Eagles offseason primer: Salary-cap projection, free agents, draft picks, and more

While the Eagles celebrate their second Super Bowl win in franchise history this week, Howie Roseman will go back to work.

The Eagles general manager and his staff have a busy offseason ahead as they try to sustain the success of the 2024 team by retooling the roster. That process ramps up in less than two weeks when the annual NFL scouting combine begins in Indianapolis. Roseman thrived in free agency and the draft last year and hit big on signings including Saquon Barkley and Zack Baun while drafting impact starters such as Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean.

Can Roseman pull off a similar coup this offseason? With the new league year commencing March 12, here is a primer on the most important topics surrounding the Eagles offseason, including salary-cap space, free agency, the draft, and an offensive coordinator search:

The NFL office has not set the official salary cap number for 2025. Last year, that happened closer to the start of the combine. However, NFL Network reported in December that teams are preparing for a salary cap in the range of $265 million to $275 million, which would be an increase of about $10 million to $20 million over the $255.4 million cap in 2024.

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The leaguewide salary cap is an unadjusted number. Each club faces various factors that will impact their individual adjusted salary cap, including cap carryover and incentive adjustments. For the sake of this exercise, we are using Over The Cap’s projected unadjusted salary cap of $272.5 million as the starting point for 2025. Including its accounting of any potential adjustments, Over The Cap is estimating the Eagles’ cap at $279.3 million, leaving them currently with $18.1 million in cap space.

That number does not factor in the cap space the team will require to sign its incoming rookie class. It’s also worth noting that the Eagles currently have 49 players under contract in 2025 (including four pending unrestricted free agents with a void year in 2025), and the top 51 contracts count against the salary cap after the new league year. After they sign at least 51 players to the roster and the rookie class, Over The Cap is projecting an effective cap space of $13.9 million.

That projected total is the 12th-lowest in the league. This situation doesn’t come as a surprise, given that players on lucrative deals will account for a larger percentage of the cap in 2025. Jalen Hurts’ cap hit will jump from $13.6 million in 2024 (5.2% of the cap) to $21.8 million in 2025 (7.8%). A.J. Brown’s rises from $11.8 million in 2024 (4.6%) to $17.6 million (6.3%). Jordan Mailata’s jumps from $11.6 million in 2024 (4.5%) to $15.3 million (5.5%). The Eagles’ 2025 cap space also is limited by the remaining dead money from Jason Kelce’s and Fletcher Cox’s contracts.

The Eagles’ effective cap space is going to evolve throughout the offseason, and it’s certainly going to fluctuate once the official unadjusted salary cap figure is set. We will get into how the team could clear some cap space in a bit. Still, keep in mind that Roseman said a week and a half ago that this Eagles offseason is going to look “different” than it did last year, when the team had more cap space going in.

“I think that there are years that you have more resources, whether you have more cap or cash to work with or draft picks that give you a little bit more margin for error,” Roseman said Feb. 1. “I think that’s cyclical. This offseason’s going to look different than last, unfortunately. And that doesn’t mean we can’t have a really good offseason.”

Free agency begins at 4 p.m. March 12. Starting at noon on March 10 and leading up to the new league year, teams are allowed to contact and enter into negotiations with representatives of unrestricted free agents.

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The Eagles have 18 pending free agents on the 2024 roster, including 15 unrestricted free agents, two restricted free agents in cornerback Isaiah Rodgers and wide receiver/punt return specialist Britain Covey, and one exclusive rights free agent in inside linebacker/fullback Ben VanSumeren.

The team’s unrestricted free agents include Baun, outside linebacker Josh Sweat, defensive end Brandon Graham, right guard Mekhi Becton, cornerback Avonte Maddox, defensive tackle Milton Williams, long snapper Rick Lovato, tight end C.J. Uzomah, offensive tackle Fred Johnson, offensive lineman Jack Driscoll, wide receiver Parris Campbell, inside linebacker Oren Burks, center Nick Gates, running back Kenneth Gainwell, and offensive tackle Le’Raven Clark.

Roseman has some big decisions to make about which of his unrestricted free agents he can retain. Don’t expect every marquee name such as Baun, Sweat, Becton, and Williams to return.

The Eagles general manager hit a home run with Baun. He got an All-Pro player out of a one-year, $3.5 million signing. The 28-year-old inside linebacker is going to get paid. The top five per-year earners at the position are making approximately $17 million annually on average. Given that Baun’s next multiyear deal likely will land just shy of that ballpark, he will be difficult for the Eagles to afford.

The 27-year-old Sweat, the 25-year-old Becton, and the 25-year-old Williams, who thrived in their respective roles in 2024, also will command multiyear deals on the open market. It may not make sense for the Eagles to pony up to keep all three of them, given the young players at those positions who already are under contract (Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt at edge rusher; Tyler Steen at guard; Jalen Carter at defensive tackle).

The Eagles could make multiple moves that would impact their cap space this offseason and in future years through trades, extensions, restructures, and cuts.

Let’s start with the most obvious question: What are the Eagles going to do with Bryce Huff? The 26-year-old edge rusher is under contract for two more seasons, carrying a cap hit of $7.5 million in 2025, $11.7 million in 2026, and $27.5 million in a 2027 void year, according to Over The Cap. Huff fell severely short of expectations in his first year with the team. He played just 27.2% of the defensive snaps and finished with 2½ sacks. He was inactive for the Super Bowl.

