Eagles RBs & WRs Are Salary Cap Friendly - For Now

The Philadelphia Eagles are positioning themselves for Jalen Hurts' contract with inexpensive labor - aside from A.J. Brown - but there will come a reckoning at some point with the receivers.

The Philadelphia Eagles have steeled themselves for the big day when the salary cap skyrockets to accommodate their quarterback, Jalen Hurts.

Their running back room is working for peanuts, really, after they opted not to shell out a new contract for Miles Sanders.

Their four running backs will make just over $5 million. That’s the total for all four.

Now, granted there’s not a lot of long-term commitment to any of them. Only Kenny Gainwell and Trey Sermon will be under contract after this season. Rashaad Penny and Boston Scott have deals for only one season.

The receiving corps, however, is a bit of a different story.

It's an inexpensive group as a whole.

In fact, the Eagles’ WR group is ranked 21st cheapest in the league at $20.2M.

The top four teams with the highest-paid receiver group are the Los Angeles Rams ($51.9M), Arizona Cardinals ($51.7M), Denver Broncos ($42.9M) and Las Vegas Raiders ($42M). There’s a commonality with those teams – none of them made the playoffs last year.

The Eagles did it with a receiver group on the cheap.

The $20.2M for 2023 is misleading, however.

Last year’s draft-night surprise, when general manager Howie Roseman acquired A.J. Brown for picks in the first and third rounds, was given a four-year extension worth $100M, with a guarantee of $57.22M of which $40M was guaranteed at signing.

That deal, however, kicks in this year. Last season, Brown played on a second-round, rookie deal, with a base salary of less than $1M.

This year, his guaranteed salary climbs to $11.2M. 

DeVonta Smith, however, is still playing on his rookie deal. His guaranteed salary this season is just $2.4M. Next year it's just $3.4M.

That’s a bargain by any standards for a receiver who put up 1,196 yards with 95 catches and seven touchdowns.

It’s also something to pay attention to should Smith have another season like he did in 2022. Certainly, the Eagles would want to do what’s right and extend him next offseason.

After Brown and Smith, the Eagles are getting by with Quez Watkins on the last year of a rookie contract at $2.7M.

Then there’s Britain Covey, Greg Ward, and Tyrie Cleveland, all of whom make less than $1M.

The Eagles will bring somebody else aboard, perhaps even on one of the draft’s first two nights.

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Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. please follow him on Twitter: @kracze. 

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