Follow the Money When it Comes to Howie Roseman's Salary Cap Management

The GM has done a good job balancing the payroll spending between the offense and defense but is near the bottom of salary cap space and dead-money

The difference between the Eagles’ run game and pass game was vast last season.

In fact, it was way out of balance, with the Eagles being the top-ranked rushing offense, but just 25th in passing. That is about as one-dimensional as it gets.

So, GM Howie Roseman tried to bring that a little closer to balance with two additions in the receiving corps, a very big one in A.J. Brown and an underrated one in Zach Pascal.

The defense had a better balance to it – ninth against the run and 11th versus the pass.

There’s also balance in the payroll, per overthecap.com.

Through the end of May, the Eagles are spending slightly more than $100 million on their offense.

They are spending slightly more than $105M on their defense.

There is a difference of $4.96M and some change between the two, which is the third most-balanced payroll in the NFL behind the Miami Dolphins ($3.792M) and New York Jets ($4.52M). The Pittsburgh Steelers have the largest imbalance between offense and defense at a whopping $74M with more than $133M going to the defense and just $59M going to the offense.

Though the spending numbers are just for this season, it should be noted that last year, the Steelers’ defense, was ranked 24th overall and dead-last against the run.

Exactly how much balance in the payroll matters remains to be seen, but it would seem to be a good idea to spend fairly equal amounts on both sides of the ball, and it’s always wise to follow the money.

The top five Eagles with the largest salary cap hits are:

• DT Javon Hargrave $17.80M

• Lane Johnson $15.76M

• Darius Slay $9.73

• Brandon Graham $9.41

• Jason Kelce $8.04

Looking ahead to 2023 with those five players and only Hargrave has a voidable year on his contract, which expires at the end of the season.

Slay has the biggest increase in cap hit next year with a mammoth jump to $26.11M.

Johnson’s cap hit rises to $23.01M, Kelce’s to $11.1, and Graham’s goes up the least, rising to $9.6.
It’s not all rosy in salary cap land for Roseman, however.

The Eagle are just $2.41 under the $208M salary cap, Roseman would need to get creative if he were to trade for, say, a safety this summer. He could restructure the contracts of Hargrave and/or Slay to get there and, in fact, will likely try to rework Slay’s deal anyway, because a salary cap hit north of $25M is exorbitant, to say the least.

Also, there is $36.14M of dead money, that, like a moth in a cedar closet full of coats, is eating a hole in Roseman’s cap.

Believe it or not, Malik Jackson is at the top of the Eagles’ dead money list at $9.03M. Jackson played two years with the Eagles, one of which lasted only one game after a serious injury in the opener cost him his season then he spent last year with the Browns. He’s now a free agent.

Alshon Jeffery is still on the books with a dead-money hit of $5.43M as is Zach Ertz at $3.54.

Only four teams have more dead money – the Falcons ($63.15M), Bears ($52.81), Texans ($52.23M), and Seahawks ($44.62M).

The five best in avoiding dead money are the Jets ($2.09), Commanders ($2.47), Chargers ($3.66), and 49ers ($5.27M).

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.