I’m not your best friend. I’m not your only friend. I’m just a friend who can get you a better price.
Lawrence Garfield
With Super Bowl LIX in the rearview, the memory is still fresh. One of the good things that comes to mind is going this deep into the postseason, we only have to kill a month before the NFL offseason heats up. Legal tampering starts March 10th and teams can officially begin signing players on March 12th. There is always room for improvement, but taking in the lay of the land, the opportunity for improvement is marginal. With the exception of Mekhi Becton, the offense is locked up for the next 2 years. Outside of a Myles Garret trade, the Eagles aren’t going to make leaps and bounds on defense. I mean fuck, they were the best defense in the league by a county mile.
Zack Baun’s Breakout Season
Time to spend other people’s money. Seems the Eagles’ efforts and valuable cap space would be best spent keeping the bad together. Where better to start than the All-Pro, Pro Bowler Zack Baun. I was dead wrong about this guy when I heard about his signing in the 2024 offseason. I have been apologizing since São Paulo and I’m happy to eat my words. This is the best linebacker play I’ve seen in my time watching the Birds. 184 tackles, 6 forced fumbles, and 3 interceptions. Simply stunning.
If the Eagles are to have any stability at the linebacker position it’s got to be him. I was pounding the table for Nakobe Dean in the draft and he finally showed out this year. Unfortunately, his season was cut short by a torn patellar tendon. This injury claimed the likes of Jimmy Graham and Victor Cruz at their peaks. Lesser so, Nate Allen, the spoils of the Donavan McNabb trade. Sure they came back, but they were never the same. I dare you to find a player who had a great season after that injury. If you can think of one, let me know at [email protected].
Cap Space and Contract Projections
With the recent news on the cap going as high as $281M, it gives the Eagles options. They should have a little more than $30M in cap space to work with. I’ve been looking at projections for what Baun can expect to make in the open market and the range is $10-15M per year. I’ll skew high in this hypothetical for a worst-case scenario. One projection saw Baun signing for 3 years/$40M. Okay simple math, that’s $13.3M per year, nearly half the cap so the Eagles are basically done if they sign him.
But wait, we’ve got Howie and his creative contract structure. Comparably in recent years, we saw Slay sign for 3yr/$42M, Bradberry sign for 3yr/$38M, and Barkley sign for 3yr/$37.7M. Utilizing massive upfront signing bonuses and void years, Howie was able to make those look like $10M, $5M, and $7M against the cap respectively. I don’t get it, but Howie does and Jeff Lurie trusts him with his beloved Eagles.
I don’t want to go back to the likes of Chris Gocong and Omar Gaither. Howie, make it happen.
Do you want to resign Zack Baun? What moves would you make? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, BlueSky, or TikTok. Email us at [email protected] and we’ll share the story on the show. Join our Discord for further discussion with the GENY community!