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Alshon Jeffery remains on the Eagles’ roster and his haunting shadow continues to hang over free agency. Will the team move on?
It was widely assumed that the Eagles would cut ties with Jeffery once the new collective bargaining agreement was reached. They could use the post-June 1 designation and spread his gargantuan cap hit out over two years, a move that could potentially save them $10 million. The new figure would cost them around $15.4 million in 2020, slightly better than the $26 million cap hit that otherwise would have been the largest individual dead money charge in league history.
A week into free agency and Jeffery remains on the roster. His Lisfranc injury makes the receiver nearly untradeable since there are concerns he won’t be ready for Week 1. The Eagles might be stuck between a rock and a displaced metatarsal bone — and GM Howie Roseman knows it. He held court, via a conference call with reporters, on Thursday to clarify the situation.
“Obviously, the elephant in the room is Alshon,” Roseman said, via Mike Kaye of NJ Advance Media. “He’s got to get healthy.”
Roseman’s main point was that nothing can be completed — no updated timetable for Jeffery’s recovery or any plausible trade scenarios — until Jeffery has undergone a physical to update any lingering health concerns. Of course, those examinations cannot happen as the president of the NFL Physicians Society has blocked any physicals from taking place amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
Eagles GM Applauds Alshon Jeffery’s ‘Toughness’
Whatever your opinion on Alshon Jeffery, there is no denying the contributions he brought to the 2017 Super Bowl team. It’s easy to sit here now and poke holes in Jeffery’s resume, but he was responsible for 12 total touchdowns that year and three of them came in the postseason.
Is he the anonymous source that keeps throwing Carson Wentz under the bus? Did he skip out on team-bonding activities? Maybe. But Eagles GM Howie Roseman has gone on record multiple times this offseason sticking up for the 6-foot-3 possession receiver. On Thursday, he once again showered Jeffery with praise.
“The priority for Alshon is to get healthy. He needs to get healthy,” Roseman told Eagles Insider Dave Spadaro. “Just talking to our PR staff and hearing the narrative (around) Alshon, Alshon is a good player and I think we lose sight of that a bit and the things he can do when he’s healthy, the toughness he’s shown to try to bring a championship to our city, which he helped obviously, tremendously and to have another one.”
Interesting side note, Jeffery remains as only the second Eagles receiver to ever catch a touchdown pass in a Super Bowl. Yes, other Eagles players have done it but none were wideouts. Greg Lewis was the first to do it in Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005. The other non-receivers hauling in Super Bowl passes for the franchise include Zach Ertz, Keith Krepfle, Nick Foles, Corey Clement, Brian Westbrook, L.J. Smith.
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