 Bottom line is every year we worry, but every time they field a team. 

[MillerTime]

@paco Check this out. 

At the start of free agency, the Eagles will have a 10-day window to pick up options in wide A.J. Brown and edge rusher Haason Reddick’s contracts.

Brown would be due a $10.17 million payment that is required for a dummy 2027 contract year. His 2023 base salary would reduce from a fully-guaranteed $11.25 million to a fully-guaranteed $1.08 million with the option being exercised.

The remaining $16,470,471 of Brown’s $20.25 million 2024 base salary is fully guaranteed.

For Reddick, he’ll be due a $15.17 million payment which is required for a dummy 2027 contract year. His 2023 base salary would then reduce from a fully-guaranteed $16.25 million to a fully-guaranteed $1.08 million with the option being exercised.

In all, the two options would save Philadelphia $25 million in cap space as those salaries become automatic payments or bonuses.
 

 

Eagles can free up around 20 Million more with a Slay and Johnson restructure as well. This will give Philly 55 Million in cap space.

[b_west3]

2 hours ago, MillerTime said:

@paco Check this out. 

At the start of free agency, the Eagles will have a 10-day window to pick up options in wide A.J. Brown and edge rusher Haason Reddick’s contracts.

Brown would be due a $10.17 million payment that is required for a dummy 2027 contract year. His 2023 base salary would reduce from a fully-guaranteed $11.25 million to a fully-guaranteed $1.08 million with the option being exercised.

The remaining $16,470,471 of Brown’s $20.25 million 2024 base salary is fully guaranteed.

For Reddick, he’ll be due a $15.17 million payment which is required for a dummy 2027 contract year. His 2023 base salary would then reduce from a fully-guaranteed $16.25 million to a fully-guaranteed $1.08 million with the option being exercised.

In all, the two options would save Philadelphia $25 million in cap space as those salaries become automatic payments or bonuses.
 

 

Eagles can free up around 20 Million more with a Slay and Johnson restructure as well. This will give Philly 55 Million in cap space.

Can we restructure Slay to a different team?

[kiwieagle]

25 minutes ago, b_west3 said:

Can we restructure Slay to a different team?

The thing with these restructures is it creates hits in future years which eventually accelerate and become dead cap in the year when they are finally let go. 
 

The money doesn’t magically disappear. You want to restructure guys you ideally want to keep around a while (and not potentially cut a year later).

[EazyEaglez]

4 hours ago, kiwieagle said:

The thing with these restructures is it creates hits in future years which eventually accelerate and become dead cap in the year when they are finally let go. 
 

The money doesn’t magically disappear. You want to restructure guys you ideally want to keep around a while (and not potentially cut a year later).

The thing is we have been hearing about this stuff well before even 2016. This dread was supposed to hit at least two years ago yet here we are dreading it for more years down the road. Meanwhile the cap keeps increasing and the Eagles are never the team with the worst cap situation even though they took the biggest cap hit ever. 

[paco]

8 hours ago, MillerTime said:

@paco Check this out. 

At the start of free agency, the Eagles will have a 10-day window to pick up options in wide A.J. Brown and edge rusher Haason Reddick’s contracts.

Brown would be due a $10.17 million payment that is required for a dummy 2027 contract year. His 2023 base salary would reduce from a fully-guaranteed $11.25 million to a fully-guaranteed $1.08 million with the option being exercised.

The remaining $16,470,471 of Brown’s $20.25 million 2024 base salary is fully guaranteed.

For Reddick, he’ll be due a $15.17 million payment which is required for a dummy 2027 contract year. His 2023 base salary would then reduce from a fully-guaranteed $16.25 million to a fully-guaranteed $1.08 million with the option being exercised.

In all, the two options would save Philadelphia $25 million in cap space as those salaries become automatic payments or bonuses.
 

 

Eagles can free up around 20 Million more with a Slay and Johnson restructure as well. This will give Philly 55 Million in cap space.

Thank you.  I was looking at Browns contract a little while back but didn't post the details of it.  I remember being surprised that only $10 mil was in void years.

