If this is your first offseason rodeo, here's the best advice we can give you. Don't blink. You'll miss something. The Philadelphia Eagles are about to floor the accelerator for a few months.
The NFL Scouting Combine cometh. Once, that's done, we're talking about the 2025 NFL Draft until it arrives at the end of April.
Between now and then, we'll discuss possible prospects so deeply and often that you'll feel like you and some of these guys are related. Top 30 visits, Pro Days, and mock drafts will dominate discussions.
Oh, and there's this little matter about the free agency frenzy.
As NFL teams begin placing the franchise tag on players, don't expect any Eagles to receive that designation.
The franchise tag allows NFL teams to disallow their best players from leaving in free agency. Players who are tagged receive a one-year tender. There are three different types.
Non-exclusive tags are the most popular. They allow players to sign an offer sheet with another team. Their original team has the right to match the offer or receive two first-round draft picks in compensation if the player leaves.
There are also exclusive and transition tags. The former binds the tagged player to his team and prohibits his agent from seeking an offer sheet. The latter works like the nonexclusive franchise tag but only provides the original team the right to match the other team's offer.
If the original team elects against matching the other's bid, it gets no compensation when the player leaves. Also, once a player is tagged, the two negotiating sides have until July 15 to sign a long-term contract. NFL rules state the player can hold out or play on the one-year deal he is offered.
That sounds easy enough, right? We've said all of that to simply throw you a curveball. Don't expect any Eagles players to be given a franchise tag of any sort.
Philly has only used the franchise tag five times. They did so on Jeremiah Trotter (2002), Corey Simon (2005), L.J. Smith (2008), Michael Vick (2011), and DeSean Jackson (2012). That Trotter tag led to one of the ugliest standoffs between a player and an organization in NFL history.
But, even if Philly did consider using the tag, they seemingly won't have the cap space to allow them to designate the label on anyone. The value of the tag varies based on the type of tag given and the position we are discussing.
The price tag of the non-exclusive tag is the average of the top five salaries at the player's position (and over the last five years), or it equates to 120% of his previous salary (whichever is greater). Philly, at last look, is projected to land around $14 million in effective cap space this offseason. That being said, even if there is a significant increase to the league-wide number, it's doubtful there will be enough space to make any Eagles attempt at applying one feasible.
