Recapping The Philadelphia Eagles First Week Of Free Agency
The Philadelphia Eagles had a pretty exciting first full week of free agency and believe it or not it is over. To make it even better, there was no Vince Young to come out an ruin it by calling them a “dream team”.
The Eagles accomplished some big goals in week one and filled some pretty big holes. After releasing Philadelphia Eagles cornerbacks Bradley Fletcher, Cary Williams, and linebacker Trent Cole, there were some openings in the secondary and linebacking corps to say the least.
Thats not even to mention the fact that Chip Kelly had traded away one of the best running backs in the NFL in LeSean McCoy the week before.
With over $50-million in cap space the Eagles were in prime position to make moves and be big players and get involved early.
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List of Free Agent Signing
The first of Kelly’s wild moves came last week when the Eagles agreed to trade veteran running back LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills for linebacker Kiko Alonso. While the Eagles didnt necessarily sign Alonso, it was a great addition.
They get a solid linebacker who’s familiar with Chip Kelly and won defensive rookie of the year in 2013. Not only that, but making this trade opened up approximately $10-million in cap space. The Eagles solidified a position of need with one of the NFL’s up and coming players.
The Eagles were on a mission to get Byron Maxwell from the Seattle Seahawks and they didnt care what it was going to take. That explains the six year, $63-million deal. The Eagles are investing a lot in Maxwell and can only hope he doesn’t end up like Nnamdi Asomugha.
He has only started 17 games, but has a lot of talent. The Eagles secondary was near nonexistent at times last season and will be hoping Maxwell brings a piece of the Legion of Boom with him.
Once again, another trade, and again, it is very risky. For one thing, Bradford has torn the same ACL within 75-snaps of one another. Secondly, the Eagles gave up two draft picks, one being a second rounder, for an injury prone quarterback.
There is a high reward however, as Bradford did run the spread option at Oklahoma with a player later on in this list, and he is capable of making all the NFL throws. He has talent, but Kelly can only cross his fingers that Bradford stays healthy.
If Chip Kelly had one theme this offseason it was to sign players with an injury history, Mathews being one of them. The best thing about this deal is that they are getting a starting caliber running back for pretty cheap as he signed a three-year deal worth $11.5 million with $5 million guaranteed.
He’ll be the No. 2 runner on perhaps the most run-friendly team in the league. Alongside DeMarco Murray, this dup is going to give defenses headaches next season.
Of all the free agent signings, this one may have been the sweetest. Murray lead the NFL in rushing last season and as mentioned earlier, he is coming to one of the most run friendly offenses in the NFL.
Murray did sign five-year, $42 million deal, including $21 million guaranteed, but if he can stay healthy and do what he did last year, maybe even a little less, he will be a solid acquisition. He does have a lot of wear and tear, carrying the ball 392 times last season, but in a now a backfield 3-deep, his workload will be nothing to worry about.
While many were ok with Graham leaving and almost expected him to leave, this was a very underrated signing. What needs to be remembered is that the Eagles released Trent Cole and the outside linebacker spot without Graham, would have been left to linebacker Marcus Smith.
Graham was a disappointment early in his career, but last season he proved his worth. Hopefully this isn’t a Riley Cooper situation in which he does nothing after he signs his contract, but only time will tell.
It is yet to be determined if the Eagles won free agency as it is only the first week, but early speculation determines that they have. They added some great pieces on defense, and although they missed out on McCourty and let Maclin walk, they can still fill those holes in the draft.
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