With the new league year just around the corner, the Eagles are reportedly entertaining the idea of trading starting edge rusher Josh Sweat too.
Here’s the latest report from NFL Network:
Already this offseason, the Eagles granted Haason Reddick permission to seek a trade and establish his league-wide value. We’ll see what happens with Reddick. But now, the Eagles could be thinking about moving on from Sweat too.
Both Reddick and Sweat are entering contract seasons and it’s looking more and more likely that both of them won’t be back in 2024 under new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. These situations are certainly worth monitoring together.
NFL free agency starts next week and the Eagles are going to be players with over $40 million in cap room. The situation with their top two returning edge rushers only adds more intrigue to what should already be an entertaining week.
Sweat is entering the final year of the three-year, $40 million extension he signed during the 2021 season and Sweat is set to have a salary cap hit of just over $9 million in 2024. But because of the structure of his contact, a pre-June 1 trade would actually increase his cap hit for this season. According to OverTheCap, a trade now would leave $14.5 million in dead cap space this season.
Sweat, 26, was a fourth-round pick back in 2018 and he’s become a starter and a Pro Bowler during his time with the Eagles. In his six-year career, Sweat has 35 sacks, including a career-high 11 in 2022. In 2023, Sweat had 6 1/2 sacks in his first nine games but didn’t have one in the final eight games of the regular season. He did have a sack in the playoff loss in Tampa.
Even when he wasn’t able to get the production, Sweat insisted he was still happy with his play.
“It’s just not showing up how I want it to. I’m affecting the quarterback,” Sweat said in December. “That’s all I can say. I am affecting the quarterback more than I ever have in my career, at a higher level than I ever have in my career, won more rushes. The sacks just haven’t been hitting but I’ve been rushing better than I have in my career.”
After playing a very minimal role as a rookie out of Florida State in 2018, Sweat became a rotational player in 2019 and 2020 and became a full-time starter and Pro Bowler in 2021. His sack total increased each season in the NFL until the 2023 season. But he still finished with 23 quarterback hits in each of the last two years.
Because of his age and his production, the asking price for Sweat should be high, even with the understanding that he would want a new contract from a team trading for him.
Aside from Reddick and Sweat, the Eagles’ other edge rushers are Nolan Smith, Patrick Johnson, Julian Okwara, Terrell Lewis and Tarron Jackson. Smith was a first-round pick in 2023 but had a disappointing rookie season. Veteran Brandon Graham is a pending free agent but he said this week that the Eagles are working on a one-year deal to bring him back for his 15th NFL season.
If the Eagles do move on from Reddick and/or Sweat, they’ll need to replenish one of the most important positions on the team. The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported the Eagles are expected to pursue Jets edge rusher Bryce Huff.
