Eagles notes: Saquon Barkley denies tampering, Bryce Huff will wear 0, Jack Stoll is gone, and Joe Flacco

Let's round up some of the smaller Philadelphia Eagles news items in one spot, shall we?

Saquon Barkley denies contact with the Eagles during the two-day negotiating window

The NFL is reportedly investigating the Eagles for having contact with Saquon Barkley during the two-day negotiating window prior to the start of free agency. Teams are permitted to negotiate with agents, but they are not allowed to have direct communication with players on other teams during that window. Barkley's former coach at Penn State, James Franklin, indicated that Howie Roseman and Barkley had a phone conversation. Oops! The Eagles denied it.

Barkley was asked about it during his introductory press conference. 

"Coach Franklin I think kind of misinterpreted it," Barkley said. "The truth was, the sales pitch was Penn State, how many Penn State fans are Philadelphia Eagles, but that was through my agent. My agent told me that."

The Eagles have also come under scrutiny for possible tampering with defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, who joined the Eagles from Miami this offseason.

• MORE EAGLES
• What they're saying: Saquon Barkley is a perfect fit for the Eagles
  
• Report: Eagles to sign LB Devin White
  
• WATCH: Brandon Graham welcomes Saquon Barkley to the Eagles at NovaCare Complex

Bryce Huff will wear No. 0

With the Jets, Huff wore 47, an objectively bad number for a pass rusher that was given to him as an undrafted rookie back in 2020. In 2024, he'll have a much cooler number, as he'll be the second player in Eagles history to wear the number 0 after D'Andre Swift wore it last season.

TE Jack Stoll is signing with the Giants

Stoll was a restricted free agent, which means that the Eagles had to decide whether or not they would place a restricted free agent tender on him. There are three different RFA levels, as shown via OverTheCap:

If you want to brush up on restricted free agent tenders, you may do so here.

There was no way the Eagles were paying Stoll $3 million in 2024, and so, he became an unrestricted free agent, free to sign with any team. In the past, the Eagles have instead gotten restricted free agents to sign much lower — but guaranteed — one-year contracts. That did not happen with Stoll, who instead signed with the Giants.

Stoll has been with the Eagles now for three years after making the team as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2021. He was a decent enough blocker. As a receiver, he had 20 career catches for 183 yards and 0 TDs.

With Stoll's departure, the likelihood that the Eagles will draft a tight end increases.

The Eagles reportedly had interest in Joe Flacco

Flacco signed with the Colts, but he also had an offer from the Eagles, per Rob Maaddi.

That nugget is interesting from the perspective of what the Eagles think of Tanner McKee, the Eagles' QB3 in 2023.

After a good training camp and a very good showing in the preseason games, McKee dressed for all 18 Eagles games as the "emergency quarterback," but the team never needed him to play. We (as in, the media) also didn't get to see McKee play in competitive sessions the rest of the season because our access to the good parts of practice ends once training camp is over. As such, it's unknown how well he performed day-to-day from September to January.

Earlier this week, the Eagles' 2023 QB2, Marcus Mariota, signed with the Commanders. The Eagles are highly likely to keep three quarterbacks again in 2024, which means that they are going to do something there this offseason. There are three different kinds of quarterbacks they could target: 

1. They could sign a vet to clearly be the QB2.
2. They could sign a vet to compete with McKee for the QB2 job. 
3. They could just hand the keys to McKee as the No. 2 and draft a third quarterback.

In my opinion, Flacco falls into bucket No. 2, in that he's a competent enough player who can come in and play if you need him, but he's also at the stage of his career where the bar wouldn't be so high that McKee couldn't beat him out for the backup job with another good offseason.

Obviously, the Eagles were unable to get a deal done with Flacco, but their attempt to sign him perhaps gives some insight into what they're looking for there.

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