It’s no unknown fact that Howie Roseman has a tendency to frontrun potential trends in the NFL. Whether it’s jumping the gun to pay Carson Wentz before his value spiked due to other extensions, or to later do the same with Jalen Hurts and near enough the entire offense we see today, the Eagles‘ GM has never shied away from paying for potential early if he has reason to believe the players will continue to grow.
That trait has once again served him well when taking a glance around the current NFL landscape.
Howie Roseman was right to secure Eagles’ WR tandem in 2024
The Eagles signed DeVonta Smith to a three-year extension back in 2024, with his AAV ranking 12th at the time of writing this article. Smitty proceeded to put up 883 yards and 8 touchdowns in the regular season before coming down with ‘The Dagger’ in the Super Bowl. He ended the season 37th in receiving yards, but when you bear in mind who he’s sharing snaps with, that becomes impressive.
A.J Brown ranks 5th in AAV after also signing an extension in the same month as Smitty, locking the pair down through 2028. Brown’s numbers too were a little lower than 2023, posting 1,079 receiving yards and 7 scores, but their presence alone only opened things up further for Saquon Barkley, who went on to put up the best total rushing season of all time when including the postseason.
On the surface, paying two wideouts big money may seem a little aggressive, but when you now look across the league at the wideouts currently vying for a new deal, Eagles fans can be thankful that Howie Roseman paid them when he did.
Terry McLaurin’s dilemma
Terry McLaurin recently skipped Washington’s minicamp. He is coming off of his best season yet as a Pro and is now in his contract year. It’s understandable why the 29-year-old would be looking to secure his own long-term future with the team, but he already accounts for their second-largest cap-hit.
When looking at how much the Bengals just coughed up to secure the services of Ja’Marr Chase (a whopping $40M per year AAV), and how much Pittsburgh just spent on D.K Metcalf, it’s easy to see why the Commanders would be skeptical of overpaying their star wideout.
This isn’t a concern for the Eagles, who jumped ahead of all of these players to sign their two star perimeter players to deals which at the time were expensive, and now look very cap-friendly as the price continues to rise with each new star who validates his worth.
McLaurin isn’t alone, either. Drake London, Garrett Wilson, and Courtland Sutton are all on the cusp of a new deal.
The sweeter part of all of this of course knowing that Washington is a divisional rival of Philadelphia, and one that’s only been growing in power over the last two years. The Eagles were able to surge past their foes in the playoffs, but the rookie campaign of Jayden Daniels certainly turned some heads and reinstated some missing confidence for the franchise.
Anything to derail the smooth-sailing they enjoyed last year will come as a breath of fresh air to the defending world champions, and with McLaurin’s contract situation appearing unlikely to be resolved anytime soon, not only can they take solace in the fact that they were right to spend big and spend early, but that now their biggest threat to another NFC East Crown is wading in uncertain waters.
Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
