A.J. Brown said he won't apologize for talking about his frustration on Twitch

[HungryLion]

Definitely a valid point! However, they achieved two of those Super Bowl appearances with more traditional and manageable cap deferments These new contracts though are raising the stakes considerably.

It's like being down heavily in gambling and betting larger amounts hoping to "fix" it. If it works, you look smart, but if it fails, it's going to be a problem for a while.

Well, considering it’s the eagles. The sooner we can get to those down years the better!

 

[KingCorcoran]

I addressed that in one of my other posts. The problem is that the large dead cap hits are unavoidable for 3+ years on those contracts regardless of those option bonuses that can be avoided.

The real issue though is that those contracts (and possibly others) will force the Eagles to restructure/extend them over the next few seasons (likely multiple times) so by the time year 3 or 4 of the current contracts happen, they will have pushed the money down the road yet again while adding to the amount owed.

Meaning those contracts will not make it possible to leave them as-is. My guess is they will start restructuring them as soon as next year which is another reason why there are so many voided years.

It's like the example I gave of getting new credit cards to make payments (not pay off) current debt. At some point, you have to get more credit cards to make payments on the credit cards you got last time to make payments.

I think the Eagles got used to pushing cap issues to 3-4 years in the future, which many teams do, but instead of dealing with them as most teams do at some point, they doubled down and started pushing them 5 to 6 years in the future.

Many here are more concerned with the Philadelphia Eagles’ impending doom than the Dallas Cowboys’ ongoing doom. You’d think fans would want their favorite team to do everything it takes to reach a Super Bowl rather than hope another team’s way of doing business fails.

In 30 years Cowboys’ fans have lost their way. The only constant is jersey sales and the owner/GM shooting his mouth off every chance he gets. The things AJ Brown is saying are infinitely more honest than what Jerry Jones says.

 

[StarOfGlory]

That's my point .. They were smart in the past which is what put them in a position to get to those Super Bowls.

10 years though is a long time to spread out a contract, especially when it's really a 3 year contract.

That's a huge gamble on a player who is already showing cracks in year 2.

It's going to be funny when they or some other team spreads out a 3- or 4-year contract over 15 or 20 years.

The gamble is whether or not you have enough low-paid good young talent to allow you to absorb a big cap hit. It's a calculated risk. Do you trust your scouting department? Do you trust the developmental skills of your coaching staff to work with young players? It works for the Eagles. They swung for the fences and hit it out of the park while we can barely get on base.

 

[JayFord]

thats a philly problem

 

[jblaze2004]

I’ve been saying for years the cap is math and you can’t avoid a penny of it. All the eagles do is kick the can down the road. They are by far the most aggressive team at this. Look at the base salaries of their team. IIRC before the trade deadline moves there was one player on the team with a base salary over $2M. All others are backloaded significantly.

Where they catch up and stay ahead is by trading players and unloading contracts. That unloads those guaranteed roster bonuses and salaries onto the new team. For example on Brown your numbers are correct if they cut him but not if they trade him. A pre-6/1 cut as you stated leaves $72M in dead money ($49M in additional cap hit from his current 2026 cap hit) but a pre-6/1 trade only leaves $43.5M in dead money. A post 6/1 2026 trade leaves $16.4M in dead money which actually saves them $7M next year but then costs them $27M the following year.

I rather be the eagles and win a Superbowl and probably will be really competitive in the playoffs this year, then to be like Jerry Jones, scared to sign a big time FA's and we just end up being good enough at best to make it to the playoffs but not good enough to make it to even the NFC championship game in the last 30 years.

So what if they have 5 Dallas Cowboys style years where they mainly have to rely on the draft to get good talent and to offset some of the spending to lower contracts aka bargain bin shopping.

 

[Coogiguy03]

How this happens he's about to have a monster game very soon it always happens they'll get him involved and everything will be great again!!

