When the Philadelphia Eagles traded up to the No. 2 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft to select a quarterback, it became instantly clear that Sam Bradford's time in Philly would be short.
When they handed out contract extensions to Lane Johnson, Zach Ertz, Brent Celek, Malcolm Jenkins, Vinny Curry, Fletcher Cox, and Darren Sproles, while also dipping into the free agent market for players like Brandon Brooks, Rodney McLeod, and Nigel Bradham, the eventual dispatching of Bradford has almost become a necessity.
Estimating a salary cap of $166,000,000 in 2017 (it is $155,270,000 in 2016), overthecap.com has the Eagles with $177,256,370 in active cap spending in 2017, which would put them well over 2017 salary cap estimates. (See chart via overthecap.com to the right).
In 2018, overthecap.com has the Eagles with $169,854,928 in active cash spending, which is over $32 million more than the next closest team.
Unquestionably, the Eagles are going to have to part with some players next offseason to give them room under the cap. The most likely player with whom the Eagles will say goodbye is clearly Bradford.
Bradford's cap number is $22,500,000 in 2017, $13,000,000 of which the Eagles will save if he is released, $17,000,000 if he is traded. On the financial end alone, it is extremely unlikely Bradford will be on the team in 2017.
Yet, when asked if the Eagles had to fit Bradford on the cap for 2017, could the Eagles possibly do it, Roseman emphatically said they could.
"No question," said Roseman. "No question. We're not in the business of losing good players. That's our job to figure out scenarios and figure out ways to do that, and we've gone through all those scenarios. It's tighter than it's been since I've been here, but we also felt like it was an opportunity now with where our players were that the longer we waited, the more players we'd probably have to lose. Time is never helpful in these things. We went into it knowing that, but, for sure."
Certainly, the Eagles could keep Bradford. They would just have to cut a bunch of other good players and essentially sit on the sidelines during free agency. The only way they would keep him is if he's Super Bowl MVP (lol) or if Carson Wentz loses his right arm in a wood chipper accident, which I suppose is entirely possible in North Dakota.
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