Year	Age	Base Salary	Prorated Bonus	Per Game Roster Bonus	Workout Bonus		Guaranteed Salary		Cap Number	Cap %		Dead Money & Cap Savings Cut (pre-June 1)Cut (post-June 1)Trade (pre-June 1)Trade (post-June 1)RestructureExtension
2022	25	$986,000	$4,694,894	$0	$0		$986,000		$5,680,894	2.5%
2023	26	$1,080,000	$6,728,894	$510,000	$240,000		$11,250,000		$8,318,894	3.5%		$60,449,577	($52,130,683)
2024	27	$1,125,000	$10,553,894	$510,000	$240,000		$1,125,000		$12,428,894	4.9%		$42,470,683	($30,041,789)
2025	28	$15,250,000	$10,553,894	$510,000	$240,000		$0		$26,553,894	9.4%		$30,791,789	($4,237,895)
2026	29	$30,250,000	$10,553,895	$510,000	$240,000		$0		$41,553,895	13.5%		$20,237,895	$21,316,000
2027	30	Void	$5,859,000	Void	Void		Void		$9,684,000	--		$9,684,000	$0
2028	31	Void	$3,825,000	Void	Void		Void		$0	--		$3,825,000	($3,825,000)

Quote

AJ Brown signed a four year, $100 million extension with the Titans. Per PFT, Brown received $57.22 million in guarantees of which $40 million is guaranteed at signing. There are annual per game roster bonuses and workouts in the contract. Brown's salary for the first two years of the contract are guaranteed as well as $3.779 million of his 2024 salary. If on the roster on the 3rd day of the 2023 league year the remainder of his 2024 salary, including workout and roster bonuses will be guaranteed.

One question, and I probably missed this, but what do you mean that the bonus payment is required for the 2027 year?

 

1 hour ago, EazyEaglez said:

The thing is we have been hearing about this stuff well before even 2016. This dread was supposed to hit at least two years ago yet here we are dreading it for more years down the road. Meanwhile the cap keeps increasing and the Eagles are never the team with the worst cap situation even though they took the biggest cap hit ever. 

Could you elaborate about what "this stuff" we heard prior to 2016 was?  That was when Howie was sent to the basement and the team was not heavily backloading contracts like a teenager with a credit card.

[MillerTime]

6 minutes ago, paco said:

Thank you.  I was looking at Browns contract a little while back but didn't post the details of it.  I remember being surprised that only $10 mil was in void years.

Year	Age	Base Salary	Prorated Bonus	Per Game Roster Bonus	Workout Bonus		Guaranteed Salary		Cap Number	Cap %		Dead Money & Cap Savings Cut (pre-June 1)Cut (post-June 1)Trade (pre-June 1)Trade (post-June 1)RestructureExtension
2022	25	$986,000	$4,694,894	$0	$0		$986,000		$5,680,894	2.5%
2023	26	$1,080,000	$6,728,894	$510,000	$240,000		$11,250,000		$8,318,894	3.5%		$60,449,577	($52,130,683)
2024	27	$1,125,000	$10,553,894	$510,000	$240,000		$1,125,000		$12,428,894	4.9%		$42,470,683	($30,041,789)
2025	28	$15,250,000	$10,553,894	$510,000	$240,000		$0		$26,553,894	9.4%		$30,791,789	($4,237,895)
2026	29	$30,250,000	$10,553,895	$510,000	$240,000		$0		$41,553,895	13.5%		$20,237,895	$21,316,000
2027	30	Void	$5,859,000	Void	Void		Void		$9,684,000	--		$9,684,000	$0
2028	31	Void	$3,825,000	Void	Void		Void		$0	--		$3,825,000	($3,825,000)

 

One question, and I probably missed this, but what do you mean that the bonus payment is required for the 2027 year?

The way I understand it is that the 2027 void year is not actually there until we exercise the option. We would then be paying that $9,8684,000 as a bonus, taking it off 2023s cap number and moving it to 2027. I think there is another option in the contract for 2028. 

[paco]

1 minute ago, MillerTime said:

The way I understand it is that the 2027 void year is not actually there until we exercise the option. We would then be paying that $9,8684,000 as a bonus, taking it off 2023s cap number and moving it to 2027. I think there is another option in the contract for 2028. 

