Those of you who are a little younger may not remember this, but once upon a time, there was this theory that players shouldn’t lose their position because of an injury. It sounds almost asinine to say that now, doesn’t it? Here’s a question though. If the Philadelphia Eagles, for whatever reason, decided that they were moving on from Isaac Seumalo, wouldn’t that be the only reason that they did so? We could make successful arguments for both sides of that one, couldn’t we?
We haven’t seen Isaac buckle the chinstrap and take the field for an Eagles game since Week 3’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys this past September. Since that’s happened, we’ve gotten to know some fairly talented youngsters.
The Eagles have found out, in Isaac’s absence, that Sua Opeta can play. They’ve also stocked the cupboard with young veteran linemen who can play along the interior (Jack Anderson, Kayode Awosika). This offseason, right after the draft, they added two undrafted rookies that are good enough to make someone’s 53-man roster (Josh Sills and William Dunkle).
In 2022, Seumalo is set to make $7.6 million. You see where this is headed right?
There’s no way that the Eagles would move on from Isaac Seumalo though, right?
If nothing happened between now and August, Isaac Seumalo would, most certainly, enter camp at the top of the Eagles’ depth chart as Philly’s starting left guard, but words like ‘trade bait’ are being tossed around. Perhaps Philly could package Isaac along with a pick or two and convince the Cincinnati Bengals to hand over Jessie Bates? That would be nice, right?
What if that didn’t happen? What if the Birds made the decision to simply cut bait? Well, that wouldn’t be the most desirable option. Clearly, you’d want to get something for Seumalo if he were to leave, but one can never be too sure about how these things might play out.
In either effect, as it stands now, Isaac represents a dead cap amount of $5,856,000 according to Spotrac. Pro Football Network’s Mike Kaye named him as someone to watch after June 1st. It wasn’t long after when Pro Football Focus mentioned him in a few theories of their own.
As PFF mentioned, Isaac Seumalo has only been able to eclipse 600 offensive snaps once in his career. He only played 168 snaps in 2021. If traded or cut after June 1st, he represents $2,018,000 in dead cap space. By moving on, Philly saves $5,650,000.
That could be something to watch as we turn the pages on our desk calendars from May to June. Don’t be surprised if Seumalo leaves or stays though.