After an impressive 32-point win, the Eagles are heading back to the Super Bowl. It is their 2nd time in 3 years, and the 3rd time in 8 years. This was also the 7th time in those 8 years they made the playoffs, and Sunday was their 9th playoff win. They have the 2nd most playoff wins since the year 2000. Not to mention it is the 10th time they have won the NFC East in that time.
All of this is to say, the Eagles have had a lot of success. For an organization that spent the bulk of the Super Bowl era as a bit of a doormat, they have turned things around to be one of the best-run organizations in Pro Sports.
But don’t take my word for it. Take the word of someone who spent decades working in Football. Andrew Brandt was the Packers’ VP from 1999 to 2008, and an Eagles consultant for several years after that. He joined The Best Show Ever this week and had some strong praise for how the Eagles run things. Here is some of what he had to say.
The Eagles Handle The Cap As Well As Anyone
“I worked the cap for many years and I really admire teams like the Eagles and a few others that just consistently have sustained success with cap issues and are able to put the team together without regard to worrying about money issues and contract issues. I think what this team has done is amazing. Even a year ago when they were a good team, that obviously fell apart late. They identify the weaknesses and address them…“
Howie Roseman has his way with the cap. We talk about how the Dodgers found a loophole with deferred money to avoid the luxury tax. The Eagles do something kind of similar with the Salary Cap. Much of the Cap Hit for the players they sign is put at the end of a contract, or even in Void Years, and often they can even work around that and keep pushing it down the road.
For instance, the combination of Jalen Hurts, AJ Brown, Devonta Smith, Saquon Barkley, and Dallas Goedert will cost the Eagles $65,494,277 next season. Dak Prescott alone with cost the Cowboys over $89 million and CeeDee Lamb will cost them over $35 million.
People say it will hurt them down the line, but they have been saying that for years and it has yet to catch up. They occasionally have one down year, get things cleaned up, and then bounce right back.
Howie Roseman’s cap wizardry, and Jeffrey Luries’ willingness to pay upfront bonuses to make that contract loophole work, give the Eagles a distinct advantage in not only keeping their own players but adding talent from elsewhere. Which is why they are so stacked, as Andrew Brandt went on to say.
The Eagles Are Stacked
“I just think this is a stacked team and they have done what I know. People get frustrated with it, but they do what these teams do that are elite. They play poorly at times. Yet always win. And they put it together yesterday in a blowout.
But I just think there’s still a level this team can go. It’s just stacked. And when people talk about personnel, when they’re amongst their scouting staff in the NFL, you look around and you say, where’s the weakness? Where do we attack offensively, defensively? Really hard to find on this team. Really hard to find.“
They have the best run defense, the best pass defense, the best run offense, and contrary to popular belief, a very efficient pass offense.
This goes back to the cap thing, which allows them to be so stacked. They can sign their entire O-Line, sign both star WRs, have a star TE, sing their franchise QB, sign a star RB, and still have the space to fill out their defense.
But it also comes down to their talent evaluation. Something that in the past was an issue. Adding players like Jalen Carter, and Nolan Smith last year, then Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean this past draft, makes a huge difference. The passing defense might be a weakness if they didn’t nail those picks as well as they did. LB might be an issue if they didn’t find a diamond in the rough like Zack Baun.
Take Care Of Their Guys Before Free Agency
“Addressing guys early in their contracts, making sure we never get to places where you’re looking at free agency status for your best players, you’re gonna have to sort of grovel at the leverage point that players have in free agency. That’s always been a tradition with the Eagles. They’ve done a good job of that.”
Another thing that plays into them having so much cap space is they take care of their guys early. They didn’t have to pay Devonta Smith, AJ Brown, Landon Dickerson, or Jordan Mailata this past offseason. But they did. And at the time they made each of them the highest, or nearly the highest-paid players for their position.
But no one is ever the highest-paid player at their spot for long. Each deal sets the market for the next deal. CeeDee Lamb and Justin Jefferson quickly beat the number set by Brown. Smith is already down to the 11th highest-paid WR. And when the Eagles signed Jalen Hurts before last season he was the highest-paid QB. 1.5 years later he is the 9th highest-paid QB and will be out of the top 10 soon.
The earlier you get deals done, the cheaper they are. Eagles have learned that. They take care of their player, keeping their stars happy, they don’t risk losing them in FA, and they save cap space along the way.
Going back to the Cowboys, they learned just how much waiting hurts this past season. They let negotiations drag into something ugly with Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and Micah Parsons. They ended up giving both of them a bigger contract than the Eagles gave Hurts and Brown and did not reach a deal with Micah Parsons (If they ever do it will cost them more than it would have if they did it this past offseason).
Will any of this lead to a Super Bowl? We will find out. But they have another shot this year when most teams struggle to get a single shot. That is because they continue to run things like a well-oiled machine.
Somehow very few teams have caught up to that, but the Chiefs are one of those teams that are also on top of these things. It is no coincidence that 1) Andy Reid comes from the same system and 2) They are one of the only teams with more consistent success than the Eagles in the modern era.