Philadelphia Eagles: Was Timmy Jernigan’s extension actually a bad move?

Did the Philadelphia Eagles pull the trigger to quickly on a Timmy Jernigan extension last season?

Here we go with the second-guessing already. Let’s make this clear first and foremost; Not every single front office move can be perfect in the NFL. Therefore, it is entirely possible that Philadelphia Eagles front office guru Howie Roseman can make a bad move. So now we ask this question: Did the Eagles make the right call when they re-signed veteran defensive tackle, Timmy Jernigan?

Now, don’t think that these concerns are exactly sudden. Ever since the Eagles found out that they will be without Jernigan for a few months to start the season, they strongly considered cutting ties with him already. Considering his five-million dollar cap hit would significantly affect one of the worst cap situations in the NFL, the Eagles had every right to consider it.

Fortunately for Jernigan, the Eagles decided to hold on to the 25-year-old tackle. But as the offseason is at its slow point, unbiased NFL writers are starting to explore the negatives of each team. One writer, in particular, pointed out some of the worst contract situations in the NFL. And what do you know? Timmy Jernigan has made the list.

The reasoning behind this:

"The Eagles are bold with their contracts, and this is no exception. Jernigan’s deal is essentially the same contract the Cowboys worked out with Crawford, and both are building on mistakes. Philly’s looks worse since Jernigan was sidelined by a significant back injury months after he signed the deal. The injury was serious enough that the Eagles were able to tweak the guarantees, but they shouldn’t have put themselves in the situation in the first place."

Is Jernigan overpaid?

Sporting News’ Jason Fitzgerald recognized that Jernigan might be slightly overpaid. Okay, if you look at the stat sheets in comparison to Jernigan’s deal, it is quite obvious that the Eagles might’ve reached. Midway through the season, the Eagles inked Jernigan to a four-year deal, worth $48 million with 24 of it guarnteed, according to Spotrac. That’s quite the extension for a guy who finished with 2.5 sacks on the season.

So maybe Jernigan isn’t precisely a sack master. We all know that his presence was significant on the best rushing defense in 2017, though. At least, early on it was. In all honesty, Jernigan’s production started slipping not too long after his deal.

During the first nine games of the season, Jernigan recorded a stuff in six of the nine games. After he signed the deal during the Eagles bye week, he recorded just one stuff during the second-half of the season. Not to mention, Jernigan had a quite underwhelming playoff performance. Although Jernigan is a Super Bowl champ, he was hardly active in getting in the backfield during the postseason. Jernigan finished out the playoffs with two total tackles and zero sacks.

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Looking back at it, the Eagles definitely might’ve pulled the trigger too early with Jernigan’s deal. Knowing that he could miss at least half the 2018 season really makes it difficult to believe that Jernigan will ever live up to the expectations that his contract brings. He still has another three years to make it all worth it, but as of right now the critical opinions are not too far fetched.