Blogging The Boys
Cowboys and Eagles roster-building efforts are very different
There is an extreme difference in the way the Philadelphia Eagles construct their roster compared to how the Dallas Cowboys do it. We are all aware that the Cowboys’ front office is very selective in spending its cap resources. They are very risk-averse with their free agent spending, sticking to a yearly budget, and dragging out the extensions of their own players as long as possible to ensure what they are buying is a good investment.
The Eagles’ front office is the polar opposite. They are aggressive in their free agent spending, circumventing annual cap space by pushing costs into future seasons, and jumping on a contract extension at the first opportunity. The Eagles' usage of void years has become so excessive that the NFL is now having lengthy discussions about how the salary cap is working and if teams are using it in the manner in which it was intended.
Suffice it to say, the Eagles are not using it for its “intended spirit” but rather exploiting it to its fullest. Mind you, Howie Roseman is not breaking any rules. How a team chooses to spread out costs is up to them, and the Eagles are just one of those teams that is spending like crazy now and spreading it out like nothing we’ve seen before.
The heavy use of void years allows the Eagles to spend money like crazy. They aren’t a team that is making “all the right moves,” they are a team that is making all kinds of moves, hoping enough of them will stick to create a talented football team. And it’s working. The Eagles are loaded with talent all over their roster.
And because the Eagles are throwing money around left and right, some of their purchases won’t be good ones. This was revealed in a rather costly fashion on Friday when we learned the team is waving the white flag on free agent edge rusher Bryce Huff and trading him to the San Francisco 49ers.
The immediate reaction is more Howie praise. The Eagles' GM recognized Huff was a huge mistake, so he quickly pivoted and is cutting his losses the best he can. And that’s true. Getting out of that deal is better than staying in it. However, it doesn’t appear that people truly understand how costly this move was.
The Eagles signed Huff to a three-year, $51 million deal last offseason. That’s a whopping annual cost of $17 million per year for an undrafted free agent who had one good season over his first four years in the league. He wasn’t even a starter on the New York Jets, but his 10-sack season in 2023 caught Roseman’s attention, so the Eagles gambled that he was a rising star.
He wasn’t. The realization came quickly for Roseman that he had made a mistake, so he did what he does best - trade his way out of it.
And while this will quickly become another...
