The Philadelphia Eagles and mammoth defensive lineman Fletcher Cox are reportedly "close" on a contract extension that will be very similar, size-wise, to the man who will soon be putting his John Hancock on it. Eliot Shorr-Parks of NJ.com, citing two separate sources "familiar with the negotiations," revealed Tuesday that Cox's deal is likely to carry guaranteed money north of $50 million.
One of Shorr-Parks' sources suggested that the deal may average over $15 million per season.
UPDATE, 11:30 a.m.: Cox tweeted out a message shortly after Shorr-Parks' report was published suggesting that an extension may not be all that close.
Can the reporters please stop the nonsense nothing is true to what they are reporting ... SAD
— fletcher cox (@fcoxx_91) February 9, 2016
According to the website Spotrac, the Eagles are 26th in the league when it comes to spending on the defensive line, with just $11.369 million in 2016 cap dollars and 8.63 percent of their 2016 cap allocated to the defensive line. This, even after handing defensive end Vinny Curry a five-year contract that makes him one of the highest-paid players at his position.
Curry's deal carries $23 million guaranteed, but as Reuben Frank of CSN Philly noted late last week, Eagles not-GM/GM Howie Roseman structured the deal so as to keep Curry's annual cap hits to a minimum. Curry will make just $1 million in base salary in 2016, the first year of the deal. That, along with Curry's pro-rated signing bonus of $10 million - $2 million per season over the life of the contract - means Curry will cost the Eagles just $3 million or so for next season.
There's zero chance that Cox's deal will afford the Eagles the same kind of minimal cap hit and their ranking in defensive line spending will skyrocket after it's done, but the light defensive line spending and the structure of Curry's deal should leave the Eagles with plenty of space to lock up Cox. The question then becomes - just how much do you commit to him?
Cox is a premier NFL player. He's young - still just 25 - supremely talented - coming off his first Pro Bowl season, but second year in which he deserved the nod - and, as Shorr-Parks notes, scheme versatile. He can, and will, impact the game in a number of ways for Philadelphia going forward. But for Roseman and Co., it's not just locking up a star - it's about ensuring they keep themselves in good cap position going forward.
Only four defensive linemen in the league have contracts with guaranteed money even close to what Cox is reportedly circling - Miami's Ndamukong Suh ($59.995 million), Houston's J.J. Watt ($51.876 million), Buffalo's Marcell Dareus ($60 million) and Tampa Bay's Gerald McCoy ($51.5 million). As Shorr-Parks notes, only one of those players, Watt, was part of a playoff team in 2015.
This is entirely misleading though, considering the struggles of the entire Dolphins organization and specifically Ryan Tannehill and the similar issues plaguing Dareus and the Bills and McCoy and the young, but much-improved, Buccaneers. Whatever issues kept these teams out of the postseason, it wasn't related to the contracts handed to their stud defensive linemen. In fact, you could make the case the Texans, dealing with a bevy of quarterback issues of their own, made the playoffs thanks largely to Watt's exploits.
Paying monster money to one guy is always tricky and does leave less in the pool to pay other well-deserving players. But Cox is going to get paid and really, it should have little to no bearing on other moves the Eagles make this offseason, whether at quarterback or any other position. At present, the Eagles have about $21 million in cap space, per Over The Cap, with more likely to become available as the team decides the fate of players like DeMeco Ryans ($3.5 million savings) and Mark Sanchez ($3.5 million savings).
Of course, those players will need to be replaced if they're jettisoned, but with a new coach in place, the Eagles will be likely be looking to go younger at a lot of backup spots anyway. Quarterback Sam Bradford could certainly eat up a big chunk of change if he's re-signed and the team will need money for their draft picks and other offseason moves, but signing Cox won't keep the Eagles on the sidelines this offseason (though they may do that intentionally themselves).
Say what you will about Roseman as a talent evaluator, but he's always been a shrewd contract negotiator and cap manager. And it's unlikely, considering his talents and temperament, that the Eagles will ever rue the day they signed Cox long-term.
