Biggest Challenges Facing Philadelphia Eagles in 2017 Offseason
Not many NFL teams entered the 2017 offseason with a more complicated set of challenges than the Philadelphia Eagles, who in many ways will decide the franchise's trajectory for the coming years.
The organization has made some decisive moves toward success recently, kick-started by abruptly ending the Chip Kelly era after two seasons. General manager Howie Roseman locked down a few key players and brought on Doug Pederson, who led the Eagles to a hot start in 2016 before tapering off to finish 7-9.
But it's the trade up in last year's draft to select Carson Wentz, who more than proved his potential and ability to be the franchise quarterback, that really gives Eagles fans the hope that they aren't too far from being serious contenders.
With all of this in mind, Roseman and company have a lot of work to do in the offseason to fix up a roster with plenty of holes. They're pretty limited in how they can do that and have a couple of complicated decisions to make with impending free agents.
Let's dive into every major challenge the Eagles will face this offseason.
Strapped for Cash
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There are some big on-field issues the Eagles need to address, but we can't go there without diving into the resources—or lack thereof—that they'll have to tackle those problems.
Only four teams have less salary cap space than Philadelphia as free agency approaches. The Eagles have $9.8 million to spend, according to Over The Cap. There are a couple of moves they can and will make to up that number, but not to the point where they will feel comfortable chasing big free agents and taking care of key players about to hit the market.
Potentially releasing Connor Barwin, who Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Daily News reported to be unlikely to negotiate a lower contract, would free up over $7 million alone, per Over The Cap. If the Eagles move on from center Jason Kelce, they would add about $3.8 million. But that would leave a big hole in the offensive line and add more to the team's roster needs.
There are other possible money-saving deals like cutting Ryan Mathews and trading Mychal Kendricks, but a best-case cap scenario would leave the team able to sign one big free agent and not much else.
Simply put, the front office will have to make some tough decisions and do some clever work to make serious improvements outside of the draft.
No Band-Aid Fix at Cornerback
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The first step to improving something is admitting where it went wrong, and Roseman has done just that with the Eagles' cornerback problems, per Turran Davenport of USA Today.
“You can put Band-Aids on some things,” Roseman said. “I mean, I think you look at the cornerback position and what we’ve done at the cornerback position is put Band-Aids on things. Our batting average is never going to be 100 percent unfortunately. We have to learn from that and do a better job as we go forward."
Roseman was speaking indirectly of signing veterans Ron Brooks and Nolan Carroll instead of investing in younger talent. Outside of drafting Jalen Mills (a late-round pick who happened to flourish as a rookie), there's been none of that.
The Eagles would be mad not to use one of their first three draft picks on a cornerback, but there are also a couple of stud corners in free agency who nobody would consider a Band-Aid. The Texans' A.J. Bouye and the Rams' Trumaine Johnson fit that bill, but either would command top dollar.
Investing in cornerback talent that can produce a big improvement right away will be arguably the front office's biggest objective. It's probably the one challenge that will most directly decide how much the Eagles can improve in wins and losses in 2017 and beyond.
Help for Carson Wentz
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Whether it's who lines up beside him in the backfield or who he's throwing to, Carson Wentz needs some more capable weapons in his offensive arsenal to continue developing as a quarterback.
Outside of Jordan Matthews, the Eagles' young receiving core did not develop nearly as much as expected in Wentz's rookie season—or at all, really. Nelson Agholor struggled mightily and looks like he'll be a complementary piece at best, and the Dorial Green-Beckham experiment is floundering. There's nothing in the form of dependable veteran pass-catching on the outside.
In the backfield, there's an injury-prone Ryan Mathews, who may need to be cut for cap reasons, and a couple of promising-yet-limited young backs in Wendell Smallwood and Kenjon Barner. Darren Sproles is effective, but he can't be your No. 1 option at running back.
Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reported the Eagles would be in on Chicago Bears receiver Alshon Jeffery if he hits the market. If they don't land him, drafting a wide receiver like Clemson's Mike Williams or Corey Davis of Western Michigan in the middle of the first round seems like a foregone conclusion. The two top receivers in the class both look capable of becoming a No. 1 receiver right away and giving the Eagles offense an extra dimension.
At running back, Latavius Murray could be the only true No. 1 option available in free agency if the Eagles don't look for backfield reinforcements early in the draft.
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O-Line Reinforcements
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The Eagles still have one of the best offensive tackle pairings in football and a relatively strong interior, but that's not enough to cover up the lack of depth and young talent facing the group.
Jason Peters is coming off a ninth Pro Bowl appearance, but he's 35 and will likely regress over the rest of his deal. Lane Johnson is one of the best right tackles in the league and ready to slide over to the left side when needed, but his 10-game PED suspension made the Eagles' need for depth up front even more apparent.
Stefen Wisniewski, perhaps the only dependable backup on the interior, is a free agent who the Eagles, in all likelihood, would only contemplate bringing back if they severed ties with Kelce. Isaac Seumalo and Halapoulivaati Vaitai are developing well at guard and tackle, respectively, but aren't enough to shoulder the depth load alone.
Signing a dependable backup tackle and drafting a quality guard would go a long way toward shoring up the problem, but it's hard to imagine the Eagles would invest there early in the draft given how seismic the other needs are.
The Bennie Logan Decision
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Was the contract that made Fletcher Cox one of the NFL's highest-paid players an early warning sign that the Eagles should prepare for life without his fellow defensive line standout in 2017 and beyond?
It certainly seems that way. For a team that's already up against the cap wall, having two interior defensive linemen signed to huge contracts would be a major problem—and re-signing Bennie Logan would definitely require after a huge contract after how dominant he's shown he can be.
That being said, the Eagles could be aggressive enough in freeing up cap space to give them the opportunity to keep Logan around. But franchise-tagging Logan or giving him a big extension would all but end the team's hopes of landing any sort of big free-agent target.
The Eagles have two young tackles who could step in to a bigger role in Beau Allen and Destiny Vaeao, but it goes without saying that losing Logan would exponentially increase the pressure and attention on Cox.
Philadelphia faces the decision of keeping arguably the NFL's best defensive line intact or letting a stud tackle like Logan go to use the money where it's needed much more.
New Dimension to Pass Rush
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Perhaps the most integral ingredient to Jim Schwartz's defense is the presence of a consistent pass rush on the edge of the 4-3. That was largely missing in 2016.
Brandon Graham proved to be the only dependable edge rusher in Schwartz's first season at the helm, an utter disappointment given the money shelled out to Barwin and Vinny Curry. The latter will likely get more opportunity to flex his muscles if Barwin packs his bags, but this isn't a situation where addition by subtraction will make the difference.
Kendricks has the skill set to be a strong pass-rusher at linebacker, but Schwartz's system rarely ever sends blitzers from the second level. The Eagles really need to take some of those bad fits (throw Marcus Smith into that equation, too) and turn them into traditional 4-3 defensive ends who can provide the edge rush Philly has been missing.
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