Eagles Love Derek Barnett but Only at the Right Price

Fans may not love the former first-round draft pick, but the Eagles sure do - especially now that the young DE carries a bargain price tag

The devil is always in the details of any NFL contract and the particulars of the much-discussed Derek Barnett deal essentially tie the Eagles to their 2017 first-round pick through the 2022 season at a very reasonable rate.

Publicized as a two-year deal worth $14 million with much of that guaranteed, the new Barnett contract is a much more complicated piece of work that runs through 2026 when you factor in dummy and voidable years on the back end.

The real numbers are $4.5 in fully-guaranteed money at signing for Barnett in 2022 that could spike to $5.5M if he plays in every game during the upcoming season.

From there a skill/cap guarantee for 2023 will basically ensure Barnett gets $1.5M in 2023 so the deal is essentially a one-year, cost-effective outlay for Philadelphia that includes the $1.5M penalty if the Eagles want out of the Barnett business after this season.

If Barnett plays well, however, Philadelphia can bring him back for what would essentially be $8.5M with $3.5M of that guaranteed for injury.

The cap hits are even more palatable for the Eagles due to a dummy year in 2024 and voidable years in 2025 and 2026. Barnett will cost $2.669M against the cap in 2022 and $4.057M in 2023.

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As a primer, a skill guarantee protects a player from being cut in the event the team feels the player's skills don't meet the team's needs. A cap guarantee protects the player from being released so that the team can get cap space to sign either a free agent or re-sign another player.

The injury guarantee relates to when a player is released and unable to perform football duties (i.e., failed physical) as a result of team activities. The player is then entitled to any money in his contract protected against injury so the $3.5M would accelerate if Barnett is injured and unable to perform because of it.

Barnett's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, did the best he could to build in some safeguards.

The Eagles seized the opportunity to the angst of many fans who look at Barnett through the filter of a first-round pick who never lived up to lofty expectations, amassing 21.5 sacks over his first 64 NFL games.

“The team feels a different way about him,” Eagles' GM Howie Roseman said at NFL’s spring meetings on Monday. 

“You can go to the leaders on the team, you go around the building and ask people about Derek Barnett, you ask our players, you ask our strength coaches, you ask our position coaches, our head coach, our coordinators and they go, ‘I love Derek Barnett. I love how he plays, I love his mentality, I love his work ethic, I love his leadership.’ For us, I think we see it differently than (the way fans do).”

Reporters did ask head coach Nick Sirianni on Tuesday.

“Derek Barnett is everything that embodies what we want in the characteristics of a player,” the coach said. “He’s tough, he’s competitive, he’s got high football IQ, he’s got high character, he loves football, and I love Derek Barnett, I love the type of player and the type of person that he is.”

Former defensive Jim Schwartz also often raved about Barnett's impact and playing style and current DC Jonathan Gannon, while not quite as effusive, certainly would be considered a Barnett supporter as well.

Platitudes aside, the Eagles were not planning on bringing Barnett back if his market reached where some thought it would go at the beginning of free agency. As an example, ProFootballFocus.com placed Barnett’s valuation entering free agency at three years with an average annual value of $12.5M with $25M of that expected to be guaranteed.

Once that market never developed, the Eagles gladly welcomed Barnett back into the fold at a bargain-basement price.

“I think the perception of Derek is probably not fair with the reality," Roseman said. "He’s a guy, that if you’re looking at a different team and you go, ‘A 26-year-old defensive end coming off his not-best year’ we’d probably look at that and go maybe that’s an opportunity.”

-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen