The Cap Crunch Cometh: How Howie Roseman's Roster Philosophy Faces Its Ultimate Test

For over a decade, Howie Roseman has operated like a financial magician. Restructure here, convert a signing bonus there, push money into the future and deal with it later. The Eagles have made blockbuster trade after blockbuster trade — Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown, the Jaelan Phillips rental from Miami — all while somehow keeping the machine running. But the bill is coming due, and the 2026 offseason might be the moment where the music finally stops.

According to Over The Cap, the Eagles have just $0.2 million in restructuring potential for 2026. Read that again. The next-lowest team, the New York Jets, sits at $29.5 million. Philadelphia has approximately $20.5 million in cap space entering the offseason with 20 unrestricted free agents walking out the door. That is not a difficult offseason. That is a full-blown roster reckoning.

The Roseman Method: How We Got Here

Understanding the current crunch requires understanding the philosophy. Roseman has always operated with a "win now, restructure later" mentality. It worked brilliantly through the Super Bowl LVII run in 2022, the Super Bowl LVIII loss in 2023, and the championship repeat in 2024. Three consecutive Super Bowl appearances is dynastic-level sustained excellence, and Roseman mortgaged future flexibility to make it happen.

The strategy made perfect sense. When you have a quarterback in his prime, an elite offensive line, and a defense anchored by All-Pro corners in Darius Slay and Quinyon Mitchell, you push every chip to the center of the table. You do not penny-pinch your way through a championship window. The problem is that every restructure converts base salary into signing bonus, spreading the cap hit across future years. Eventually, there are no more years to push into.

That "eventually" is now.

The Triage: Who Stays, Who Goes

With limited cap space and virtually zero restructuring room, Roseman cannot retain everyone. He has to perform triage on a roster that still has championship-caliber talent. Here is where it gets painful.

Jaelan Phillips is the headliner. The edge rusher was dominant down the stretch after arriving via trade, recording 5.0 sacks and 53 tackles in 17 regular-season games. He is the kind of player you build a defense around. But edge rushers in free agency command top-of-market money — north of $20 million annually for proven pass rushers. That alone would consume the Eagles' entire cap space. Five edge rushers total are hitting free agency for Philadelphia. Letting Phillips walk without a viable replacement would be malpractice, but paying him market rate might be financially impossible.

Dallas Goedert presents another agonizing decision. The tight end scored a career-best 11 touchdowns in 2025 after reworking his deal to stay. He, Grant Calcaterra, and Kylen Granson are all free agents. The only tight end under contract is Cameron Latu. Walking into 2026 with Latu as the TE1 would be borderline negligent, but Goedert at 31 is not getting cheaper.

Then there is the A.J. Brown situation. Multiple reports indicate Brown could depart this offseason. If that happens — whether via trade or release — it fundamentally changes the offensive identity. Jalen Hurts without his alpha receiver, with a brand new offensive coordinator in Sean Mannion, in a system that has not been installed yet? That is a recipe for regression unless Roseman has a plan.

Reed Blankenship and Nakobe Dean are also free agents. Both are young, productive starters. Both will cost real money. At safety, only Andrew Mukuba, Sydney Brown, and Andre Sam remain under contract. At linebacker, losing Dean would create another hole on a defense already losing depth.

The Lane Johnson Question

This is the one nobody wants to talk about. Lane Johnson has been an Eagle since 2013. He is a future Ring of Honor inductee. He is also 36 years old with a cap hit that makes him a legitimate cut candidate. If Roseman needs to create space — and he desperately does — Johnson is one of the few places where cutting creates meaningful savings. It would be gut-wrenching, but Roseman has never let sentiment override arithmetic. With Chris Kuper coming in as the new offensive line coach, there may be a willingness to transition to a younger, cheaper option at right tackle.

The Coaching Wildcard

What makes this offseason uniquely volatile is the coaching overhaul happening simultaneously. Sean Mannion replaces Kevin Patullo as offensive coordinator. Josh Grizzard comes in as pass game coordinator. Ryan Mahaffey takes over as run game coordinator and tight ends coach, filling the enormous shoes left by Jeff Stoutland. Chris Kuper replaces arguably the best offensive line coach in NFL history. On defense, Vic Fangio returns — the one stabilizing force — but loses Christian Parker to Dallas as their new defensive coordinator.

New scheme plus new coaches plus significant roster turnover equals uncertainty. And uncertainty is the enemy of a team trying to keep its championship window open. The Eagles are not rebuilding — Jalen Hurts, DeVonta Smith, Saquon Barkley, Quinyon Mitchell, and Jalen Carter are all still here — but they are retooling in a way they have not had to since Roseman took full control of the roster.

The Bold Prediction: Roseman Trades Back in the Draft

Here is the move that makes the math work. The Eagles cannot buy their way out of this cap crunch. They have to draft their way out. Expect Roseman to trade back from the first round to accumulate additional Day 2 picks, targeting the positions of greatest need: edge rusher, tight end, wide receiver depth, and safety. Four picks in rounds two and three would give Philadelphia a realistic shot at finding three contributors on rookie deals — the only contracts that fit the current cap reality.

This is not the sexiest strategy. There will be no splashy free agent signing to generate headlines. But it is the smartest strategy. The Eagles' championship core is still intact. Hurts is 27. Barkley is 29 but shows no signs of slowing down. The defense, even with some departures, has Fangio running the show. The window is not closed — it just requires more surgical roster construction than Roseman has had to employ in years.

The Bottom Line

The 2026 offseason is a referendum on everything Howie Roseman believes about roster construction. He built the most successful three-year run in Eagles history by being aggressive, creative, and unafraid to mortgage the future. Now the future is here, the bill is on the table, and there is nowhere left to push the money. The decisions he makes in the next six weeks — who to cut, who to keep, who to draft — will determine whether the Eagles' dynasty continues or whether 2024 was the peak.

The safe bet? Never bet against Roseman. He has earned that respect. But this is the first time in his tenure where the usual tricks — restructure, push, extend — are not available. He will have to be great in a completely different way. And that is what makes this offseason the most fascinating one in recent Eagles history.