The Philadelphia Eagles will enter the new league year as Super Bowl champions, and they should be among the top contenders once again in 2025 if they can escape from so-called “salary cap hell.”
In reality, the NFL has a soft cap, and the numbers attached to each team entering free agency can be manipulated in a number of ways. For the Eagles, fans shouldn’t overreact to prognostications of doom over their team’s projected $13.8 million of cap space for 2025. That currently ranks 21st in the NFL, but it doesn’t tell the whole story.
Philly will obviously have to make some offseason concessions, just like every NFL team, but here are seven sensible moves the team could make to create over $70 million in space for the 2025 season, using Over the Cap’s transaction calculator:
Extend EDGE Josh Sweat
Total 2025 cap savings: Up to $38.9 million
Most predict that Sweat is a goner in free agency. After restructuring his contract to a one-year deal worth basically a fully guaranteed $10 million, he balled out in 2024, hired agent Drew Rosenhaus during Super Bowl week, and then had an MVP-caliber performance with 2.5 sacks and seven total pressures in the win over Kansas City.
Sweat is going to get paid, probably in the neighborhood of $18 million per season, but he’s not as big of a flight risk as Eagles fans might fear. In fact, due to the four void years and dead money on his current deal, the Eagles could actually save themselves close to $39 million in cap space this season just by extending Sweat and spreading out the bonus money in the new deal accordingly.
There’s nothing like escaping “salary cap hell” by extending one of your best players. They’ll have competition if he hits the open market, but it makes financial sense for the Eagles to prioritize their top pass rusher as soon as possible.
MORE: Eagles predicted to replace EDGE Josh Sweat with embattled Raiders rising star
Extend LB Zack Baun
Total 2025 cap savings: Up to $15 million
Baun signed a modest, $3.5 million contract with four void years this offseason, making him another prime candidate for either a restructure or extension. The latter makes the most sense, as it could save the team up to $15,064,000 against the cap in 2025, per Over The Cap.
Baun was a breakout superstar in 2024, racking up 151 total tackles in the regular season alone with Pro Bowl and first team All-Pro nods. He should be part of Philly’s plans for the future, and his contract is set up to make that happen.
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Restructure RB Saquon Barkley
2025 cap savings: $1.3 million
Barkley was arguably Philadelphia’s most valuable player this season, and the team could hook him up by converting a portion of his base salary into a signing bonus. The move would do nothing but put money in Barkley’s pocket sooner, while also clearing up some additional cap space.
Cut CB James Bradbery (post June 1 designation)
2025 cap savings: $4.7 million
The Eagles tried to move on from Bradberry prior to the season, but there were no takers. They’ll have to eat some future dead cap money, but the potential savings for a player no longer part of their plans signals a release, with a post-June 1 designation (which allows the team to spread his remaining salary over two seasons).
Extend TE Dallas Goedert
2025 cap savings: $4.3 million
Goedert is still a top-10 tight end in the NFL, but it’s time for the Eagles to get younger at the position. An extension would lower his $11.8 million cap hit for 2025, while keeping him as the starter for another season or two as the team crafts a succession plan.
Cut CB Darius Slay (post June 1 designation)
2025 cap savings: $4.3 million
Slay knows the writing is on the wall. He’ll enter his age 34 season with a $13.7 million cap charge and a pair of young superstars in Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean entrenched as Philly’s future at the position. This is a tough move to make given Slay’s production over five seasons in Philly, but designating him a post-June 1 release makes the most sense money-wise.
Trade Kenny Pickett (post June 1)
2025 cap savings: $2.6 million
Pickett proved he can be a high-end backup quarterback in the NFL in 2024 — but so did Tanner McKee.
The Eagles could look to flip Pickett for added draft capital, enjoy some immediate cap savings, and promote McKee to QB2. He earned it by averaging 7.2 yards per attempt with four touchdowns, no interceptions and a 117.2 QB rating in a pair of appearances this season.
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