The Philadelphia Eagles clearly will have a lot of choices to make this offseason.
Philadelphia is one game away from history, but then the tough decisions are going to pick up. The Eagles have a handful of key pieces heading to free agency this offseason including Zack Baun, Josh Sweat, Milton Williams, and Mekhi Becton among others.
The Eagles don't have too much cap space to work with and currently are projected to have just over $13 million effective cap space by Over The Cap.
The Eagles can make some more room and restructure deals, but there is going to be some turnover. ESPN's Bill Barnwell recently took a look at each playoff roster heading into the offseason and suggested top priorities and potential candidates to get cut. For the Eagles, he said their top priority should be re-signing Sweat over anyone else.
"Top priority: Sweat," Barnwell said. "That's not the longest list of notable free agents, but there are a handful of key players in the mix, including three contributors to Philadelphia's much-vaunted defensive line. (Brandon Graham) is either going to retire or return to Philadelphia, but Sweat and Williams are young and valuable. With Bryce Huff struggling badly in his first season with the Eagles, general manager Howie Roseman might be more inclined to bring back Sweat to play across from Nolan Smith Jr...
"The franchise tag for linebackers is based off edge rushers who are listed as linebackers as opposed to defensive ends, so the $27.1 million projection doesn't fit the market for off-ball linebackers such as Baun. The top of the market for inside linebackers is Roquan Smith's average annual salary of $20 million per year. I still can't imagine Philadelphia paying that much for a linebacker, even with Nakobe Dean recovering from a torn Achilles, but there was once a time when Roseman wouldn't have given serious thought to paying a running back $12.5 million per year, too."
Only time will tell. Sweat will be a free agent as his $10 million deal expires. But, no matter what happens, hopefully the Eagles have a Super Bowl ring to show for the season.
