Analyzing every Eagles pending free agent in 2021
Here's a complete look at every Eagles' pending free agent for the 2021 offseason. By Dave Zangaro
The Eagles are right now projected to be around $45-50 million over the salary cap so they have some work to do. Because of all that, they’re not expected to be big players in free agency this spring.
The first question, though, is about their own pending free agents. The good news is that the Eagles don’t really have any major pending free agents who they really need to re-sign. But there are some notable names.
Let’s go through all of them:
2020 cap figure: $4 million
Age: 26
For the second consecutive offseason, Mills will be a free agent. The Eagles brought him back last offseason with the idea of moving him from cornerback to safety to basically replace Malcolm Jenkins. It was a tough ask. And because of injuries at the cornerback position, the Eagles were forced to keep moving Mills around. His versatility helped the team but it also probably stunted his growth as a safety. Mills has said he wants to return and looks forward to the new defensive scheme under Jonathan Gannon, but we’ll have to see what the new staff thinks of him. Jim Schwartz obviously loved Mills but will that translate to Gannon and Nick Sirianni? We’ll see. Mills is a decent player. He’s not as bad as some fans think he is and he isn’t as good as he thinks he is. He’s somewhere in between.
2020 cap figure: $4.625 million
Age: 39
It’s gotta be time, right? Peters is 39 now and the Eagles are admittedly in a retooling phase. He’s obviously an all-time great but he struggled to stay healthy in 2020 and it’s just time to move on. The Eagles made an exception last year after Brandon Brooks got hurt and they signed Peters to replace him and then moved him to left tackle after Andre Dillard got hurt. But all that did in the long run was kept Jordan Mailata off the field for too long. Peters said to 6ABC this offseason that he wants to keep playing but even he acknowledged it probably wouldn’t be in Philly.
2020 cap figure: $1.7 million
Age: 27
The Eagles brought Sudfeld back last offseason but then they drafted Jalen Hurts in the second round. Sudfeld lasted exactly one week as the backup before the Eagles made him their third-stringer. The Eagles have defended playing Sudfeld in the season finale, but it certainly didn’t help his career. He didn’t play well and it gave the illusion that the Eagles were tanking the game. That’s not a good sign for Sudfeld that people thought the Eagles were tanking because they put him in. I’m not sure if Sudfeld can play but he has at times looked very good in training camp practices. But it’s probably time to move on from Philly. Maybe the Colts would be a good landing spot for him. As much as we talk about Carson Wentz to Indy, they could use backups too.
2020 cap figure: $1.35 million
Age: 29
The Eagles weren’t initially looking for a nickel corner last year but Robey-Coleman was available and came at a really reduced price so they went for it. The Eagles thought NRC was one of the top nickels in the NFL but he didn’t play like it. Robey-Coleman got off to a slow start in 2020 and although he did begin to play slightly better over the course of the season, he never played to the level the Eagles expected. He’s 29 now and it’s time to let him walk.
2020 cap figure: $1.55 million
Age: 32
The Eagles didn’t pay Curry very much in 2020 and he was fine when he was on the field. He had 3.0 sacks in 11 games and started 3 games. If the Eagles were a contending team, it might make some sense to bring back Curry as a cheap and reliable rotational player. But the Eagles are not a contending team and they’d be better served having younger developmental players in those rotational spots. Curry has been a good and loyal Eagle but if he wants to continue his career it will need to be elsewhere. Maybe he can find a good team that could use a veteran depth piece.
2020 cap figure: $1.01 million
Age: 26
This is an interesting one. The Eagles will bring back Fletcher Cox and Javon Hargrave in 2021 but are expected to release Malik Jackson. So they could use some depth at the defensive tackle position. And Ridgeway has shown he can play, but he has also gotten hurt in back-to-back seasons since joining the Eagles. He has played just 14 games in the last two years and just 19 games over the last three. He hasn’t played a complete season since his rookie year in 2016. An interesting layer to this is the Indianapolis connection. Ridgeway was with the Colts from 2016-18, which means he played on a coaching staff with Nick Sirianni and Jonathan Gannon.
2020 cap figure: $910,000
Age: 26
Strap has been with the Eagles since 2018 but they felt comfortable enough cutting him for a day before the start of the season as they maneuvered some roster spots. LeBlanc ended up getting hurt in 2020 and played just nine games. Remember, he played in just four games in 2019. So he’s struggled to stay on the field. He’ll be cheap enough but it’ll really come down to what the new staff thinks of him. If they like him, the Eagles can bring him back cheaply. If not, he’ll be looking elsewhere.
