Darius Slay unselfishly assists Eagles salary cap standing by restructuring

By now, there isn’t a Philadelphia Eagles fan with a handle on Twitter that hasn’t reacted in some way to the news of Fletcher Cox signing a one-year deal with the team. As you might imagine, it’s a move that doesn’t come without its fair share of varying opinions and/or financial ramifications.

Check out a couple of tweets from two of the more trusted and well-known names in Eagles-centered circles, Reuben Frank of NBC Sports Philadelphia and 94 WIP-FM’s Eliot Schorr-Parks.

Here are two things that can be taken from all of that. One, Philadelphia had an opportunity to really do some damage in free agency as they entered the offseason with the most cap health that they had enjoyed in a long while.

What did they do with their newfound spending money? Other than signing Haason Reddick, every other investment was made into guys we already know. They could have just as easily looked at taking a swing at some difference-makers.

Sure, continuity is important, but if we didn’t learn anything else from watching last year’s roster in action, it should be this. Bringing the same team back won’t amount to anything more than, at best, another first-round exit in the playoffs. That brings us to point number two.

The Eagles need cap help, and they got some by way of Darius Slay.

There are times when the salary cap makes total sense. There are other times when it’s totally confusing. Here’s a theory that always has merit though. When you spend more money, you have to find ways to make room if you want to continue to be able to compete with other teams financially and sign better talent when it becomes available.

Darius Slay has done his part to help the Eagles do just that. He’s agreed to restructure his deal, and in doing so, according to ESPN’s Field Yates, sources have told him that the conversion of $14.88 million of the Pro Bowler’s salary into a signing bonus now creates $11.9 million in salary-cap space for Philadelphia.

After the signing of Philadelphia’s number 91, somehow we ended up on Marketing91.com. Poetic huh? This might be the first and last time that Marketing91.com is ever mentioned on the Inside The Iggles platform, but we kept looking at their definition of a team player.

Check this one out.

"Team player refers to an individual who easily puts aside his aspirations for achieving the common goals of the team. He does his fair share without complaining, does not hog the limelight and is eager to help team members so that it is the team who wins and not him alone."

Fletcher Cox’s price tag and Slay’s subsequent restructure made us think about the ramifications of Cox’s deal on the team’s salary cap and Slay’s decision to be a team player in the best way that he knew to do so.

Once upon a time, Jason Peters did the opposite. He asked for more money to move from guard to tackle. Philly buckled and just gave it to him.

The Bodyguard’s pay raise didn’t lead to satisfactory returns. Peters didn’t care. It was all about getting his.

No one’s saying that’s a right or a wrong way of thinking. Every man must make his own mind up, but Peters’ decision obviously held the team to ransom. He isn’t the only player to ever do so (see Aaron Rodgers), but he is one of the more notable to do so in the midnight green.

Big Play could have easily chosen to handle things another way, and he wouldn’t have been wrong to do so. Who are we to tell a man how to handle his business though? Still, once the smoke clears and the dust settles, this is a move that helps the Birds out. We should all be thankful for that.

Let’s just hope that Howie Roseman uses the available coin now to land some outside help to upgrade his team. We already know what we’re getting from a lot of these retreads. Only time will tell if the Eagles can make one or two big moves to infuse life into a football team that, so far, looks like it will hover just above mediocrity in 2022.