Pay close attention. Things are going to move swiftly now. The 2024 NFL Scouting Combine nears. Free agency and the NFL Draft will follow, but the Philadelphia Eagles are already knee-deep in constructing next season’s roster.

As you’re well aware, decisions must be made, and many of them involve a few of the respected veterans. Fletcher Cox is mulling retirement. Jason Kelce has done the same for several offseasons. including this one. This time feels different though. He might actually call it a career. Fear not. He’ll have options once his playing days are done.

Kelce and Cox sit in some rarified air. They’ll be back if they choose, but that luxury doesn’t extend to most of the other members on Philly’s roster.

Depth is needed. So is talent. Howie Roseman and the Birds will need to allocate resources to allow themselves some wiggle room to add key free agents and extend the guys they believe will be a part of this team’s future.

First things first. It’s time to make some decisions about a handful of deals that might potentially hold this team back. Here are three that come to mind without effort.

Kevin Byard, safety

We’ve mentioned Kevin Byard before. A $14,248,326 million cap hit will do that for you, but if Philly is feeling gutsy, they can save a boatload of cash by moving on. He only represents $711,000 in dead cap space.

Think of what Howie Roseman can do with another $14 million available. Heck, he can sign 14 tailbacks, but seriously, an aging Byard that’s past his prime doesn’t give this team much in terms of productivity.

Keep an eye on a few other veterans as well as we move through the offseason.

Pay close attention. Things are going to move swiftly now. The 2024 NFL Scouting Combine nears. Free agency and the NFL Draft will follow, but the Philadelphia Eagles are already knee-deep in constructing next season’s roster.

As you’re well aware, decisions must be made, and many of them involve a few of the respected veterans. Fletcher Cox is mulling retirement. Jason Kelce has done the same for several offseasons. including this one. This time feels different though. He might actually call it a career. Fear not. He’ll have options once his playing days are done.

Kelce and Cox sit in some rarified air. They’ll be back if they choose, but that luxury doesn’t extend to most of the other members on Philly’s roster.

Depth is needed. So is talent. Howie Roseman and the Birds will need to allocate resources to allow themselves some wiggle room to add key free agents and extend the guys they believe will be a part of this team’s future.

First things first. It’s time to make some decisions about a handful of deals that might potentially hold this team back. Here are three that come to mind without effort.

Kevin Byard, safety

We’ve mentioned Kevin Byard before. A $14,248,326 million cap hit will do that for you, but if Philly is feeling gutsy, they can save a boatload of cash by moving on. He only represents $711,000 in dead cap space.

Think of what Howie Roseman can do with another $14 million available. Heck, he can sign 14 tailbacks, but seriously, an aging Byard that’s past his prime doesn’t give this team much in terms of productivity.
Keep an eye on a few other veterans as well as we move through the offseason.

Philadelphia Eagles special teams coordinator Michael Clay has agreed to terms on a multi-year contract extension, according to a report from NFL insider Ian Rapoport.

Clay previously signed a one-year extension last offseason. At the time, it seemed like a pretty curious move for the team to not only bring him back but to give him a raise as well. Here’s what we wrote on February 27, 2023:Sirianni was asked about Clay potentially getting fired during his press conference after the season ended. That was hardly a baseless question representing a minority opinion. It stemmed from the Eagles’ special teams unit being a glaring weakness — really, the ONLY weakness — for a good portion of the 2022 season.

Clay’s group improved towards the end of the year, as evidenced by a seventh-place finished in weighted special teams DVOA (which accounts more for recent performance). It ranked 15th in overall DVOA. Probably higher than you might expect.

That said, the Eagles’ special teams unit finished on a pretty low note (to say the least) by allowing the longest punt return in Super Bowl history. Kadarius Toney’s 65-yard scamper set the Kansas City Chiefs up with a five-yard touchdown drive to go up 35 to 27 with 9:22 remaining in the fourth quarter.

And getting back to the decent DVOA finish, it’s worth noting that the ranking was positive largely due to Jake Elliott’s performance on field goals and kickoffs. Elliott had already established himself as a good player before Clay arrived in 2021. One could point out that Elliott rebounded from a bad year in 2020 under Clay. But special teams quality control Tyler Brown, whose father is a longtime NFL kicking coach, probably deserves more credit in that area than a former NFL linebacker who became a special teams coordinator.Further, the Eagles ranked very poorly by other special teams evaluations. Pro Football Focus graded Clay’s unit tied for 29th out of 32 teams. Rick Gosselin’s annual special teams rankings had the Eagles 31st.

While the 2023 Eagles regressed in a number of ways, they did improve on special teams. That much was apparent from the eye test but it’s also backed up by some numbers:

The Eagles had one of the best kickers in the NFL with Jake Elliott winning three NFC Special Teams Player of the Week awards prior to being selected AP second-team All-Pro.