Free Agent Shopping List Should Include Veteran WR and Safety

Where the Eagles invest the most money could impact how they address the other position, and here are some names they could go after at each of those spots

The start of the NFL’s league year is March 16, and the Eagles usually come out swinging.

Even last year, when they were eating $33.8 million of dead money in Carson Wentz’s contact, the Eagles handed out a one-year extension to Brandon Graham, signed Hassan Ridgeway, Andrew Adams, Joe Flacco, and Anthony Harris, and released Malik Jackson and Alshon Jeffery all within the new league year’s first week.

Keep in mind that the Eagles, while still not very flush in money to spend under the 2022 salary cap at $21.5 million below it, per overthecap.com, have to be judicious in their spending.

Their top priority is an edge rusher, but that should be satisfied early in the draft, where that position is loaded with premium prospects.

Perhaps the Eagles have one big free-agent splurge in them, and that should be either on a veteran wide receiver or safety.

If they go rich at receiver, it will likely impact how much they will spend at safety, and vice versa.

Here’s some unsolicited advice as to what the Eagles could do at WR and safety as the start of free agency ticks inside 30 days:

WIDE RECEIVER

The Eagles should shop for a veteran.

You can forget Davante Adams, who will go where Aaron Rodgers goes, with the duo perhaps landing back in Green Bay, and you can probably forget Mike Williams, too, who the Chargers will try to re-sign and, if they can’t, likely slap the franchise tag on him.

Allen Robinson, though, would fit the bill nicely.

He will turn 29 right before the start of the season, but a veteran of eight NFL seasons would be a big help to the youth being served currently in the WR room.

Robinson won’t come cheaply. The contract would probably have to be a three-year deal worth about $15-$16 million per year, but that's just a guesstimate.

If that's what it takes, or something close, it's a big chunk of money, especially when you consider that there could be some players willing to accept a one-year deal.

Alshon Jeffery was willing to go that route in 2017 while playing his way into a multi-year deal.

JuJu Smith-Schuster is a name worth watching in this scenario after he made it to the starting line of just five games before shoulder surgery shut down his season. Maybe he takes a one-year prove-it deal. He’s still just 25 but has played five seasons.

Two others to potentially watch both have ties to the Colts when Nick Sirianni was the offensive coordinator there: T.Y. Hilton and Zach Pascal.

Hilton is 32 and had neck surgery prior to the start of last season, forcing him to miss the first five games Then a concussion cost him another game, but he still averaged 14.4 yards per catch on 23 receptions and three touchdowns.

Pascal, who has good size at 6-2, 214, was a rising star under Sirianni.

In his second and third seasons – 2018 and 2019 - as an undrafted free agent from Old Dominion (the same school that produced Travis Fulgham and current Eagles long-snapper Rick Lovato), Pascal caught a combined 82 passes for 1,013 yards and 10 touchdowns. 

His production was somewhat similar after Sirianni left, with 41 grabs, 607 yards, and five TDs last year.

Allen Robinson

USA Today

NOTES: Eight-year veteran with 495 catches for 6,409 yards and 40 touchdowns. He had a down 2021 season with 38 receptions for 410 yards and one score.

Marcus Maye

USA Today

NOTES: Injury limited him to six games in 2021, has started 48 of 60 career games with 312 tackls, six interceptions, and four forced fumbles.

SAFETY

Rodney McLeod and Harris are set to become free agents. While the Eagles could certainly explore one-year deals with one, an upgrade would be preferred.

It’s difficult to envision the Saints not trying to re-sign or putting the franchise tag on Marcus Williams, but if Williams is set free, this should be the big-money splurge in free agency for the Eagles. And that would likely affect the direction they take for a veteran WR.

Williams is looking for his second contract after playing out a rookie deal signed when he was drafted in the second round out of Utah by New Orleans in 2017. That makes him 25 and, at 6-1, 191 pounds with 15 career picks, that makes him a worthy big-money ticket.

It’s also why the Saints would be foolish to let him go.

What then?

Marcus Maye would fit the bill.

The Jets’ safety tore his Achilles in early November. If anyone is a candidate for a one-year prove-it deal, it’s Maye, a free safety who turns 29 a week before the new league year begins. He has a history with Eagles defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson when Wilson was in New York for four seasons as the DB coach.

There are some other big names, such as Kansas City’s Tyrann Mathieu, New England’s Devin McCourty, and Denver’s Kareem Jackson, but Mathieu doesn’t seem to be the Eagles’ style and the other two are in their early to mid-30s.

A one-year deal would allow the Eagles to invest more in a veteran WR. Even it takes more financially to get a safety, the Eagles could try to go cheaper for a veteran pass-catcher.

The two positions seemingly go hand-in-hand.

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