Roseman said Feb. 1 that he believes the “story is yet to be written” on Huff. He had better hope so, as moving on from Huff this offseason wouldn’t be realistic. Cutting him before June 1 would cost the Eagles $22.1 million in cap space in 2025 (or $12.5 million with a post-June 1 cut). A trade before June 1 would lower that cap hit dramatically ($5.4 million) or even provide a cap savings of $4.3 million with a trade after June 1. But how attractive of an offseason acquisition is Huff, who dealt with a wrist injury this year and could hardly get on the field when he was healthy?

The Eagles might be best served to keep Huff around for now and trade him before the deadline or move on from him next offseason if he doesn’t rebound. That’s the position the team is in now with James Bradberry. The veteran cornerback is a candidate to be released this offseason after his performance dropped off in 2023 and he spent 2024 on injured reserve.

Additionally, the Eagles could make decisions about aging starters entering the final years of their deals, namely 34-year-old cornerback Darius Slay and 30-year-old tight end Dallas Goedert. Both players performed at a high level this season, even though Goedert was sidelined for seven games because of various injuries. Cutting either player would have the greatest impact on the Eagles’ cap savings in 2026. If not, each player would likely look for a restructured contract, as neither has any guaranteed money in 2025.

The Eagles’ top candidate for a contract extension this offseason is center Cam Jurgens. He is going into the final year of his rookie contract, which carries a $5.8 million cap hit in 2025. Are the Eagles ready to lock him into a multiyear extension with just one year of starting center experience under his belt? If so, a Jurgens extension could create up to $3.3 million in cap savings in 2025. Nakobe Dean also is entering the final year of his deal, but it’s hard to fathom that the Eagles would extend him this offseason, given his knee injury.

By May 1, the Eagles will have to decide if they want to exercise the fifth-year options for players who were selected in the first round of the 2022 draft, including defensive tackle Jordan Davis, backup quarterback Kenny Pickett (Pittsburgh Steelers), and wide receiver Jahan Dotson (Washington Commanders). Davis is the most likely candidate of the three, with a projected fifth-year base salary of $11.5 million.

The Eagles once again are in the market for an offensive coordinator after the New Orleans Saints announced an agreement with Kellen Moore to become their next head coach on Tuesday. This has become a typical experience for Hurts, who has had 11 play-callers in his nine seasons of college and professional football.

The Eagles could fill that void internally by promoting someone like Kevin Patullo, who has been the team’s passing game coordinator since he followed Nick Sirianni from the Indianapolis Colts in 2021. Otherwise, Roseman, Sirianni, and Jeffrey Lurie could consider a variety of external candidates to become the Eagles’ next offensive coordinator.

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The draft will be held in Green Bay, Wis., from April 24-26. The Eagles have seven selections in 2025, which are either their own or other teams’ picks acquired via trade. Over The Cap is projecting that the Eagles will not be awarded any compensatory picks in this year’s draft, which is unsurprising, given the team’s sizable haul in free agency last offseason relative to the small quantity of players they let walk.

The league will set the order of the draft for all seven rounds once it awards compensatory picks, which occurred in early March last year.

Eagles 2025 draft picks: Round 1 (No. 32 overall); Round 2 (one selection); Round 3 (their own selection; the third-round pick from the Miami Dolphins that the Eagles acquired in the 2024 draft will go to the Washington Commanders as part of the Dotson trade); Round 4 (one selection from the Detroit Lions in a pick swap from the 2024 draft); Round 5 (three selections, including one pick from the Commanders in the Dotson trade and one from the Houston Texans in a 2024 pick swap).

The Eagles’ needs for the 2025 season will become more apparent once free agency begins and Roseman makes decisions on which pending free agents he can retain.

If the Eagles let Baun walk, Roseman must determine if Jeremiah Trotter Jr. is ready to step into a starting role, especially if Dean is out injured for the start of the season. The Eagles could opt to bring back Burks or sign another free-agent inside linebacker as a short-term solution alongside Trotter. That position, which was so strong in 2024, could become rife with need this offseason, depending on how the chips fall and how the organization views Trotter.

Similarly, if Williams signs elsewhere, the Eagles will need to fill his role on the defensive line. That also goes for Sweat and Graham, as Smith, Hunt, and Huff are the only 2024 active-roster edge rushers who are under contract in 2025.

The Eagles don’t have as many pressing needs on the offensive side of the ball, unless the team parts ways with Goedert. Even if it doesn’t, the Eagles will still need to think about the future of the tight end position, given that Goedert and Grant Calcaterra are going into the final year of their contracts.

On a somewhat similar note, the 34-year-old Lane Johnson has already declared that he isn’t retiring. The starting right tackle has two more years on his contract. Still, the Eagles have been known to identify prospective replacements through the draft years in advance (Jurgens and Kelce; Carter and Cox), so perhaps the team could look for its next franchise right tackle this offseason.

Feb. 24-March 3: NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis

March 30-April 2: League meeting, Palm Beach, Fla.

April 21: Beginning of the Eagles’ offseason workout program

May 2-5 or May 9-12: Three-day, post-draft rookie minicamp

» READ MORE: Key offseason dates for the Eagles, from free agency to training camp to Week 1