The Eagles should be near $35M of free cap space in 2025, assuming $9M is rolled over from 2024 and the cap increases to around $272M. And looking ahead to 2026 when Slay, Sweat, BG, and Goedert are all gone, the Eagles cap space should be around $68M.
These are good amounts and put them around middle of the league in cap space. But the Eagles have several decisions to make on free agents this off-season and will not be able to keep everybody.
Key 2025 free agents and contract comps
Below are the key Eagles free agents they will have this off-season. Contract comps are free agency signings and extensions over the past 1-2 years for similar age and performance players.
| Free Agent | Contract Comps | Exp AAV |
|---|---|---|
| EDGE Josh Sweat | MIN Jonathan Greenard 4yr / $76M ($38M gtd) WAS Dorance Armstrong 3yr / $33M ($16M gtd) GB Rashan Gary 4yr / $96M ($35M gtd) | $16-20M |
| DT Milton Williams | CAR Derrick Brown 4yr / $96M ($63M gtd) NE Christian Barmore 4yr / $84M ($42M gtd) | $22-24M |
| LB Zack Baun | JAX Foyesade Oluokun 3yr / $30M ($21M gtd) MIN Blake Cashman 3yr / $23M ($15M gtd) | $9-11M |
| OL Mekhi Becton | WAS Sam Cosmi 4yr / $74M ($45M gtd) NE Mike Onwenu 3yr / $57M ($37M gtd) | $15-18M |
| CB Isaiah Rodgers | NYJ DJ Reed 3yr/ $33M ($21M gtd) GB Kelsean Nixon 3yr / $18M ($7M gtd) | $7-10M |
| RB Kenny Gainwell | NE Antonio Gibson 3yr / $11M ($5M gtd) LV Alexander Mattison 1yr / $2M ($2M gtd) | $2-4M |
What I’m doing
Saying goodbye to…
Josh Sweat (you don’t sign a 28-year old pass rusher to a big deal), Mekhi Becton (deserves a contract but somebody will likely pay him a lot given he can play OT and OG), and Isaiah Rodgers (another guy you would like to keep, but market is likely a 3-year deal which I wouldn’t do, just let Kelee take his spot).
Signing…
LB Zack Baun: 3 year, $27M
If you are reading this, I know we all agree. Yes, we know Howie hasn’t paid LBs and we’ve suffered for it as we finally have a guy like TJ Edwards who then goes on to CHI for $6M a year and our defense suffers.
Baun’s open market value is tough, every year there’s a top end deal some team is willing (and foolish) to pay – last year it was Patrick Queen, the year before Tremaine Edmunds. Edmunds is what could happen – a higher draft pedigree, but his and Baun’s careers were similar up to that point before CHI gave him $18M AAV in free agency. But most likely Baun lands at the top-end of the “sane” tier (Blake Cashman, Lavonte David, and Kaden Elliss).
Not sure Howie actually does this and I’d never thought I’d propose it either as I largely agree with Howie’s prioritization. But you can reconcile it with positional value because Baun, besides being an overall LB, has been the best coverage LB in the league which is extremely valuable.
DT Milton Williams: 3 year, $65M
You have to look ahead and plan for Jalen Carter’s massive extension that’s out there, but you can avoid any material cap hits on it until 2028-29, giving you a few years where you can pay Milt.
DT prices have gone up a ton in free agency – when I dug into the comps, I realized my initial view of a $17-18M price tag for Milt now looks way too low. For a guy just turning 26, can play across the line, and generates pressure at a good rate, he’s going to get a lot – Barmore and Derrick Brown are similar profiles and just got $21M and $24M. Milt’s played a bit less than them but is every bit as good.
Getting Milt for only 3 years may be an issue as the market has been 4 years, but it’s how the Eagles generally do deals – with the exception of Hurts, Landon Dickerson, Lane Johnson, and Dallas Goedert, they’ve largely done 3 years. And, since Milt has no remaining years on his current deal, the Eagles don’t have as many void years to use – the Eagles would likely look to do a 5 year deal made up of 3 “real” years and 2 voids.
Try to bring back but only at the right price…
RB Kenny Gainwell: 1 year, $3M
The Eagles love him, Lane called him the most underrated guy on the team, he should be cheap and you need a backup for Saquon especially after his workload this year. Kenny should be cheap, however if for some reason he can get higher, you let him go. Then see what you have with Shipley or take another flyer on a guy in the draft.
Where this likely puts them on cap space
I hate “the cap isn’t real” view many throw out there as it is very, very real which teams feel when they sign bad deals (Bradberry, for example). But we can, and will, push a lot of this money into the future.
(If you are interested in a dive into the cap and how Howie uses it, I wrote this last year: “The Eagles Dead Cap Isn’t a Failure… It’s a Feature“)
Signing Baun and Milt are big commitments but the combined AAV of around $34M (including Kenny) works out with the Eagles normal contract mechanics, being around an $11M cap hit in 2025 and $18M in 2026 while also not putting them in a bad spot for future extensions. And you can feel good on risk as neither is extended past an age where you start to worry.
A peak at Baun’s and Milt’s contract structures
These contract projections won’t be right but should be directional:
Baun’s $9M AAV probably works out as a $3M cap hit in 2025 and $6M in 2026 (min salary and pro-rated bonus in 2025 and add an option bonus in 2026), leaving around $6-7M of dead cap if guarantees are held around $15M and 2 void years used. Bryce Huff’s deal is larger but a good structural comp.
Milt’s $22M AAV gets heavily pushed into 2026-27 when Goedert, Slay, and BG’s remaining dead cap is gone and the Eagles have much more space and a window before Jalen Carter’s extension really hits.
Josh Sweat’s extension before this past year’s restructure is a decent structural comp for Milt’s potential deal. Again, a min salary and a pro-rated bonus with a bulk of the total contract pushed into option bonuses that don’t start until 2026 and you get something like the following:
| 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salary | $1.2M | $1.2M | $1.2M | Void | Void |
| Bonus | $3.7M | $3.7M | $3.7M | $3.7M | $3.7M |
| Option | $7.0M | $15.0M | $13.0M | $8.0M | |
| Cap Hit | $4.9M | $11.9M | $19.9M | $16.7M | $11.7M |
Updated cap space and looking ahead
These are very doable contracts and leave the Eagles with around $25M in effective cap space in 2025 and $50M in 2026.
Howie is never a big spender in free agency and we shouldn’t expect any change this year. They will of course look at depth for their primary need areas – pass rusher, OL depth, and another safety.
You can’t spend everywhere and the Eagles will need to balance what they commit to position groups. They were in a bad spot at CB (highest in the league) but quickly fixed that with the draft double-dip this year.
Over the next 3-4 years, they have lot of cap committed to QB, OL, WR, and DL and if you want to predict where Howie drafts, look to they expect to lose guys at premium positions a couple of years out and where position groups are getting expensive.
It’s why DL (both EDGE and DT) remain high probability draft picks this year.