If the 2026 NFL season started today, the Philadelphia Eagles would not be cap compliant, with their total allocations, $314,538,144, $745,964 over the cap, according to Spotrac.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your appetite for spring football games, Howie Roseman and company still have over six months to put the latest iteration of their squad together, with free agency and the NFL Draft set to bring some new talent to the City of Brotherly Love.
And yet, before the Birds can go all-in on the open market, targeting the sort of young and ascending players they need got really spearhead a soft retooling after a disasterous end to the 2025 NFL season, the team needs to look long and hard at their books and identify some players who could either be released or have their contracts restructred in order to free up some short-term cap space.
Will it be easy? In some cases, yes, there are a few obvious ways to free up money that Roseman will absolutely do, but in other cases, the Eagles will have to decide if the contributions a player brings to the team, either on the field or the depth chart, is worth the money they currently count against the salary cap. If the answer is yes, welcome back to the Jefferson Health Training Complex, the new name of the team's long-time practice space. But if now? Well, they might just go the way of Logan Wilson of the Dallas Cowboys, who was released from his contract after being acquired at the trade deadline for a late draft pick from the Cincinnati Bengals.
Release Dallas Goedert with a post-June 1 designation
The easiest way for the Eagles to free up some salary cap space would be to release Dallas Goedert with a post-June 1 designation.
Already set to become a free agent in 2026, the Eagles are currently on the hook for a little over $20 million in dead cap after signing their long-time tight end to a contract with money offset to the future. Goedert will get paid by the Eagles no matter what in 2026; he could sign with the Washington Commanders, the New York Giants, or even his namesake Dallas Cowboys, and the Eagles would not only be unable to block it from happening but would have to pay him the money he's owed all the same.
If, however, the Eagles release Goedert with a post-June 1st designation, they can split his cap hit over two years, creating $12.9 million in 2025, according to Over The Cap, with just $7.5 million left in dead money.
Could the Eagles instead opt to sign Goedert to an extension, giving him more money in exchange for splitting his total cap number over even more years, say a $7 million extension that functionally pays him $9 million in each of the next three seasons? Potentially so, but if the Eagles decide they don't want to have Goedert on their team any longer, freeing up his snaps for a younger, better player, then releasing him post-June 1 makes more sense cap-wise than paying him over $20 million up front to sign elsewhere.
Release Michael Carter II
When the Eagles traded for Michael Carter II midway through the 2025 NFL season, they more or less knew he was going to be a one-year rental, at least on the contract he was signed to at the time.
A draft gem of Joe Douglas, who re-joined the Eagles' organization after being fired by the New York Jets in 2025, Carter II provided experience and versatility to a Philadelphia secondary that was incredibly young. In New York, he established himself as a very good slot cornerback when healthy and in a scheme that fit his strengths, and back in college at Duke, the 26-year-old proved he could play safety too, a position the Eagles needed depth at after Andrew Mukuba suffered a season-ending injury in November.
After waiving his injury guarantees to facilitate a move to Philadelphia last October, Carter II currently has a little over $20 million left on his contract, but of that money, only $1.38 million is guaranteed, allowing the Eagles to free up $8.7 million this year and $10.25 million next year with no other penalties.
Like Goedert, the Eagles could opt to bring MCII back in 2026. While he only played 106 defensive snaps last season, Carter II was, by all accounts, a good teammate and may be able to fully transition to safety next to Makuba, given a full offseason to learn the playbook. And yet, with Robert Saleh landing in Tennessee, there are options on the open market that could draw Carter II's attention. Either way, one thing is borderline guaranteed: Carter II will not be playing on the three-year, $30 million contract Douglas signed him to back in New York.
Extend Jordan Davis
And last but not least, one way the Eagles could free up some salary cap space is to not release or restructure a contract on their books but instead award one of their own, Jordan Davis, with a new long-term extension.
The 13th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, Davis took a little bit of time to become more than a two-down, run-stuffing nose tackle, but when that day eventually came, midway through the 2024 season, he became a certified weapon in the middle of Vic Fangio's defense alongside fellow Georgia product Jalen Carter.
According to Spotrac, Davis is projected to earn a contract worth roughly $20.5 million per season on the open market. Is that a lot of money for the Eagles' second-best defensive tackle? Sure thing, especially since other players like Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, Nolan Smith, and Carter will be in need of new contracts in the not-too-distant future, but in 2025, his play more than warranted it.
Appearing in all 17 games for the third-straight season, Davis nearly doubled his snap total from 2024 to 2025, and his production followed, amassing 4.5 sacks, 72 tackles, and nine tackles for loss over 686 snaps.
Considering Davis had to play without Carter for six games in 2025, that production is very encouraging.
With Davis set to play on his fifth-year option in 2026, if the Eagles handed him a multi-year contract extension, they could fold that number into his new overall figure and divide it as they see fit, with more money likely coming later in the deal when the cap will be higher. As a result, the Eagles could free up almost $9.4 million if they extend Davis this spring, according to Over The Cap, instead of waiting for a new deal next year.
