We’re still a few days away from the start of the legal tampering, err negotiating, period of free agency, but by the reactions on Twitter, you’d assume the off-season was over and that the Eagles blew it. CJ Gardner Johnson’s apparent breakup video on Tuesday night started the freakout, while Adam Schefter’s interview with 97.5 The Fanatic that he felt the Eagles would lose CJGJ, Javon Hargrave, and James Bradberry sent it to another level. Everyone would be wise to relax for a few days and let Howie Roseman cook.
It’s been extremely quiet on the Eagles rumors front so far this off-season. Almost too quiet. There were reports that the Eagles were prioritizing CJ Gardner Johnson and would even uncharacteristically use the franchise tag on him. Tuesday’s deadline came and past, and no tag was used on Gardner-Johnson or any of the other Eagles’ free agents.
This is the time of year when everyone is usually leaking, which makes it tough to fully trust any reports – even when from the pros. Agents leak to their contacts in the media to try to gain leverage. NFL execs leak to their contacts to do the same. Leverage is the name of the game right now. Hell, it wouldn’t even surprise me if Gardner Johnson’s camp had that video made and released specifically to get the reaction it got from fans to try and force the Eagles’ hand.
The Eagles are historically good at keeping things under wraps – unless it’s “anonymous” players leaking dirt on Wentz. On the other side of that spectrum are the Giants. We were treated to a virtual play-by-play of their contract negotiations with Daniel Jones before they ultimately overpaid for a mediocre signal caller.
Nothing is really getting leaked right now on the Eagles front other than rumors on Tuesday that the Eagles and Brandon Graham are likely to get a deal done that would keep him in Philly – something I thought should be a priority for the Eagles front office. Where are the Eagles with the Hurts contract, though? There hasn’t been much smoke at all out there other than reports that the Eagles are motivated to get it done.
In short, we just don’t know yet what Howie Roseman’s plan is, so there’s no point in freaking out. He’s earned the benefit of the doubt that he knows he’s doing. At this point in last year’s off-season, we didn’t know the Eagles would target and land Hasaan Reddick. We didn’t know that the Giants would be forced to cut Bradberry and that Howie would pounce with a team-friendly deal. CJ Gardner Johnson wasn’t on anyone’s radar as a trade target.
Learning from the Mistakes of 2018
One thing that Roseman has been adamant about all off-season is that he learned from the mistakes he made in 2018 of trying to hang on to the core that brought home the Super Bowl. Roseman made one of the biggest blunders of his career by keeping Alshon Jeffery around too long when he restructured his deal in 2019 when the Eagles were at the end of the guaranteed portion of money on his deal.
That was just one example, though. Roseman has said multiple times that he was too emotional in keeping around some of those players from the run in 2017 and that he won’t do that again.
Does that mean that Roseman is ready to let top-line players like Bradberry, Hargrave, and CJGJ walk instead of overpaying them? Maybe. He wouldn’t necessarily be wrong in that notion either – it’s just way too early to say if the money they get – assuming they leave – is something the Eagles could have made work.
The Eagles are about to be on the hook for a massive quarterback deal, they can’t overpay elsewhere if they want to maximize their Super Bowl window. The last time they paid a quarterback big money, the results were disastrous. Roseman has to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
Howie’s Gotten His Groove Back
After a couple of years in which it looked like Roseman’s magical touch in 2017 was lighting in a bottle, he did it again. Don’t forget he figured out a way to get out of the Wentz contract – while recouping some draft capital – and completely reworked the roster over a two-year period to the point that no one in the NFL had a more loaded roster in 2022.
In 2020, the Eagles’ receivers were Jeffrey, Travis Fulgrahm, Jalen Reagor, DeSeason Jackson, and Greg Ward. Within two years, Roseman rebuilt that room to include AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith. The secondary was a mess in 2021 outside of Daris Slay. In one off-season, Roseman added Bradberry and Gardner-Johnson to make it one of the most talented in the NFL.
We’ve seen Roseman work magic over the last two years. Until he proves otherwise, we shouldn’t assume that he just forgot how this all works. Could I be singing a different tune two weeks from now if he still doesn’t have the Hurts deal done and the Eagles are forced to watch free agency from the sideline? Sure. But doesn’t anyone really think that will happen?
The Hurts deal has been the Eagles’ top priority all off-season. As soon as it’s done, we’re likely to hear about a few contract restructures that open up more cap space. The Eagles might not be players on day one of free agency when the big money gets thrown around, but do you think for a second that Roseman is just gonna stand around as players leave? Hell no. It might not all work out how we – and Roseman – want, but until dominoes start to fall, dare I say we should all trust the process?
