Brad Penner – USAToday Sports
Looking past the circus that is the Philadelphia Eagles’ head coaching search (I mean, seriously, is there anyone they’re not linked to?), the Eagles are going to have another huge hurdle to jump over in a few months.
This is going to be a tough free agency period for the Eagles, as key defensive pieces like Walter Thurmond and Cedric Thornton are scheduled to hit the market. With only $17 million in cap space, potentially big contracts for Fletcher Cox and Sam Bradford, and money to make other moves and pay the rookies, it’s entirely possible the Eagles could be looking to lose those guys.
Normally that wouldn’t be such a dire situation, because that’s just life in football with free agency. You’re bound to lose starters and you just can’t keep everyone you’d like. But the problem is that the Eagles have so much work to do in other areas and don’t have a ton of cash space to work with.
You can count on Thurmond wanting a bigger deal after turning in a solid, fully healthy season. Assume the same for Thornton, who’s played well and has stayed reliably durable since being named a starter. It’s increasingly likely both of them are gone, especially when you hear them talk about “the realities of football” and use terms like “economically viable.”
All of that, above anything else, means that the Eagles absolutely must crush their draft this year if they don’t want to fall too far behind. They’ll have eight picks, possibly nine (although they won’t have a second-rounder) to replenish an offensive line, get some depth at other key skill positions and quite possibly find a new quarterback. Don’t count on free agency as an option — like I said, they don’t have the money — but would you really want a third iteration of the Dream Team?
The Eagles are going to have to be like the Seattle Seahawks in that they’ll have to hit on their early picks, find the diamonds in the later rounds and find guys in the undrafted pile of players. With their limited resources, they don’t have a choice. The depth right now at most of the positions just isn’t good enough to replace the starters they could be losing. And with a team like the Eagles right now, that’s a risk they can’t afford to take.
Doug Green is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com covering the Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL. Follow him on Twitter @DGreenNFL.