2020 cap figure: $750,000
Age: 29
The assumption here is that the Eagles trade Zach Ertz this offseason. All signs are pointing in that direction. So if Ertz is traded, that leaves Dallas Goedert and the Eagles will want to have a good No. 2 tight end. Sirianni really likes 12 personnel and while the Eagles won’t make that their base offense, he likes the matchup problems it presents. Rodgers ended up having a good season with the Eagles in 2020, catching 24 passes for 345 yards and 2 touchdowns. He had a few big games mixed in there while Ertz was out with injury. He’ll be cheap, but it’s also fair to wonder if the Eagles will use a draft pick on a tight end. But there’s not much harm in signing him to a deal without guaranteed money and giving him a chance to make the roster.
2020 cap figure: $825,000
Age: 25
The reason Gerry became one of the least popular players among fans in recent years is because the team had neglected the linebacker position and asked Gerry to be a three-down starter. He wasn’t good enough to do that. As obvious as it became during his first seven starts in 2020, the only thing that took him off the field was an injury. If Gerry was just signed to be a special teams player and minimal contributor on defense, he’d be OK, but if he gets that kind of job, he’d be better off taking it elsewhere.
2020 cap figure: $825,000
Age: 26
The Eagles clearly won the trade during the 2019 season when they got Riley in return for Johnathan Cyprien. Riley was a special teamer in 2019 and was even voted as a special teams captain late in the season. In 2020, he finally got a chance on defense and played 569 snaps (52%) on the season. He wasn’t great and was passed by Singleton on the depth chart. But if the Eagles want to invest in special teams, keeping him around for that role would be wise.
2020 cap figure: $825,000
Age: 26
Clement was a restricted free agent last year. The Eagles didn’t tender him and then brought him back on a cheaper deal. Clement has had a really strange career, peaking in Super Bowl LII to finish off his rookie season. Then he suffered season-ending injuries in back-to-back seasons and barely saw the field on offense in 2020. He remained a big part of the Eagles’ special teams units but is that enough to keep him around in 2021? My guess is that it’s not.
2020 cap figure: $825,000
Age: 26
The Eagles don’t really view Ford as a safety; they see him as a dynamic special teams player. And he is … when he’s on the field. That has been a problem during Ford’s career. Because there’s no denying that he is an impressive gunner on the punt team but he just can’t seem to stay healthy. Ford played in eight games in 2020 and 10 games in 2019. So the Eagles can pay him a low salary and gamble that he stays healthy or they can move on.
2020 cap figure: $825,000 (if healthy)
Age: 27
Perkins landed on IR in late August and missed the entire 2020 season. The tight end has a receiver background and isn’t much of a blocking threat, but he can run routes and catch passes. In two years with the Eagles, he has 14 catches for 154 yards and a touchdown. There probably isn’t much of a reason to bring him back unless the new coaching staff sees something there.
2020 cap figure: $750,000
Age: 29
Johnston is one of two restricted free agents the Eagles have this offseason. With RFAs, there are three levels of tenders: 1st-round, 2nd-round, right of first refusal. The Eagles aren’t going to use a 1st- or 2nd-round tender on the punter and they’re very unlikely to use the third level, which will come with a price tag of just over $2.1 million, according to OverTheCap. So what happens then? Well, Johnston will become an unrestricted free agent when the league year opens, but that doesn’t prevent the Eagles from signing him. The Eagles did the same thing with Clement last year. The Eagles have their kicker and long snapper under long-term deals and it seemed like Johnston was going to be next but his deal never came. Even if he’s back, maybe the Eagles bring in some competition for 2021.
2020 cap figure: $675,000
Age: 27
The Eagles have two exclusive rights free agents, which aren’t really like free agents at all. These players (with two or fewer years of service) have two options: Either take the deal from their current team or sit out the season. So even if the Eagles don’t use the actual tender, they’ll sign Singleton to a similar contract and have him under control in 2021 before he becomes a restricted free agent in 2022.
2020 cap figure: $750,000
Age: 25
If the Eagles want Scott back, he'll be back as an ERFA. At times, Scott has done a really good job filling in for Miles Sanders but he hasn’t been consistent enough either. I would like to see him in Sirianni’s offense, though. Scott has ability as a pass catcher and while he’s not Nyheim Hines, we’ve seen Sirianni figure out ways to use his backs out of the backfield.
2020 cap figure: $675,000
Age: 25
It feels like Ward has been around forever but he didn’t get to play until 2019, which makes him an ERFA. Ward caught 53 passes for 419 yards and 6 touchdowns in 2020 and will be a bargain player again in 2021.
