After the humiliating 32-9 first round loss at the hands of Tampa Bay Buccaneers in January 2024, in a series of six consecutive losses in seven games, Roseman stood in front of the tunnel, greeting his players as they came off the field, disappointed. Not in the team that stood in front of him, but in what could have been. In what he could have done more. Right then, “I kind of committed to try to do better.” And if the job description of NFL GMs includes playing chess, arguably, no one would deny that Philadelphia’s Howie Roseman has become a Grand Master. 

After waking up from what felt like “A terrible hangover,” the NFLs powerbroker got to work because those miserable moments, “They’ve led to great opportunities for our team.” And then came the fireworks that their 40-22 Super Bowl LIX win over the two-time reigning champs Kansas City proves. Defying the norm of not handing big money to RBs, he brought in “A difference-maker,” Saquon Barkley, from the divisional rivals for $37.75 million over three years. Roseman also tossed a coin and decided to bring Mekhi Becton with a smart salary scheming. The key to how his tactics work is his use of the limited cap space by not being, “Afraid to do his own thing,” as Baltimore Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta would put it.

With the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement, rookie contracts were a financial free-for-all changed, ushering in a structured pay scale designed to bring order to the chaos. And for the most part, it worked. But in a league built on margins, creative front offices still find room to maneuver. Once again, the Philadelphia Eagles appear to have found a loophole. And Howie Roseman has pulled off a masterstroke again.

It was supposed to be just another regular rookie contract signing when the Eagles announced they had signed offensive tackle Cameron Williams to a 4-year contract. Given that Williams was a sixth-round pick, his contract was valued at $4.45 million. Sounds pretty normal, right? For a 6th-round pick, this is the contract structure that is generally followed.

However, Over The Cap columnist Jason Fitzgerald found something interesting. Considering his expertise in studying salary caps, Fitzgerald claims the Eagles engaged in some cap maneuvering with Williams’ contract. After conducting some research, he discovered that the Eagles have guaranteed $475,000 of his salary. This is huge, given that his rookie class normally receives $201,568 in guarantees. So, the total guaranteed amount Williams could receive stands at $676,568. