There has to be more than this, right?
As the NFL’s new league year begins Wednesday, there has been a frenzy of free agent signings, trades and re-signings.
Yet at the two positions the Eagles needed the most help – wide receiver and defensive back – they have mostly sat on the sidelines.
The Eagles’ only signing so far at wide receiver was bringing back Greg Ward, who had all of 7 catches last season. Their only addition in the secondary was bringing back Andre Chachere, mostly a special teams player.
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The biggest names at wide receiver either stayed put – Chris Godwin, Davante Adams, Mike Williams, all getting deals of $20 million or more per season – or signed elsewhere like Christian Kirk, D.J. Chark and Cedrick Wilson; or were traded, like Amari Cooper from the Cowboys to the Browns.
It was the same at safety as big names like Marcus Williams, Jordan Whitehead, Quandre Diggs, Justin Reid and Marcus Maye all got big new deals.
The Eagles did sign pass rusher Haason Reddick to a three-year deal worth as much as $45 million, a necessary addition to a defense that finished second to last in the NFL in sacks.
But that can’t be it, can it?
Maybe it is, and maybe we should have seen this coming.
Yes, the Eagles had money to spend in free agency, about $17 million, which ranked about in the middle of the pack among NFL teams. That was before center Jason Kelce signed a one-year contract worth $14 million to return and Reddick signed his deal.
But the Eagles most likely structured those contracts so that they will have money left on the salary cap. And they can always restructure other contracts, or release a few players, to create more room.
So they should still be able to add a wide receiver and safety. That would seem necessary, considering that both starting safeties from last season in Rodney McLeod and Anthony Harris are free agents.
And at wide receiver, the Eagles are young and mostly unproven, with one legitimate star in DeVonta Smith, the Eagles’ first-round pick last year.
Granted, the Eagles weren’t in a position to outbid teams like the Jacksonville Jaguars, who had $40 million of cap space, and signed slot receiver Christian Kirk to a contract with a reported average annual value of $18 million.
Kirk has never had 1,000 yards receiving in a season, or scored more than 6 touchdowns.
That only drives up the price for the top two remaining free agent receivers in the Bears’ Allen Robinson and the Steelers’ JuJu Smith-Schuster. The Eagles might have to risk losing out on them, too, in order to wait out the market to see if their prices come down.
It also shows why the Eagles were reportedly close to a deal for Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley before he was suspended for the season for betting on NFL games.
FoxSports’ Jay Glazier reported that the Falcons, knowing that a suspension was coming, did the admirable thing and pulled out of the deal.
Ridley’s contract would have counted $11 million against the cap in 2022 had he not been suspended. That seems like a bargain.
And that could mean that the Eagles might be looking at a low-cost free agent like Indianapolis’ Zach Pascal, whom Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni had when he was the Colts’ offensive coordinator; or trading for someone like the Jaguars’ Laviska Shenault, who is still on his rookie contract.
The Eagles can then use an early-round pick on, yes, another wide receiver. Remember, the Eagles have three first-round picks at Nos. 15, 16 and 19. There should be some good wide receivers available, such as Alabama’s Jameson Williams or Arkansas’ Treylon Burks, whether the Eagles trade back to later in the round or not.
Eagles general manager Howie Roseman doesn’t have a great track record of drafting wide receivers. They missed on Jalen Reagor in the first round in 2020 and on J.J. Arcega-Whiteside in the second round in 2019.
But Roseman has hit on Smith and Quez Watkins, the sixth-round pick in 2020, who had 647 yards receiving last year. Sirianni says Watkins could develop into a solid No. 2 receiver.
At safety, the Eagles weren’t going to match the Williams’ five-year, $70 million deal with the Ravens. And they might not have made a strong push for Reid, Whitehead and Diggs.
Tyrann Mathieu is the only big name still available after Maye signed with the Saints on Tuesday night. And again, the Eagles might have to risk losing out waiting for his price to drop.
It’s also possible that the Eagles could bring back either McLeod or Harris to start alongside Marcus Epps, who was rotating in last season anyway, and then add in the draft.
And the Eagles can draft a cornerback, too, if they don’t bring back Steven Nelson.
But there’s another reason why the Eagles have not made a significant move so far in free agency at wide receiver or defensive back.
That can be seen with the Reddick signing.
The past history is if the Eagles are going to spend, it’s going to be on the offensive and defensive lines.
On defense, the Eagles signed Javon Hargrave to a three-year deal worth $39 million in 2020. They have made Fletcher Cox among the highest-paid defensive tackles in the NFL over the past several years. And they signed Josh Sweat to a three-year extension worth as much as $40 million last fall.
On the offensive line, center Jason Kelce and right tackle Lane Johnson are among the highest paid at their position. Left tackle Jordan Mailata got a four-year extension worth as much as $64 million.
To Roseman, free agency is the first part of a process that also includes the draft.
“I think what free agency does is it allows us to check boxes so we don’t feel the pressure to maybe feel like we have to do something (in the draft),” Roseman said.
Then he added: “(That’s) assuming that it works out in free agency.”
So far, it’s not.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
