There’s been no shortage of interest in Eagles’ pending free agent outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips, who ranked No. 3 in PFR’s list of the top 50 free agents for the 2026 offseason. Obviously, one of the teams interested in landing his signature was going to be the team that sent a third-round pick to Miami in order to acquire him midseason last year. 
Days after Philadelphia’s season ended, Phillips made it known that he was interested in staying with the team. The team, too, expressed some hope that a deal would get done before the start of free agency, but nothing seemed to be progressing towards an agreement until a couple of reports today. It was NFL insider Jordan Schultz who first dropped an update, reporting that the Eagles “remain very interested” in retaining Phillips and that “talks are expected to continue and intensify.”
A report from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport quickly followed in which he relayed that there has been “significant progress made between the Eagles and (Phillips) towards him returning to Philly.” Rapoport went on to say that, while nothing has been made official and no decisions have been made, there is reportedly “increased optimism” that a deal will be reached to keep him in Philadelphia.
The biggest hurdle to this getting done has been the sheer amount of interest in the 26-year-old pass rusher. Elite pass rushers have become an expensive commodity in the NFL, and as the top available free agent at the position, Phillips is sure to command quite a price as teams vie for his signature. Whenever Phillips was a trade target, the 49ers, Patriots, and Commanders joined Philadelphia in pursuit of the young pass rusher. Earlier today, it was reported that Phillips was on a laundry list of pass rushers the Cowboys were interested in as they look to replace the lost production of Micah Parsons. With so many teams interested in the top free agent at the position, there’s certain to be an inflated price tag on Phillips.
The other big hurdle for the Eagles is their existing roster. As Zach Berman of The Athletic puts it, the Eagles roster “at least 10 players on their defense viewed around the league” as being worth more than $10MM per year, not to mention the presence of players likely worth north of $20MM or $30MM per year. Much of the very talented defensive core is young in Philadelphia, and many will graduate from their rookie contracts soon. Because of how things will time out, every time the Eagles begin evaluating a contract offer, they’ll need to keep in mind how it will affect their ability to extend impact defenders in the next few years to come. This is one of the reasons we’ve seen defensive tackle Jalen Carter drawing trade interest.
A key example of the limitations of the salary cap is the situation in Philadelphia with wide receiver A.J. Brown. The idea that the Eagles might try to move Brown via trade has been in place since before the regular season even came to an end. There’s been plenty of interest in the veteran wideout with the Patriots, Bills, and Ravens being named in recent reports. The Bills have since agreed to acquire Bears wide receiver D.J. Moore, and the Ravens may no longer have the draft capital to offer for Brown after sending two Day 1 picks to Las Vegas for Maxx Crosby, but the Patriots remain largely interested in bringing Brown in.
One of the reasons the team hasn’t been able finalize a deal for Brown is due to the salary cap hit his contract holds this year of $23.39MM. This number isn’t completely preventative, but it makes it to where it would be much easier for the Eagles to trade Brown post-June 1. Philadelphia is willing to wait to do that, but there’s a fear that the team will enter free agency trying to work under the assumption that Browns’ numbers will come off the books, but then, by the time they are able to trade him more easily, his market will have dried up as teams got tired of waiting and addressed their receiver issues elsewhere, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network.
Because of this, Garafolo claims that general manager Howie Roseman has attempted to get creative to work around the cap issue. Per Garafolo, Roseman wanted to test if a delayed trade could occur in which half of the deal happens now with the rest designated post-June 1. Essentially, it doesn’t seem likely that a deal to trade Brown is going to happen before the start of free agency.