Interesting, thank you.  I looked at spotrac and they had these details.  I tend to use OTC out of habit so I was unaware of this:

Quote

Contract Notes:

• $40M guaranteed at signing (signing bonus + 2022 salary + 2023 compensation + $3.779M of 2024 salary)
• 2023 Option Bonus: $10.26M (guaranteed, must be exercised 3/15/23 - 3/23/23)
• Remaining $16.471M of 2024 salary fully guarantees 3/17/2023 (injury guaranteed at sign)
• 2024 per game & workout bonuses fully guarantee 3/17/2023 (injury guaranteed at sign)
• Per Game Active Bonus: $30,000 ($510,000)
• 2023-2026 All-Pro: $500,000
• 2027 automatically voids ($2.034M dead cap)

 

Also, the numbers appear different than OTC.  For example, base salary for 2024.

 

YEAR		AGE	BASE SALARY	SIGNING	ROSTER	OPTION	WORKOUT	CAP HIT	DEAD CAP	YEARLY CASH
2022		25	$986,000	$4,646,800	-	-	-	$5,632,800	$39,999,000	$24,220,000($24,220,000)
2023		26	$1,080,000	$4,646,800	$298,894	$2,053,200	$240,000	$8,318,894	$34,462,200	$12,096,000($36,316,000)
2024		27	$20,250,000	$4,646,800	$510,000	$2,053,200	$240,000	$27,700,000	$25,932,200	$21,000,000($57,316,000)
POTENTIAL OUT: 2025, 3 YR, $57,316,000; $15,453,200 DEAD CAP
2025		28	$15,250,000	$4,646,800	$510,000	$2,053,200	$240,000	$22,700,000	$15,453,200	$16,000,000($73,316,000)
2026		29	$30,250,000	$4,646,800	$510,000	$2,053,200	$240,000	$37,700,000	$8,753,200	$31,000,000($104,316,000)
2027		30	-	-	-	$2,053,200	-	$2,053,200	$2,053,200	-

 

[MillerTime]

3 minutes ago, paco said:

Interesting, thank you.  I looked at spotrac and they had these details.  I tend to use OTC out of habit so I was unaware of this:

 

Also, the numbers appear different than OTC.  For example, base salary for 2024.

 

YEAR		AGE	BASE SALARY	SIGNING	ROSTER	OPTION	WORKOUT	CAP HIT	DEAD CAP	YEARLY CASH
2022		25	$986,000	$4,646,800	-	-	-	$5,632,800	$39,999,000	$24,220,000($24,220,000)
2023		26	$1,080,000	$4,646,800	$298,894	$2,053,200	$240,000	$8,318,894	$34,462,200	$12,096,000($36,316,000)
2024		27	$20,250,000	$4,646,800	$510,000	$2,053,200	$240,000	$27,700,000	$25,932,200	$21,000,000($57,316,000)
POTENTIAL OUT: 2025, 3 YR, $57,316,000; $15,453,200 DEAD CAP
2025		28	$15,250,000	$4,646,800	$510,000	$2,053,200	$240,000	$22,700,000	$15,453,200	$16,000,000($73,316,000)
2026		29	$30,250,000	$4,646,800	$510,000	$2,053,200	$240,000	$37,700,000	$8,753,200	$31,000,000($104,316,000)
2027		30	-	-	-	$2,053,200	-	$2,053,200	$2,053,200	-

 

OTC is right about the base salary. Right now only around 3M of his 2024 salary is guaranteed. On the 17th the other 16+ becomes guaranteed making his base the 20M it shows. Spotrac seems to be more detailed then OTC and OTC seems to build in worst case scenarios for cap hits in each year.

[brkmsn]

2 hours ago, paco said:

  That was when Howie was sent to the basement and the team was not heavily backloading contracts like a teenager with a credit card.

Relax, it's the American way. Besides, everybody knows Biden will fix everything with a cap forgiveness bill soon. Have some faith!

[QBhunter58]

6 hours ago, EazyEaglez said:

The thing is we have been hearing about this stuff well before even 2016. This dread was supposed to hit at least two years ago yet here we are dreading it for more years down the road. Meanwhile the cap keeps increasing and the Eagles are never the team with the worst cap situation even though they took the biggest cap hit ever. 

Second biggest, but yeah at the time. 

[kiwieagle]

8 hours ago, EazyEaglez said:

The thing is we have been hearing about this stuff well before even 2016. This dread was supposed to hit at least two years ago yet here we are dreading it for more years down the road. Meanwhile the cap keeps increasing and the Eagles are never the team with the worst cap situation even though they took the biggest cap hit ever. 

