Despite recent budget crunch, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie intends to spend for a third Super Bowl: ‘I only know one way’
Lurie has always been willing to spend. But the 73-year-old owner has only become more aggressive in his team’s cash spending. “We want to win, and we want to win big,” he said.
PALM BEACH, Fla. — Jeffrey Lurie is a big spender. The NFL may have a salary cap, but the Eagles have spent more money than any team over the last decade, and because of that, they currently have approximately $150 million more in void years than the next closest franchise.
While many of the league’s owners balk at seeing red figures on their spreadsheets, Lurie has given general manager Howie Roseman the largest budget of any general manager. And Roseman has, for the most part, invested well.
The Eagles have two Lombardi Trophies partly as a result, with February’s Super Bowl win over the Kansas City Chiefs recently added to the display case in the entrance at the NovaCare Complex.
Lurie said he has no plans of becoming a penny pincher in his quest for a third.
“Our cash over cap has been high, and it’s continuing that way,” Lurie said Tuesday. “I only know one way.”
The Eagles have made decisions this offseason based on saving cash, however. They released cornerbacks Darius Slay and James Bradberry. They traded safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson and have explored dealing tight end Dallas Goedert. And they watched the majority of their 19 free agents leave for other teams.
There was some spending. They re-signed linebacker Zack Baun to a three-year, $51 million contract. They worked out extensions with running back Saquon Barkley and right tackle Lane Johnson. And they acquired 10 players in free agency — all on relatively low-cost one-year deals.
They have shed far more potential dollars than they’ve actually spent. As Roseman explained Monday at the league meetings, the Eagles have eight returning starters making more than $15 million a year, and they have an additional eight starters from the 2022-24 drafts who still are on rookie contracts.
So, yes, there was bound to be some balancing of the books. But, according to Roseman, decreased spending this offseason wasn’t a Lurie directive.
“Jeffrey [is] incredibly supportive and aggressive in what we want to do,” Roseman said. “And this is our vision in how to win our third Super Bowl: We have a bunch of young players that we’d like to retain, we have a lot of players on our current roster that we think are at the top of their game, and so we felt like this was the moment where we had to make some tough decisions with some guys that have meant a lot to this team.
“It was not a directive.”
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The Eagles actually have nine players making more than $15 million a year: quarterback Jalen Hurts, tackle Jordan Mailata, receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, guard Landon Dickerson, defensive end Bryce Huff, Baun, Johnson, and Barkley. Maybe Roseman left off Huff, who has been the subject of trade rumors.
The Eagles may not extend all of their recent draft picks who are starters. But barring something unforeseen, five of the eight from the last three classes — center Cam Jurgens, defensive tackle Jalen Carter, outside linebacker Nolan Smith, and cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean — project as second contract candidates.
A new deal for Jurgens could be announced soon.
“We want to win, and we want to win big,” Lurie said, “and the way to win consistently and to win big is to plan for the contracts you’re going to have to give to your best young players.”
The Eagles have far more good young players than ever. That’s never a bad thing. They’ve drafted as well as any club since 2021. But that also requires long-term forecasting — perhaps beyond the foresight of some impatient fans — and some short-term sacrifices.
Defensive tackle Milton Williams was a quality starter. Roseman may have been able to retain the soon-to-be 26-year-old had he given him an extension last offseason, but the New England Patriots gave Williams a $26 million-a-year contract, which made it easy to justify his departure.
Defensive end Josh Sweat signed with the Arizona Cardinals for $19.1 million annually. That’s a hefty chunk of change, but not among the top 10 at his position. Guard Mekhi Becton inked a two-year contract with the Los Angeles Chargers for $20 million with just $6.94 million fully guaranteed.
There was an evaluation component to letting each walk, but the Eagles also have possible replacements they view as ascending players — defensive tackle Moro Ojomo, outside linebacker Jalyx Hunt, and guard Tyler Steen — who come at a fraction of the cost.
Roseman also is stockpiling draft picks. The Eagles have eight picks later this month (all in the first five rounds), and a projected dozen selections in next year’s draft based on the compensatory formula for free agents.
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One year isn’t quite a lifetime for an NFL GM, but it’s a significant amount of time. Roseman has a luxury that few others in his position have — entrenchment that affords him the freedom to make short-term decisions with the long term in mind.
“I’m very big on rewarding those that have done a great job,” Lurie said. “Howie is as good as exists in the NFL. I will say better. We proceed in that direction. We don’t announce things, but we proceed in that direction at all times. And that’s just the way I like to operate. … When you have the right people, continuity is big.”
Roseman’s last reported contract was a three-year extension in 2022, but Lurie suggested that there has been another recent extension. Asked for the length of his GM’s deal, he declined to give details but added that it was for “a long time.”
Lurie’s trust in the 49-year-old Roseman is seemingly unbinding. Roseman became the first GM since the Baltimore Ravens’ Ozzie Newsome to win two Super Bowls with different head coaches and quarterbacks.
But as Roseman has acknowledged on many occasions, he couldn’t have done it without his boss’ insatiable desire to win. As good he’s been in roster building, Roseman has made his share of bad decisions that Lurie’s deep pockets have covered — Huff being the latest.
Lurie has always been willing to spend. The Eagles typically were more fiscally sound when Andy Reid and Joe Banner were running the show. But the 73-year-old owner has only become more aggressive in his team’s cash spending.
“They do it probably a little bit more than anybody in the league,” Reid said in March at the NFL scouting combine. “The numbers are out there, so I’m not telling you secrets. But that doesn’t take away from having to go out and find those players and then doing it, spending the money, and that’s a big part of it.
“Howie does a great job of managing all of that. But unless you’re willing to kick it out there, [it’s] hard to sustain.”
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Lurie had to spend a lot more than the Chiefs, for instance, to win a second Super Bowl. He also didn’t have a generational quarterback like Kansas City. And perhaps that was Roseman’s greatest achievement in constructing a championship roster.
But the Eagles are making a massive profit as a big-market team with a passionate fan base. And Lurie had a recent cash infusion after selling two minority ownership stakes in his franchise. When asked what he would do with that money, he joked, “Buy more Corn Flakes and Wheaties.”
Lurie didn’t buy his latest Super Bowl. But make no mistake about it, his willingness to spend contributed to a second parade down Broad Street.