Eagles create salary cap room by restructuring Alshon Jeffery’s contract
The move may give Jeffery some assurance that he will be here next season despite the presence of J.J. Accega-Whiteside.
The Eagles announced Saturday that they had restructured Alshon Jeffery’s contract, guaranteeing his 2020 salary and creating cap room for 2019.
Jeffery, 29, counted $14.725 million toward the cap this season under the terms of the four-year, $52 million deal he signed late in 2017, which extended through 2021. This was the highest cap figure on the team. He was due to have $1 million of his $13 million 2020 salary guaranteed next March 15, according to Spotrac.com.
The Eagles were nearly $21 million under the cap, according to Spotrac, before the restructuring, details of which were not available Saturday. That was the league’s eighth-most space.
Why would they need more cap room? They might want to do deals with other players. Malcolm Jenkins, we know, believes he has outplayed his contract. And/or they might want to push cap room forward into next season, when quarterback Carson Wentz’s cap number goes from roughly $8.4 million to more than $18.6 million under the terms of the four-year, $128 million extension he signed this offseason.
The guarantee of next year’s salary for Jeffery comes in the wake of speculation that the Eagles drafted similar wide receiver J.J. Arcega-Whiteside in the second round this year as Jeffery’s successor, given Jeffery’s high cap numbers. It is unclear how Saturday’s maneuver affects cap charges in future seasons.