Yeah somewhat. You can keep borrowing from future years but on a relative basis you are restricted via other teams who can do that and don’t have the dead cap space. We will have some tough calls to make this year with which FAs we can re-sign. Without the dead cap hits or needing to borrow from future, we could lock up CGJ, Bradberry and Hargrave. 

Howie didn’t start accumulating def caps till after the SB though trying to keep that core together. There were a bunch of dumb moves thrown on there as well e.g needless AJ extension.
 

Luckily he had the foresight and got the Hurts pick right which gave us a roookie QB contract and allowed us to remain competitive but that won’t be the case going forward when his extension kicks in. We’ll be OK as long as he nails the drafts but the wiggle room to have poor drafts and plug holes via veterans is smaller than otherwise would have been.

[EazyEaglez]

On 2/20/2023 at 8:02 AM, paco said:

Thank you.  I was looking at Browns contract a little while back but didn't post the details of it.  I remember being surprised that only $10 mil was in void years.

Year	Age	Base Salary	Prorated Bonus	Per Game Roster Bonus	Workout Bonus		Guaranteed Salary		Cap Number	Cap %		Dead Money & Cap Savings Cut (pre-June 1)Cut (post-June 1)Trade (pre-June 1)Trade (post-June 1)RestructureExtension
2022	25	$986,000	$4,694,894	$0	$0		$986,000		$5,680,894	2.5%
2023	26	$1,080,000	$6,728,894	$510,000	$240,000		$11,250,000		$8,318,894	3.5%		$60,449,577	($52,130,683)
2024	27	$1,125,000	$10,553,894	$510,000	$240,000		$1,125,000		$12,428,894	4.9%		$42,470,683	($30,041,789)
2025	28	$15,250,000	$10,553,894	$510,000	$240,000		$0		$26,553,894	9.4%		$30,791,789	($4,237,895)
2026	29	$30,250,000	$10,553,895	$510,000	$240,000		$0		$41,553,895	13.5%		$20,237,895	$21,316,000
2027	30	Void	$5,859,000	Void	Void		Void		$9,684,000	--		$9,684,000	$0
2028	31	Void	$3,825,000	Void	Void		Void		$0	--		$3,825,000	($3,825,000)

One question, and I probably missed this, but what do you mean that the bonus payment is required for the 2027 year?

 

Could you elaborate about what "this stuff" we heard prior to 2016 was?  That was when Howie was sent to the basement and the team was not heavily backloading contracts like a teenager with a credit card.

We have basically hear since Howie took over that this backloading is going to be the end and to worry about it. We head that they would never let go of Wentz because it would kill the cap! The following year they made the playoffs and two years later they made it two the super bowl. People have been calling this "cap hell” and in that span they have two super bowl appearances. 😂🤣😂

[EazyEaglez]

Bottom line is we have been hearing how "dead money”, "dummy years,” or void years” will bring an end to the Eagles frankly I just haven’t seen it. The Eagles supposedly had the least amount of cap money as any team meanwhile they brought back several of their players. On top of this they’re on the verge of having to pay their quarterback major money. Seems to me like Howie isn’t concerned with any of this stuff people keep whining about, because Howie understands the cap way better than any of us. 

[Cochis_Calhoun]

6 hours ago, EazyEaglez said:

Bottom line is we have been hearing how "dead money”, "dummy years,” or void years” will bring an end to the Eagles frankly I just haven’t seen it. The Eagles supposedly had the least amount of cap money as any team meanwhile they brought back several of their players. On top of this they’re on the verge of having to pay their quarterback major money. Seems to me like Howie isn’t concerned with any of this stuff people keep whining about, because Howie understands the cap way better than any of us. 

Yeah but every one of our top 10 contracts outside Slay and Johnson was vet min salary this year, next year they all jump to $15-30million, so they'll need restructuring again, and Brown's contract in particular will be ruinously expensive on the back end.

I loved the roster we had last year and what he's done so far this year, but we can't keep putting off paying the bill, eventually it's gonna come due.

[EazyEaglez]

3 hours ago, Cochis_Calhoun said:

Yeah but every one of our top 10 contracts outside Slay and Johnson was vet min salary this year, next year they all jump to $15-30million, so they'll need restructuring again, and Brown's contract in particular will be ruinously expensive on the back end.

I loved the roster we had last year and what he's done so far this year, but we can't keep putting off paying the bill, eventually it's gonna come due.

I feel like we have been saying this as much as we would say that Howie needs to nail the draft. 😂

[paco]

20 hours ago, EazyEaglez said:

We have basically hear since Howie took over that this backloading is going to be the end and to worry about it. We head that they would never let go of Wentz because it would kill the cap! The following year they made the playoffs and two years later they made it two the super bowl. People have been calling this "cap hell” and in that span they have two super bowl appearances. 😂🤣😂

1) I think you are misunderstanding my (and others) point of view.  We are now in a position that we need to do aggressive restructures and back loaded contracts just to sign free agents and draft picks.  Until an effort is made to lower the dead cap on players long gone this will continue.  And there is risk with that, such as a player's productivity sharply dropping and being forced to keep them when almost every other team would be able to cut ties and free up roster space and cap space.  I've used Alshon in the past as an example of this and I'm worried a year from now Slay may be the new Alshon.

 

2) 1 Super Bowl appearance.  This was not the case when we made our run in 2017.  It began after the Super Bowl win when Howie tried to run it back in 2018 and 2019.  And the Carson trade further inflamed the situation.  
What I find odd is that you tried to claim this before but when I asked you to elaborate you disappeared.

 

3) Finally, the timing of this is odd.  We just lost our 10th FA (and only picked up 3 FA's) and this one is at position of need.  While in some cases we do have the replacement ready (Dean), there is a lot of work to do in the draft and 2nd wave of FA's to fill out this roster.  

[kiwieagle]

9 hours ago, paco said:

1) I think you are misunderstanding my (and others) point of view.  We are now in a position that we need to do aggressive restructures and back loaded contracts just to sign free agents and draft picks.  Until an effort is made to lower the dead cap on players long gone this will continue.  And there is risk with that, such as a player's productivity sharply dropping and being forced to keep them when almost every other team would be able to cut ties and free up roster space and cap space.  I've used Alshon in the past as an example of this and I'm worried a year from now Slay may be the new Alshon.

 

2) 1 Super Bowl appearance.  This was not the case when we made our run in 2017.  It began after the Super Bowl win when Howie tried to run it back in 2018 and 2019.  And the Carson trade further inflamed the situation.  
What I find odd is that you tried to claim this before but when I asked you to elaborate you disappeared.

 

3) Finally, the timing of this is odd.  We just lost our 10th FA (and only picked up 3 FA's) and this one is at position of need.  While in some cases we do have the replacement ready (Dean), there is a lot of work to do in the draft and 2nd wave of FA's to fill out this roster.  

Exactly - if we didn't have these dead cap hits, we don't loose all of the players we have: CJGJ and Hargrave and Edwards and Sanders and White and Epps and Pascal etc.....To think its solely about not wanting to match contracts they received elsewhere and our cap situation had no bearing on those decisions is blind.

The fact that a decent portion is allocated to previous years teams prevents us from making moves that we could have otherwise made. Its a zero sum game - you can move money around and push hits into future year but you can't create more room.

[Paul852]

I'm on the "Hey, I'll pay the price for two SB appearances when we only had one over the course of 44 years before that" bandwagon. If it blows up, it blows up. We're watching teams like the Cowboys fail to get past the second round for 30 years. Seems silly to get up in arms about having to suck again soon to rebuild.

[Mat]

16 hours ago, kiwieagle said:

Exactly - if we didn't have these dead cap hits, we don't loose all of the players we have: CJGJ and Hargrave and Edwards and Sanders and White and Epps and Pascal etc.....To think its solely about not wanting to match contracts they received elsewhere and our cap situation had no bearing on those decisions is blind.

The fact that a decent portion is allocated to previous years teams prevents us from making moves that we could have otherwise made. Its a zero sum game - you can move money around and push hits into future year but you can't create more room.

Just playing devils advocate here with the players you mentioned

CJGJ - They offered him a deal which was for longer and more than he got. He thought he was worth more and in the end signed for less than they offered him. He didn't want to be in Philly, you can't do much about that

Hargrave - Money pit contracts have been brought up, Hargrave is exactly one of these contracts people don't want Howie signing. He is 30, he signed 4 years for 84 million (40 guarnteed), the contract is backloaded, there is an out after year 2 with a huge dead cap hit and they have added on 2 void years at the end of the deal. He has a top 3 contract of all DT's, he has the third highest amount of guaranteed money in the contract, he is the only other player other than Aaron Donald and Cam Hayward in the top 10 that signed their deal over 30 and the 49'ers let Buckner go who is essentially on the same deal. The Eagles are probably shifting to more of a permanent 3-4 D and have drafted his replacement in Davis to play NT. While Hargrave had a great couple of seasons, you probably don't want to be handing out top 3 money to him right now. 

Edwards - While the deal was reasonable, it sounds like he wanted to go play in Chicago because he is from Illinois. He was a fantastic pick up for the Eagles, this is one they may have wished they could keep but he may not have wanted to stay anyway since he took less to go to the Bears. 

Sanders - You don't want to give backs good money on their second contract, let alone backs that are often injured and have only had one really good year. Sanders walks and you draft a replacement. He is getting close to top 10 money for all backs. The contract does have an out after the 2nd year which I bet the Panthers end up taking with most of the money in the back end. Penny, Scott and Gainwell will be a nice trio, you have to hope Penny stays healthy though. 

White - Role player that was expected to be replaced by Dean this year. Stop gap option

Pascal - Role player that you can sign someone for the vet min that will provide the same

Epps - You want an upgrade over Epps and Blankenship looks like he will be. They also let him walk while they had a deal out for CJGJ. Most people wouldn't be too cut up about losing him and would have wanted to find a way to upgrade the position either through the draft or FA.

The same cap tactics that Howie is being criticised for, other teams are also using to their advantage. They were still able to re-sign key contributors and leaders in the locker room and they have 2 first round draft picks this year including 1 in the top 10. The worry is they were quite deep in some positions last year, losing that depth was bound to happen. They need to find ways to replace it

 

[Paul852]

53 minutes ago, Mat said:

Just playing devils advocate here with the players you mentioned

CJGJ - They offered him a deal which was for longer and more than he got. He thought he was worth more and in the end signed for less than they offered him. He didn't want to be in Philly, you can't do much about that

Hargrave - Money pit contracts have been brought up, Hargrave is exactly one of these contracts people don't want Howie signing. He is 30, he signed 4 years for 84 million (40 guarnteed), the contract is backloaded, there is an out after year 2 with a huge dead cap hit and they have added on 2 void years at the end of the deal. He has a top 3 contract of all DT's, he has the third highest amount of guaranteed money in the contract, he is the only other player other than Aaron Donald and Cam Hayward in the top 10 that signed their deal over 30 and the 49'ers let Buckner go who is essentially on the same deal. The Eagles are probably shifting to more of a permanent 3-4 D and have drafted his replacement in Davis to play NT. While Hargrave had a great couple of seasons, you probably don't want to be handing out top 3 money to him right now. 

Edwards - While the deal was reasonable, it sounds like he wanted to go play in Chicago because he is from Illinois. He was a fantastic pick up for the Eagles, this is one they may have wished they could keep but he may not have wanted to stay anyway since he took less to go to the Bears. 

Sanders - You don't want to give backs good money on their second contract, let alone backs that are often injured and have only had one really good year. Sanders walks and you draft a replacement. He is getting close to top 10 money for all backs. The contract does have an out after the 2nd year which I bet the Panthers end up taking with most of the money in the back end. Penny, Scott and Gainwell will be a nice trio, you have to hope Penny stays healthy though. 

White - Role player that was expected to be replaced by Dean this year. Stop gap option

Pascal - Role player that you can sign someone for the vet min that will provide the same

Epps - You want an upgrade over Epps and Blankenship looks like he will be. They also let him walk while they had a deal out for CJGJ. Most people wouldn't be too cut up about losing him and would have wanted to find a way to upgrade the position either through the draft or FA.

The same cap tactics that Howie is being criticised for, other teams are also using to their advantage. They were still able to re-sign key contributors and leaders in the locker room and they have 2 first round draft picks this year including 1 in the top 10. The worry is they were quite deep in some positions last year, losing that depth was bound to happen. They need to find ways to replace it

 

The only one to really be upset about is CJGJ and he is mostly to blame for that.