Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles news and links …
2026 NFL contracts: Next to get a big deal at every position – ESPN Next up: Jalen Carter, Philadelphia Eagles. There are a few veteran candidates who might be in line for massive extensions this offseason. Tennessee’s Jeffery Simmons and Dallas’ Quinnen Williams are free agents after the 2027 season, leaving them with two years on their existing contracts. With the Cowboys having traded so much to acquire Williams, a new deal north of $30 million
per year for the former Jets first-round pick seems inevitable. I still expect the next record-setting contract to go to Carter, who might be the best young defensive tackle in football. Last season didn’t go as planned for Carter, who started the season with a bizarre ejection for spitting on Dak Prescott before missing five other games because of injuries, but he still managed to make his second consecutive Pro Bowl. And it takes only a trip back to the 2024 playoffs to recall how dominant Carter can be at his best, down to winning the game against the Rams with a pair of pressures on the final drive of the contest. Howie Roseman is shifting Philadelphia’s spending from offense to defense over the next 12 months, and while anything’s possible in the modern NFL or with the trade-friendly general manager, it would be a surprise if Carter’s next deal wasn’t a record setter. That would come from either the Eagles or another team, which presumably would have given up a first-round pick and more to land the Super Bowl winner. An extension for Carter would likely come in between $32 million and $35 million per season, and given how aggressive the Eagles are with signing young players to contracts, expect it to happen before the start of the 2026 campaign.
Eagles Film Review: A.J. Epenesa signing is very sensible – BGN
Coming into this evaluation, I wasn’t expecting to like A.J. Epenesa as much as I did. The overall theme of his film is that he’s simply a decent football player. He’s not an elite athlete, and he’s never going to be confused with the premier edge rushers in the NFL, but he consistently finds ways to impact games in limited snaps. He wins with power, length, hand usage, effort, and intelligence rather than rare physical traits. There are plenty of edge defenders who look more impressive in space, but Epenesa understands how to play the position and has developed a polished skill set over six NFL seasons. What stood out most was how physical he is. He routinely collapses pockets with his bull rush, uses his hands extremely well, and plays with the kind of strength that fits what the Eagles have traditionally valued along the defensive line. He isn’t a bendy speed rusher, and he won’t threaten offensive tackles around the corner on a consistent basis, but he doesn’t need to. His game is built around winning in different ways and doing the little things well.
Eagles rookie NFL player comparisons: OG Micah Morris – PhillyVoice
Like Morris, Bradford is sloppy as a technician, so much so that he pretty routinely has comically bad plays. Like here in the Super Bowl, where he gets beaten by Milton Williams, but then RB Kenneth Walker picks Williams up, only to have Bradford block Walker off of Williams, lol. But then also, Bradford will have plays where you can kind of get why the Seahawks keep putting him out there, presumably trying to get him to play to his capabilities more consistently.
Nick Sirianni must let the Eagles get more daring on offense this season – Inquirer
The Eagles wouldn’t have hired Mannion if they believed such an approach were sustainable. The combined greatness of Barkley and their offensive line was responsible for the offense’s quick-strike and big-play capabilities in 2024, and it had the added bonus of cutting down the occasions when Hurts or anyone else had to put possession of the football at risk. But those circumstances and conditions were ideal and difficult, if not impossible, to replicate, and the Eagles couldn’t and didn’t in 2025. Now they have Mannion, who is regarded as a sharp, up-and-coming mind in the NFL. And they have Hurts, who for the sake of his own improvement and his team’s fate has to master a system unlike any he has played in before. And they have Sirianni, whose instinct has been to minimize any possibility of a big mistake. Something might have to give, and the season just might come down to the head coach and his ability to resolve a fundamental conflict within himself.
