The Philadelphia Eagles have seen some high-profile contributors to the franchise’s Super Bowl championship walk out of the building, and have been limited participants in the early stages of NFl free agency.
Milton Williams signed one of the most lucrative deals handed down this offseason, with the New England Patriots, Josh Sweat landed with the Arizona Cardinals–and former Eagles head coach Jonathan Gannon, and Darius Slay signed a deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Eagles also traded starting safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson to the Houston Texans.
Meanwhile, the Eagles’ first free-agent signings of the offseason were running back A.J. Dillon and edge rusher Joshua Uche.
Philadelphia’s lack of spending, in all likelihood, is motivated by needing to have the requisite cap space to sign playmakers such as Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith to new contracts in the coming years, as well as center Cam Jurgens.
But, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman may have an even bigger, more lucrative strategy in mind.
“When they lost Milton Williams and Josh Sweat and the cornerback Isaiah Rogers to the Minnesota Vikings,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter recently said. “They wound up getting three compensatory draft picks that day. And once those are awarded, the Philadelphia Eagles are scheduled to have 20 draft picks in the next two years, including 11 in the first four rounds of the next two years and 17 in the first five rounds of the next two years.
“You know what those picks do, those picks give you a chance to bring in good young players on rookie contracts that allow you to pay the veteran Superstars. So, they’re planning on these young players stepping in and who has had a better drafting record than the Philadelphia Eagles?”
Schefter may be right, that the Eagles are betting big on gaining compensatory picks in next year’s draft, which would not only present the opportunity for Roseman to restock the roster with young and affordable talent, but also the ammunition to move around the board to target the prospects in Philadelphia’s sights.
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