 

[Reality]

The gamble is whether or not you have enough low-paid good young talent to allow you to absorb a big cap hit. It's a calculated risk. Do you trust your scouting department? Do you trust the developmental skills of your coaching staff to work with young players? It works for the Eagles. They swung for the fences and hit it out of the park while we can barely get on base.

I've said multiple times that they gambled with normal NFL tactics and it paid off for those reasons you stated.

The problem isn't what they did before 2024, but rather what they did to keep it up starting in 2024.

They were "smart" in the past because they did what several other teams did but their drafting and trades paid off quite well.

I don't know if it's the "window" trap or they just started thinking, "it worked once, let's do it again" mindset but going to the well twice brings with it a much higher cost than before. Instead of 5-6 year contracts that could be managed, they are now handing out 3-4 year contracts but with 8 to 10 year contract durations (granted, with void years but those will be filled soon enough with restructures/extensions).

Maybe they know something no one else does. Maybe we'll see 20 year contracts next. I mean once you start spreading a 3 year contract out to 10 years, why not go all in with 20 or 30 year contracts.

 

[Captain-Crash]

An old guy I used to work with had the best saying, "I wish people would shut the crap up and do their dang job". Some words might have been changed.

 

[AKATheRake]

Nobody has told him the games are fixed ! lol
He is basically saying the offense isnt doing enough to help the defense.

Exactly what I was thinking when watching it. Maybe he does know and it's all part of the cover up.

Or maybe he does realize the prop bets are against him and for Devonta Smith most the time. Hurts and the coach can control that.

He did say at other times fans need to take him off their fantasy team, lol!

 

[Reality]

Many here are more concerned with the Philadelphia Eagles’ impending doom than the Dallas Cowboys’ ongoing doom. You’d think fans would want their favorite team to do everything it takes to reach a Super Bowl rather than hope another team’s way of doing business fails.

In 30 years Cowboys’ fans have lost their way. The only constant is jersey sales and the owner/GM shooting his mouth off every chance he gets. The things AJ Brown is saying are infinitely more honest than what Jerry Jones says.

When the Eagles are being touted as the model to follow and now I'm realizing that their previous smart decisions have since been replaced by high risk doubling-down gambles, the last thing I want is for the Cowboys to follow that mess forward.

Prior to 2024, the Eagles drafted better, traded better and spent better than the Cowboys. They were a solid example of how to build a championship team.

I really hope the Cowboys don't follow along with 8 to 10 year contract durations for 3 to 4 year contracts.

 

[BleedSilverandBlue]

I just looked at his contract .. now I'm starting to understand how Philadelphia is paying out the large contracts without any issues.

They gave AJ Brown a 10-year deal. The last 4 are voided so they could spread out his cap hit over 10 years instead of the 6-years (technically) his contract covers.

That said, at its core the contract signed last year (2024) is a 3-year contract for $96 million.

So, they basically signed him to a 3 year extension by giving him a 10 year contract.

If the Eagles release/trade Brown this year, they would get hit with up to around $90 million (less amount paid so far this season) dead cap hit.

If the Eagles release/trade Brown next year, they would get hit with a $72 million dead cap hit.

The bottom line is the Eagles are not as smart as some would make them out to be with their cap space. They simply are willing to roll the dice and worry about the cap at some point in the future.

I would argue this is the smart thing to do. It is the only way to field a team good enough to win it in this era when a number of teams push in the chips like this.

 

[StarLord]

The problem is those moves just started .. it got them Barkley and Brown, but now their offense is struggling, Brown is complaining every week and they have multiple players on those very long contracts.

The deals always look great in year one or two, but at some point the contracts are going to hit their cap hard and given how long they spread them out, it's going to be even worse for them, especially if multiple 8+ year contracts start accelerating at the same time.

Like I said before, the Eagles used to take risks like most teams do to get them over the hump to the Super Bowl and it worked with those 4-6 year contracts that were really 2-3 year contracts.

The problem is now is the time they should have been dealing with the true salary cap impacts of the contracts from those past years but instead they doubled-down. However, the only way they could double down was to go even further with 8-10 year contracts.