Eagles spring practice lessons: Five things we learned about Sean Mannion, the Eagles offense during mandatory minicamp – PHLY
It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to hear that the Eagles defense was consistently the more successful unit during each practice, but it’s still a necessary note in reflection of the four open sessions. The Eagles first-team secondary looked as advertised against a reworked and undermanned wide receiving corps and more often than not Jalen Hurts, Andy Dalton, and Tanner McKee were either targeting running backs or tight ends on underneath routes or holding onto the ball for extended periods without finding someone downfield. But even setting aside the imperative caveat that most defenses are ahead of their offensive counterparts at this point in the offseason, it’s important to remember just how wide the gulf is between the Eagles offense and defense in terms of both a personnel and schematic continuity standpoint this summer. For as significant a change as the Eagles defense had to go through in 2024 when Vic Fangio took over, this Eagles offense has had an even bigger task with several new faces and an offensive system that shares almost no resemblance to the one the group ran last year. In fact, those who have seen it up close for the duration of the spring believe it couldn’t look any more different than last year’s offense.
6 things we learned at Patriots minicamp – Pats Pulpit
A.J. Brown is as advertised. It did not take long for A.J. Brown to make an impact on the practice field. After getting his feet wet during the final week of OTAs, Brown looked every bit the Pro Bowl receiver in minicamp, hauling in a back-shoulder fade for a touchdown before making an impressive adjustment on another pass in the end zone for a second score. The chemistry between Brown and Maye has been impressive considering the duo has spent less than two weeks together, and it should only continue to improve with time — while Brown will likely also begin to be moved around the formation more often, after spending this last week largely repping in the outside role.
George Pickens non-committal on mandatory minicamp plans – Blogging The Boys
Time is ultimately going to tell in short order, but there really isn’t any huge point of drama with this situation, and that is really saying something when it comes to the Dallas Cowboys. The team placed the franchise tag on Pickens at the beginning of the offseason. Had he not signed it, then there would be legitimate intrigue and question around this situation. Here’s the thing. Pickens did sign it. The answer is known. It is certainly possible that Pickens won’t show up to the mandatory minicamp, but he already pledged his allegiance to the 2026 Dallas Cowboys when he put pen to paper. Right?
What makes Nick Allegretti confident he can thrive as Commanders center – Hogs Haven
The Commanders released center Tyler Biadasz on Feb. 26, well before NFL free agency began. They didn’t sign a replacement during a period where they were flush with cap space and spent big in others areas of perceived need. Washington didn’t conclude free-agency’s early waves with a tight budget. They still have plenty of salary-cap space should they choose to use it. Washington didn’t use any of it on a center. They did add to the position by selecting Michigan State product Matt Gulbin in the sixth round of the NFL draft, though the No. 209 overall draft slot doesn’t typically portend an instant impact.
John Harbaugh’s Giants will look like a bully; can they play like one? – Big Blue View
Defensive tackle D.J. Reader, himself a mountain of a man at 6-foot-3, 335 pounds, recently called the New York Giants a “get-off-the-bus team.” By that, he meant that because of their sheer size, they look good getting off the bus. John Harbaugh, in his 18 years as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, developed a reputation for building “get-off-the-bus” teams that not only looked the part, but played the part of the bully. Asked recently why he has an affinity for players with size, Harbaugh referred to former Giants’ GM George Young’s twist on the “Planet Theory.” Young’s idea was that there are only so many massive, athletic human beings on the earth, and the more you could collect, the better chance you had of winning. “You’ve got to have — I think Bill Parcells said that these guys are just rare people on the planet, right? Along those lines,” Harbaugh said. “To me that always stuck with me when I saw that way back when.”
Brandon Aiyuk’s 49ers divorce keeps getting uglier – SB Nation
Brandon Aiyuk’s war of words with the San Francisco 49ers reached new heights on Tuesday. In a video posted to social media, Aiyuk blasted the organization as “stupid” for paying him, and “mad” at themselves for how the team was handling the situation. The video came after Aiyuk posted one over the weekend, where he called the 49ers “little-ass boys” who needed to “stop running from the bill.”
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