The Eagles locked up star quarterback Jalen Hurts for five more years with a massive $255M deal with $179 in guaranteed money. The Eagles were not shy in their intentions to lock Hurts into a long-term extension this off-season, and they were wise to get the deal done before extensions for other quarterbacks like Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, and Lamar Jackson get done since they set the market versus chasing it.
We don’t yet know the full details of the Hurts deal outside of the high-level specifics of five years and $255m overall with the guaranteed $179m. We also know that the Eagles included a full no-trade clause – the first such clause the organization has ever included showing how much faith the Eagles brass has in Hurts’ ability to get the Birds another Super Bowl with hopefully a better outcome.
By getting the Hurts deal done before the Bengals extend Burrow, the Chargers extend Herbet, or the Ravens end their game of chicken with Jackson one way other another, they locked up Hurts on terms they are comfortable with without having to worry about another contract being used to push the money totals even higher.
Whenever there is a group of quarterbacks all about to be paid, whoever signs first gets the security of their deal being done but usually doesn’t get the most money. For Hurts, it was important for both sides to get the deal done sooner rather than later since, unlike his counterparts looking for deals, he was entering the final year of his contract as a former second-round pick. Burrow and Herbert were first-round picks; thus, they have two years remaining because of the 5th-year club option for first-round picks.
The entire Eagles off-season was predicated on getting a Hurts extension completed and building around him. Howie Roseman had to make some difficult decisions in free agency to let some players leave the organization because they just couldn’t fit in new deals for players like Javon Hargrave or TJ Edwards, who got large deals on day one. They ended up not resigning CJ Gardner Johnson after they did resign James Bradberry and extend Daris Slay, but that might not have just been a money issue the way it played out.
Impact on the 2023 NFL Draft
Getting the Jalen Hurts extension done before the NFL Draft should allow the Eagles to be a bit more aggressive in deal-making as well. The Eagles know the full impact of the Hurts extension on their cap in future years, which gives them more clarity on potential deals they can and or can’t make involving draft picks.
Howie Roseman is one of the most aggressive GMs in the NFL with regard to trading draft picks either for players or additional draft capital. He’ll know exactly what capacity he has to acquire any players via trading picks, as he did a year ago when he made the deal for AJ Brown.
Full Cap Impact Not Known Yet
We won’t know the full impact on the salary cap for the Eagles until the full details are available, but we knew that the Ealges had over $20m in cap space available for 2023. There shouldn’t be a big hit on the cap for this year since Hurts was originally set to play the year on the final year of his rookie contract. How much of the cap space the Eagles have that they use to help pay for the Hurts extension versus on any more players for another Super Bowl run in 2023 is what we don’t yet know.