That's like getting new credit cards to make payments (not pay off, but payments) on existing credit cards. The Eagles did that over the last few years. Now they're doing it again to make payments on the cards that were used to make payments on the other cards.

In the short term the problem is solved. Long term is where the problems happen. That's why right now you can claim how smart they are, but that's because they just started these contracts.

It will be interesting to see what happens to their cap over the next 2 to 3 years when those contracts start accelerating and the dead money starts hitting at the same time.

They won the Super Bowl last year. That alone justifies every contract they made.. even if they were to make them perennial losers for the next 5-8 years.

 

[dogunwo]

I just looked at his contract .. now I'm starting to understand how Philadelphia is paying out the large contracts without any issues.

They gave AJ Brown a 10-year deal. The last 4 are voided so they could spread out his cap hit over 10 years instead of the 6-years (technically) his contract covers.

That said, at its core the contract signed last year (2024) is a 3-year contract for $96 million.

So, they basically signed him to a 3 year extension by giving him a 10 year contract.

If the Eagles release/trade Brown this year, they would get hit with up to around $90 million (less amount paid so far this season) dead cap hit.

If the Eagles release/trade Brown next year, they would get hit with a $72 million dead cap hit.

The bottom line is the Eagles are not as smart as some would make them out to be with their cap space. They simply are willing to roll the dice and worry about the cap at some point in the future.

I thought there was a rule that cap can only be spread over 5 year? Is that old, or did I misunderstand something?

 

[dogunwo]

Random athlete angry that he is not getting the ball more often in a child's game. Big whoop.

When are we going to stop calling football a "child's game"? Just because children play it, doesn't make it a child's game. Walter Camp, known as the "Father of Modern Football" evolved rugby into football in 1880. He was 21 years old. Stop calling it a child's game to degrade the athletes.

 

[diamonddelts]

When are we going to stop calling football a "child's game"? Just because children play it, doesn't make it a child's game. Walter Camp, known as the "Father of Modern Football" evolved rugby into football in 1880. He was 21 years old. Stop calling it a child's game to degrade the athletes.

It is a game which is not based in reality. It has no impact on normal people's real lives. It's a child's game where normal men live vicariously through the exploits of athletes.

Which is quite sad if you actually think about it. It is what it is at the end of the day. An Amazon driver dropping off packages has more impact in the real world than someone catching a touchdown in a child's game.

 

[Reality]

I would argue this is the smart thing to do. It is the only way to field a team good enough to win it in this era when a number of teams push in the chips like this.

Read several of my other posts in this thread for more details.

 

[Reality]

They won the Super Bowl last year. That alone justifies every contract they made.. even if they were to make them perennial losers for the next 5-8 years.

I guess its a good thing that Eagles fans are known for their patience and support when their teams lose then.

 

[Reality]

I thought there was a rule that cap can only be spread over 5 year? Is that old, or did I misunderstand something?

I believe its only the signing bonus that is limited to 5 years.

 

[dogunwo]

It is a game which is not based in reality. It has no impact on normal people's real lives. It's a child's game where normal men live vicariously through the exploits of athletes.

Which is quite sad if you actually think about it. It is what it is at the end of the day. An Amazon driver dropping off packages has more impact in the real world than someone catching a touchdown in a child's game.

You created a definition for child's game to fit your rant. If its for children, then go watch or help that Amazon driver instead of tuning in every week. Its entertainment. Its sport. By your definition anything that doesn't have an impact on the "real world" is for children. So I guess sports journalists have a child's job. Every actor, musician, or artist also have professions for children.


You see how dumb that sounds? I'm guessing you won't, grandpa.

 

[Miller]

He's not wrong. I get you keep your issues in house but overall the last game was embarrassing offensive wise and the issue is the QB not knowing how to throw the ball. They have lived off his legs and checking down. Now when it's 3rd and 8 he has issues getting the ball to anyone. Ds caught up. You need to re-scheme