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The Eagles are stacked at the skill positions, from running back to wide receiver to tight end. No weaknesses. But what if they could make a blockbuster trade to get even better? Spoiler alert: this isn’t about Jadeveon Clowney.
The Eagles might not have the assets to land Clowney, but they might have the right amount of ammunition in the holster to pry a certain rebellious Cowboy away from Dallas. That’s right, the skill player in question is Ezekiel Elliott. Think about it for a minute. It’s not insane.
Elliott still has two years left on his rookie contract — one that carries a fifth-year option and $24.5 million signing bonus — so the Cowboys hold all the leverage (unlike the Texans in the Clowney situation). But if Philadelphia really wanted to stick it to their NFC East division rivals, they could offer an intriguing package of veteran running back Jordan Howard and wide receiver Nelson Agholor, plus a third- or fourth-round pick in exchange for Elliott.
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Or — gulp, don’t hate the messenger — tight end Zach Ertz who has a potential out in 2020 along with a $12 million dead cap hit. The Cowboys would probably ask for rookie Miles Sanders in any potential package for Elliott. Not ideal. Either way, it seems like wishful thinking to acquire Elliott — and it probably is.
But consider this: Cowboys owner Jerry Jones seems content to start the season with rookie Tony Pollard as their starting running back. Maybe the slick old oil salesman is content on standing by that statement, or perhaps he is blowing smoke to drive Elliott’s stock down. The latter seems likely. If that’s the case, then why not get something back for his disgruntled star?
The Eagles traded a sixth-round pick for Howard and he’s in Philadelphia on a one-year deal worth a $2 million cap hit. Pennies on the dollar versus Elliott’s nearly $4 million base salary and $8 million cap hit. If GM Howie Roseman is serious about making a deal for Clowney, this move is off the table. If not, it could be the most deviously genius transaction in NFL history.
Is Zeke Worth the Extreme Headache?
Ezekiel Elliott doesn’t exactly fit in with the Eagles’ locker room culture. In fact, he stands for everything owner Jeffrey Lurie has railed against during his successful decade as owner. Elliott was made for Dallas with 12 well-documented incidents with the law and six arrests, including allegedly beating up his girlfriend. He has character issues, to put it mildly.
Now Elliott is crying about wanting a new contract with two years left on his rookie deal. Keep in mind, he’s already the 10th-highest-paid running back in the NFL at $6.2 million per year. It’s so ridiculous that even disgraced Hall of Famer O.J. Simpson feels bad for him.
Remember the DeMarco Murray Saga
There is one more bizarre parallel in this whole scenario, one that Eagles fans have blocked out of their memory. Former head coach Chip Kelly shook up the roster when he took the reins in Philadelphia. In one of Kelly’s most highly criticized moves he traded star running back LeSean McCoy to Buffalo — the guy with the most rushing yards in Eagles franchise history — and then signed Cowboys tailback DeMarco Murray, a player universally regarded as being a product of an extremely good offensive line in Dallas. Murray was often seen avoiding hits during his time with the Eagles, never a good look in a blue-collar town.
“I think his system is great, if you get the right personnel that he’s used to having to run that run that system,” Murray said of Kelly, via Niners Nation. “By no means do I think he was racist or he didn’t like star players. I think he gave everybody a fair chance to play but at the end of the day, you know, he’s the head coach and he knows what’s best for the program and the team and he’ll make the decisions.”
The experiment never worked out, with Murray openly admitting that he did not fit into the weird college system that Kelly was trying to force on the NFL. Murray never complained during his time in midnight green, but he never lived up to the extreme expectations. In one ill-fated season in Philadelphia, Murray ran for 702 yards and six touchdowns. The stats might not sound that bad until you realize that he led the NFL in rushing in 2014 with 1,845 yards and 13 touchdowns.
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