The Linc

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links …

Latest NFL Draft rumors include a surprise first-round QB and the Cowboys’ WR debate – SB Nation
Mark Andrews is coming off a down campaign, one that ended for him with both a fumble and a critical drop late against the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Divisional Round. He is also entering the final year of his contract, and the team would gain around $11 million in cap space if they were to move him in a deal. That is, as Schultz notes, similar to the situation with Dallas Goedert with the Philadelphia Eagles. Goedert is also in the final year of his deal, and teams have already begun calling about his availability in a trade, including the New York Giants. What might make such a trade easier for the Ravens and the Eagles is the fact that this is a very fascinating TE class, starting with Tyler Warren from Penn State and Colston Loveland from Michigan. Both players are expected to come off the board in the first round, along with perhaps LSU TE Mason Taylor.

Sources: #Eagles TE Dallas Goedert remains a name to watch on the trade market as the draft approaches. Interested teams believe Philadelphia would be open to future picks if they don’t receive 2025 draft capital.

Goedert is in the final year of his deal and he could be looking… pic.twitter.com/huEBp0Zykh

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) April 17, 2025

Ranking the Eagles’ 5 biggest needs ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft – BGN
3) Tight End. It would be unwise for the Eagles to trade Dallas Goedert for the reasons I enumerated previously, but to sum up — there isn’t much here if Dallas goes away. Grant Calcaterra is a fine back-up, but not someone you want starting 17 games, unless there’s another gear in there somewhere we haven’t seen yet. The additions of Harrison Bryant and Kylen Granson are not needle movers, and even if they hold onto Goedert, it’s clear they need to find the heir apparent now. It’s unlikely the Eagles would take a tight end at 32, as evidenced by the fact they have not welcomed one for an official visit. But if Roseman doesn’t land a defensive lineman he really likes by trading up or holding pat, he could trade back into the second and do what he did when they drafted Goedert in 2018, selecting him 49th overall as their top draft pick following Super Bowl 52. This is regarded as a strong tight end class, so if they do go tight end at 32, there are a couple of potential Goedert replacements, including LSU’s Mason Taylor and Miami’s Elijah Arroyo. It would be a total shock if the Eagles don’t spend a Day 1 or 2 pick on a tight end.

Thoughts on Eagles TE Dallas Goedert’s trade value – PhillyVoice
If they’re using the Darren Waller trade as a benchmark, that’s a reasonable ask. However, teams around the league (mostly) aren’t as dumb as the Giants. My guess? Compensation will land somewhere around the same ballpark as the Cardinals’ 2021 trade for Zach Ertz (also 30 at the time, by the way), which was a fifth-round pick and a throw-in player (CB Tay Gowan).

Will the Eagles draft Dallas Goedert’s replacement next week? – NBCSP
But second round? Third? Those options are definitely on the table and there’s a chance the Eagles will find a good one. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler has five tight ends in that Round 2-3 range: Mason Taylor from LSU, Elijah Arroyo from Miami, Terrance Ferguson from Oregon, Harold Fannin Jr. from Bowling Green and Gunnar Helm from Texas. The Eagles have picks 64 and 96 on Day 2. Sirianni on Tuesday gave a long answer when asked about what he looks for when scouting tight ends. He made the point that he views the tight end room like the receiver room in that you want to have a bunch of different skills collected but you can mix and match to get there — one player doesn’t have to have them all. Aside from looking for “big, strong, fast, physical and tough” players — which pretty much describes what Sirianni looks for in just about every position — when he looks at tight ends, the first thing Sirianni looks at is the players targets in the receiving game. And then he goes from there.

Will the Eagles swap picks again in the draft? Here’s what history shows for teams picking last in the first round. – Inquirer
In the 2024 draft, the Kansas City Chiefs traded up four spots from No. 32 overall with the Buffalo Bills, who entered the draft selecting 28th. Buffalo received picks Nos. 32, 95 (Round 3), and 221 (Round 7) in exchange for Nos. 28, 133 (Round 4), and 249 (Round 7). The Chiefs drafted wide receiver Xavier Worthy, while the Bills traded down again one spot out of the first round with the Carolina Panthers, who took Xavier Legette at 32, while the Bills took Keon Coleman at 33. Going back the last 10 drafts, just half the teams selecting last in the first round actually made their picks without trading: the New England Patriots and Chiefs twice apiece and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Of those five drafts that included trades at the end of round one, two of them were for quarterbacks: The Broncos traded up from No. 31 to No. 26 overall with the Seattle Seahawks to take Paxton Lynch in the 2016 draft, and the aforementioned Jackson trade in 2018.

