The Eagles stole the headlines from Peyton Manning's retirement and opened the NFL's legal tampering period by orchestrating a blockbuster trade with the Miami Dolphins.
In his first offseason back in control of football operations, Eagles executive Vice President of player personnel Howie Roseman dealt cornerback Byron Maxwell and linebacker Kiko Alonso to the Dolphins. There will also be draft pick compensation involved in the deal.
On the surface, this deal was about flexibility. Roseman's ability to address the team's needs in free agency so the war room could focus on taking the best player available on draft night rather than potentially reaching to fill a need the front office couldn't afford to fill earlier in the offseason.
Here are five reasons why this trade went down:
1) Salary cap relief:
The Eagles entered Monday with just $17.5 million in cap space, but after clearing the remaining money from Maxwell's $63 million contract signed last offseason off the books along with Alonso, the team now has upwards of $23.3 million in spending flexibility when free agency begins Wednesday.
2) Reallocating resources:
It's no secret that the Eagles have plenty of needs to fill on both sides of the football. This trade allows them to dedicate the hefty cap savings from trading Maxwell on a potential deal to re-sign Nolan Carroll, fortify the offensive line and perhaps ink a box safety to pay alongside Malcolm Jenkins in the secondary of Jim Schwartz's defense that utilizes the wide nine front.
3) Scheme fit:
Many fans and analysts alike were intrigued by the possibility of a Schwartz-Alonso reunion, but clearly the Eagles' new defensive coordinator had other ideas. Both in his time with the Buffalo Bills and as head coach of the Detroit Lions, Schwartz preferred big, physical linebackers on the outside. At 6-foot-3, 238, Alonso doesn't quite fit that description. Perhaps either former Lions linebacker Stephen Tulloch or Tahir Whitehead could be on the Eagles' radar to replace Alonso.
4) Eradicating Chip Kelly's influence:
Similarly to Kelly moving swiftly last offseason to deal away players drafted during the Roseman/Andy Reid regime, a rejuvenated Roseman appears to be undoing the high priced mistakes the former head coach made last year in his lone offseason with final say over personnel.
5) Kiko Alonso's injury history:
It is entirely possible that the Dolphins made adding Alonso a requirement to get this deal done after absorbing Maxwell's mammoth contract. Despite the fact that Alonso's cap hit was only $781,891, the Eagles were likely amenable to including him in this trade due to his injury history. Alonso missed the 2014 season with a torn ACL and was sidelined for five games with a knee injury.
0 comments:
Post a Comment