Eagles reportedly clear up some cap space ahead of free agency

 

With free agency set to begin next week, the Eagles have reportedly cleared some cap space by restructuring Jake Elliott’s contract.

The Eagles will save just under $2.5 million with the move, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported.

Elliott, 28, was set to have a cap hit of over $5.8 million in 2023, but just under $4 million of that was base salary. So the obvious way to restructure the kicker’s deal to save cap space was to pay out most of that $4 million (up until the minimum base salary) in a bonus that prorates over the length of the contract for cap purposes.

This is a common move the Eagles use quite often. It’s a kick-the-can method but it works as long as the salary cap continues to rise. And aside from a year where there was a global pandemic, that happens every year.

The other two obvious restructures that could be coming are for Darius Slay and Lane Johnson, who have the highest cap figures and highest base salaries on the team. Restructuring those two deals could save the Eagles over $20 million in cap space. Though Slay is entering the final year of his deal and likely wants an extension.

But the Elliott restructure was another obvious one.

Before this move, the Eagles were projected to have just over $4 million in cap space, according to OverTheCap. The new league year will begin next Wednesday at 4 p.m.

The Eagles aren’t expected to be major players in free agency this offseason with so many of their own players about to hit the market. But they’d probably like to keep at least a couple of their own.

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/eagles-restructure-jake-elliotts-deal-save-salary-cap-space-report

Makes sense. He's a long term part of this team so why not free up some cap space. He's going nowhere anyway. Well unless he gets hurt but you can't account for that.