This organization has had several shifts in philosophy over the years, and a lot of it was predicated on the coach. With Jimmy, the team was wheeling and dealing to build a team, making trades all over the place. After Jimmy, the philosophy was to try to add a few big-ticket FAs to those aging championship pieces. That essentially continued to be the philosophy until Parcells arrived. Then, it was primarily signing lower-cost friends of Bill to supplement the draft picks with a high-ticket signing mixed in here and there.
Then, during Garrett's tenure, the philosophy became don't pay age after Ware and some others started having trouble staying healthy, and then don't pay an arm and a leg for free agents essentially after the Carr signing didn't turn out that well. They still take chances, though, for the right price (signing Hardy, trading for Cooper knowing his contract situation). Again, I think some of the philosophy shift had to do with Garrett taking a process approach to fielding a team. If it's going to take time to eventually field a team like last year's, why spend a lot of money on short-term help or keep aging vets around while the team is being formed?
I think where the philosophy goes from here will be largely shaped by McCarthy's approach. And I'm sure that was a topic of discussion between the two sides. I don't expect a full-on shift, but I do think there will be some modifications.