Getty Byron Jones
Bad play in the secondary has made cornerback a top seller on the NFL’s stock exchange. It’s a buyer’s market and money’s no object.
The Eagles and Giants were abysmal in passing defense in 2019, thanks to the lack of quality play at the cornerback position. Ronald Darby and Jalen Mills were the projected starters but both players missed significant time due to injury. When they did see the field, neither was a revelation.
Ditto for the Giants after they waived loose cannon Janoris Jenkins. New York ranked seventh-worst in passing touchdowns allowed (30) while Philadelphia didn’t fare much better giving up 27 and ranking 11th-worst. The teams surrendered 264.1 and 241.6 passing yards per game, respectively.
Great corners, particularly shutdown ones, are hard to find and franchises are going to have to dig dip into their pockets to land a stud. Byron Jones lies in that category. As the Cowboys set to part ways with the 27-year-old in free agency, the Giants and Eagles are expected to get into a “bidding war” for his services.
Jones, who is seeking around $15 million per year, was originally thought to be headed to Philadelphia. Now it appears as if New York may be making a serious push, per Pro Football Network’s Tony Pauline.
Do you want the Eagles to give big money to Byron Jones?
This is what Pauline wrote about the Eagles’ chances at grabbing Jones:
Throughout the week of the NFL Combine, everything I heard pointed to the Philadelphia Eagles being the favorite for CB Byron Jones. Then late in the weekend, someone told me to “expect the Eagles and New York Giants to get into a bidding war for Jones.” As I reported last week – Jones is going to make a lot of money and he’ll be able to pick the team he wants to play for.
Eagles GM Preaches Caution in Free-Agent Market
The Eagles have $41.8 million in cap space this offseason, but GM Howie Roseman has preached cautious optimism about making a big splash. Philadelphia has a projected 10 picks to play with and possibly use as capital in the draft. The Eagles will make quite a few moves, as long as they are the right moves.
“I think the one thing we have to be careful of is the amount of cap room we have this year, and then how it’s affecting next year and the years going forward because we don’t want to lose flexibility totally by doing that,” Roseman told reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Said Roseman: “We’re hopeful that if we go into the free-agent market that maybe we’re signing guys that are more core guys than more one-or-two-year guys, and we look at it from building our team over a two-or-three-year perspective as opposed to just kind of this one-year window.”
Remember, the team has a ton of in-house decisions to iron out. Malcolm Jenkins wants a new contract. Defensive starters Rodney McLeod, Ronald Darby, Jalen Mills, Kamu Grugier-Hill, Tim Jernigan and Vinny Curry are free agents.
So are key guys on offense like Nelson Agholor, Jason Peters, Halapoulivaati Vaitai, Corey Clement and Jordan Howard. Peters and Vaitai are both likely gone, and the rest aren’t locks to stay. The Eagles did save roughly $4.5 million in cap space by waiving Nigel Bradham.
“Going forward, we’re trying to build this over a period of time,” Roseman said. “We’re not in this one-year window.”
Eagles Likely Letting Jason Peters Walk
The Eagles confirmed that they will be letting long-time left tackle Jason Peters test the free-agent waters. Philadelphia dangled the option of bringing him back by adding that they would “remain in communication” with Peters throughout the process. Still, Peters will stick more than just his big toe out there and the chances of him returning seem slim.
Peters has been the Eagles’ starting left tackle since 2009 and qualified for seven Pro Bowls during that span. His leadership in the locker room and advice to the younger players on the team is invaluable. Many of his teammates sent supportive messages and expressed their appreciation for Peters on social media. The door is still open for him in Philadelphia, just don’t bet on it.
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