Day 1 of legal tampering went as expected, completely off the rails. We saw a load of stars sign new contracts, we saw a few big-money trades involving some of the best players in the league and then we saw the Eagles do the most Eagles thing possible and sign a defensive tackle.
Obviously, I’m joking, I’ve actually championed for the Eagles to sign a DT for a while, and in fact, I had just finished up a piece about Philly’s needs across the field, mentioning that DT was an area of need and Hargrave would be an ideal FA target, when we announced the signing of him.
The real question to ask, is should the Eagles start panicking after what transpired during day 1 of legal tampering?
Wide receiver
Yesterday was an unbelievably hectic day for wide receiver moves. We saw DeAndre Hopkins and Stefon Diggs traded, and Amari Cooper re-sign for Dallas on a huge deal. Oh, and obviously OBJ’s name has cropped up in trade rumors again.
It’s pretty obvious that the Eagles are in desperate need of at least 1 wide receiver. With a seriously deep draft class on the horizon, free agency was always going to be an interesting market to watch.
Seeing guys like Hopkins going for a 2nd rounder definitely didn’t sit right with Eagles fans, and rightly so. Getting a top 3 receiver in the league for a couple of cheap picks and a running back who wasn’t your starter heading into this season is fantastic value. However, you have to look at the other side of things for the Eagles. Like I just mentioned, everyone heading into this period was happy to deal with the issues at wideout in the draft so it’s not all doom and gloom for Philly.
As for Amari Cooper, his new deal is worth $100 million dollars over 5 years with $60M of that $100M guaranteed. That puts him alongside Michael Thomas and just before Julio Jones at the top of the contract value mountain, one the Eagles just cannot afford to climb.
Then look at what was given up by the Bills for Stefon Diggs. A first, fifth, and sixth-rounder this year, and a fourth next year. That’s a massive package of picks for Diggs who hasn’t got the greatest reputation at the minute due to his attitude.
It’s also worth noting that Robby Anderson is still up for grabs – someone who has long been linked with the Eagles. From a few cryptic tweets, many can see that Robby may not be going back to the Jets and the thought of him and Djax partnering up should have every Eagles fan salivating. Guys like Geronimo Allison and Phillip Dorsett are still on the open market, and if the Eagles wanted to take a punt on a free agent, Josh Gordon is still out there.
There’s also the fact that they hold 10 picks in this year’s draft and could easily pick up some hefty talent in the early stages. The Cardinals getting Hopkins was a huge win for the Eagles in terms of the draft. That’s one less team ahead of them that doesn’t need to take one of the three top receivers, meaning there’s a good chance that one of Jeudy, Lamb or Ruggs falls to 21. Factor in the Colts trading out of 13, allowing the Niners to pick there also helps the Eagles massively, if they want to move ahead of the Broncos, as the Niners are desperate for draft stock. There’s still a lot of options for the Eagles at WR, so the answer for this certain situation is no, the Eagles shouldn’t panic about this at all.
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Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