Spadaro: Paying it forward is the Eagles’ Way – PE.com
One of the reasons the Eagles have been so good for so long is that the organization has the ability to keep the long-term in mind while addressing the present roster. Cam Jurgens, for example, was drafted in 2022 with an eye on eventually replacing Jason Kelce at the center position. Before that happened, of course, Jurgens earned a starting job at right guard and had a strong 2023 campaign before taking over the center spot and earning Pro Bowl honors last year. All along, Jurgens had the benefit of working with Kelce, just as Dallas Goedert learned from teaming up with Zach Ertz at tight end, and just as Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter gained from observing Fletcher Cox, and the same for the players in the defensive end/outside linebacker room improved with Brandon Graham helping guide them. A succession plan. It is always sought and rarely attained, but for whatever myriad of reasons, the Philadelphia Eagles have made it work.

Ashton Jeanty to NFL GMs: It’s tackle football, ‘I’d draft the guy they can’t tackle’ – NFL.com
Saquon Barkley’s magical 2024 season helped return some positive glamor to the running back position. In the right system, the top-shelf backs do matter. Barkley’s run to the Super Bowl in Philadelphia has also inspired incoming rookie Ashton Jeanty. In an open letter penned to general managers for The Players’ Tribune, Jeanty said he could make the same difference for an NFL club that Barkley made for Philly. “Most people, they watched the Eagles win the Super Bowl a couple of months ago, they watched Saquon run through everyone in the playoffs, and they thought to themselves, This is amazing,” Jeanty wrote. “I watched it and I thought something different. I thought, That can be me.”

How smart NFL front offices navigate dead money restraints: ‘You don’t need to buy your team’ – The Athletic
Teams, of course, account for much of the dead money that hits their books while making long-term roster plans. Smart teams bake those totals in as a way to take advantage of increases to the salary cap that continue to balloon. The cap has jumped $71 million since 2022 alone, to a record $279 million in 2025, and no team has managed the dead money equation better in that bull market than the Eagles. One aspect of general manager Howie Roseman’s formula uses big cash spending up front — Philadelphia ranked third in that department in 2024 at $328.6 million — and void years on the back end that allow teams to push a player’s salary cap charges into future years. It’s essentially a guarantee of accumulating dead money, and Roseman laid out the reasoning for doing it during the NFL’s league meeting in 2022. “It’s no different than when you’re trying to buy a house,” Roseman said at the time. “If you have the opportunity to buy a house and put all the cash down or the interest rates are really good and you’re going to pay it over time, why wouldn’t you use that money now and understand that as it goes forward you’re going to be able to do that? “It’s the same money. If I give somebody $10 and I decide to prorate it, it’s the same $10 that’s going to affect my cap the same way, but if I’m doing it where the value of the cap is not $100 but now it’s $150, why wouldn’t I want to take it in those times?”

Eagles coach opens up about losing player this offseason: ‘I’m sad to see him go’ – NJ.com
Eagles offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland was at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, for an event when 6ABC sports reporter Jason Dumas asked him about Becton’s exit. “It’s bittersweet,” Stoutland told Dumas. “I’m happy for him. He deserves what he gets financially, so I’m happy for him and his family. I’m sad to see him go. I really enjoyed coaching Mekhi. He’s a tremendous person who really wanted to be coached in every aspect. He’s also a great partner. I always say that you’ve got to have somebody who enjoys the process and wants to be coached. They’re not offended when you coach them, and that really was Mekhi.”

Buffalo Bills hosting FA CB James Bradberry – Buffalo Rumblings
The Buffalo Bills continue exploring cornerback options this spring, looking to solidify a room that lacks a defined CB2 one week out from the 2025 NFL Draft. General manager Brandon Beane prefers having all options on the table during draft weekend, which will require him feeling confident enough in the players already signed who are vying to start at CB2 in a little over four months’ time. To that end, the Bills are hosting veteran cornerback James Bradberry, per sources as shared by Jeremy Fowler. The last time most of Bills Mafia saw Bradberry was in 2023, when Buffalo lost a heart-breaker to the Philadelphia Eagles. In that game, Bradberry was credited with three tackles, five pass defenses, and a very memorable interception of a pass intended for wide receiver Gabe Davis.

