Eagles free up $5.7 million in cap space

Howie Roseman and the Philadelphia Eagles somewhat quietly created some additional 2020 cap space on Wednesday. According to a report from Field Yates of ESPN, the Eagles converted $7.16M of defensive tackle Fletcher Cox’s salary into a bonus, creating roughly $5.7M in cap space.

The timing of this news, just ahead of the upcoming NFL trade deadline on November 3, likely isn’t a coincidence. The Eagles have been ravaged by injuries yet again this season and as such have no shortage of needs. They’re also just 1-4-1 on the season, but they’re reportedly expected to be buyers ahead of the trade deadline because they are in the terrible NFC East that is up for grabs.

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The Eagles recently converted $7.165M of DT Fletcher Cox’s salary into a bonus, creating about $5.732M in 2020 cap space.

Extra room for Philly now, but also more money to rollover into 2021 when the league could be in a tighter cap year.

— Field Yates (@FieldYates) October 21, 2020

The Eagles likely made this move for two reasons. Well, it’s really one main reason, but it has two parts. According to OverTheCap.com, the Eagles have the ninth most cap space in 2020:

Base Salary Cap: $198,200,000

Team	Cap Space	Effective Cap Space ℹ️	#	Active Cap Spending	Dead Money
Browns	$31,113,217	$31,113,217	82	$183,572,485	$14,014,445
Jets	$30,676,721	$30,676,721	80	$141,278,689	$38,239,078
Washington	$23,559,905	$23,559,905	83	$166,816,547	$18,718,803
Cowboys	$23,446,499	$23,446,499	84	$180,090,595	$14,200,184
Jaguars	$22,964,515	$22,964,515	83	$136,572,562	$48,125,458
Patriots	$22,860,697	$22,860,697	87	$159,446,524	$28,350,350
Broncos	$19,562,566	$19,562,566	82	$175,295,191	$19,101,693
Lions	$17,057,265	$17,057,265	80	$175,519,030	$21,731,875
Eagles	$16,918,005	$16,918,005	83	$186,910,207	$18,271,722

2021 is a different story, however, as they are something in the neighborhood of $69 million in the red. But there are multiple ways to fix that situation. The first, of course, is to say goodbye to expensive-but-expendable players like Alshon Jeffery and DeSean Jackson. Another is contract restructures for players like Carson Wentz, Lane Johnson, and others, guaranteeing salary now while pushing much of the salary cap hit into future years.

That is what the Eagles are doing with Cox right now, but their motives are different for this restructuring. NFL teams can roll over a certain percentage of their remaining salary cap space from year to year, and the Eagles need to roll over as much as they can. That’s why they are clearing additional space now despite having nearly $17 million in available space.

So, this move gives the Eagles a little bit more wiggle room if they want to make a minor acquisition at the trade deadline. It’s unlikely that they make a major move, but restructuring Cox’s deal frees up some space that can be used now without further handcuffing the team in 2021.

And if they don’t make any moves, then this is just more money that can be rolled over.

Cox has the team’s second-highest cap hit in 2021 as of this writing, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him restructure again before next season. There isn’t any downside for the player with these restructures. They typically just receive a large chunk of their salary as a signing bonus.