After considering an early retirement, Landon Dickerson joined Lane Johnson in agreeing to return to the Eagles. But the Pro Bowl guard will no longer be tied to the same contract.
Philadelphia is removing a year from Dickerson’s deal, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. The sides’ revised contract — a two-year deal worth around $36MM — removes the 2028 season. Dickerson had been tied to a four-year, $84MM pact and was previously due $39MM from 2026-27. A slight pay cut appears in the works, with Fowler adding incentives would help Dickerson reach his original amount.
Dickerson, 27, is one of the NFL’s best guards. The three-time Pro Bowler carried a $10MM guarantee for 2026 and is due $15.7MM this year, per Fowler. But the Eagles stand to save a bit of cap space; Dickerson was tied to a $10.28MM number. That is fairly low, but the Eagles regularly backload their deals through option bonuses and void years. Dickerson’s pact already included four void years.
Coming into the day with just more than $11MM in cap space, the Eagles have been negotiating with the Vikings on a Jonathan Greenard trade. They also moved Dallas Goedert‘s void date to Friday, buying more time to re-sign the soon-to-be UFA tight end. Philly dropped in late in the Trey Hendrickson pursuit after being in the Maxx Crosby derby. It seems like the team will add an edge rusher soon, and a chunk of cap space will be necessary for such a move.
Missing much of training camp due to meniscus surgery, Dickerson returned in time for Week 1 (he had already undergone offseason knee surgery). But he played hurt often in 2025. The five-year veteran missed time because of an ankle injury as well, though he did suit up for 15 games and Philly’s wild-card contest. The injury-plagued season led to the former second-round pick considering retirement. That would have dealt a blow to the Eagles’ O-line, but for one more year at least, they will have Dickerson and Johnson together. The latter will play an age-36 season in 2026.
The Eagles have Dickerson, Johnson, Cam Jurgens and Jordan Mailata signed beyond 2026. Only RG Tyler Steen is in a contract year. But Johnson’s age and Dickerson’s retirement flirtation create some instability for one of the NFL’s best position groups, one that lost longtime leader Jeff Stoutland this offseason.
Wow. So he really is likely to hang it up early, just not this year.
I guess it depends if he stays healthy. I’m assuming if he has a good health year in 2026 he won’t be thinking about retirement.
One would hope.
Can Dickerson add money to his contact?
Definitely need someone to explain this to me, the reasoning both sides
This has been a weird offseason for the birds.
Birds have a lot of dead money and not much cap space which is making Howie have to get creative. Moving Brown will create even more headaches IMO.
Yeah my guess is he doesn’t really want to move AJ, make the team worse, and take a cap hit. The flip side is we might have to replace two all pro linemen in Lane and Landon so he might need the ammo to do it.
4 void years why not 10? 15? The whole concept of the NFL salary cap is so dumb.
100% correct.
This is interesting and new way of announcing a player got a pay cut…