Daily Slop – 17 Apr 25 – Multiple reports that agreement on RFK stadium site is taking shape – Hogs Haven
The Athletic (paywall): Agreement to bring Commanders’ stadium to RFK site in D.C. taking shape. Negotiations between the NFL franchise and the office of Mayor Muriel Bowser remain fluid and ongoing. However, a framework has emerged that indicates the Commanders would pay most of the cost of the mixed-use project on the 174-acre federal land site where the team played games for 35 years until leaving for neighboring Maryland in 1997. Local television station NBC 4 first reported on the progress Wednesday. The story included specific financial figures from earlier discussions regarding the RFK site that appear outdated but highlight the franchise’s apparent commitment. Managing partner Josh Harris has worked toward a new stadium concept since purchasing the franchise for $6.05 billion in July 2023.

3 more players who could be on the bubble following the draft – Blogging The Boys
Miles Sanders. After signing a free agent contract with the Carolina Panthers (four-years, $25.4M in 2023), Miles Sanders disappointed in Carolina and ceded the role as the lead back to others like Chuba Hubbard and D’Onta Foreman. The spark he provided for the Philadelphia Eagles offense en route to a Pro Bowl nod in 2022 has fizzled out. Since leaving Philadelphia, Sanders has averaged far below four yards an attempt and has not eclipsed 500 rushing yards. Dallas also added Javonte Williams to their backfield, and his contract is substantially larger than that of Sanders, with Sanders having a modest $167.5K signing bonus for a veteran. When you read the room, it’s apparent why Sanders could be on the chopping block. The Cowboys have hosted several running back talents in the top two rounds of the draft for visits, which indicates their dissatisfaction with the running back personnel on the roster. You get the growing sense that Dallas could draft multiple running backs.

How will New York Giants resolve reportedly ‘contentious’ quarterback debate? – Big Blue View
As the New York Giants begin a final round of private quarterback workouts on Thursday with a visit to Colorado to watch Shedeur Sanders throw one final time, it is becoming more and more apparent that there are divergent opinions within the organization about what to do at quarterback in the 2025 NFL Draft. Particularly when it comes to Sanders. “It’s a little bit contentious inside the Giants draft room and there are some people that are pushing hard for Shedeur,” draft insider Todd McShay of The Ringer said this week on the ‘Ryen Russillo podcast’. McShay said that ultimately he believes the pick for the Giants at No. 3 will be Penn State edge defender Abdul Carter, or that the Giants are “going to trade to get out of there.” In mocking Carter to the Giants this week, Cris Collinsworth of Pro Football Focus said if he were the Giants he would trade out of No. 3 “in a heartbeat.” Let’s examine this a couple of ways.

2025 NFL mock draft: Scouts predict the top 10 picks – ESPN+
3. New York Giants: Projected pick from an AFC North area scout: Abdul Carter, Edge, Penn State. The assigned scout for the Giants made the quickest pick of this exercise — and was extremely happy to pick Carter. “Easy decision,” the scout said. “Sure, in a perfect world we’d wish this would align a little better with a more immediate and glaring need on the roster, but we’ll take the blue-chip talent and rest easier for it. “The only other real consideration would be a trade down if the right opportunity presented itself on draft night, given how many pieces [away] this team is.” Even after signing Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston, the Giants need a quarterback. But the scout felt pretty good about New York getting one with its second-round pick (No. 34 overall). Jaxson Dart, Louisville’s Tyler Shough and Alabama’s Jalen Milroe could all be available in that range. The Giants could also use offensive line reinforcements, ranking 26th in pass block win rate last season (56.2%). But Carter is No. 1 on my board, and this roster needs difference-makers. Carter was a devastating force for Penn State last season, collecting 93 tackles, 12 sacks, 61 pressures and 23.5 tackles for loss. He has great burst and power. Adding his potential to an edge group that already features two-time Pro Bowler Brian Burns, youngster Kayvon Thibodeaux and free agent pickup Chauncey Golston would make the Giants’ pass rush one of the league’s finest. Burns could serve as the ace, with Carter as the closer as he develops in the NFL.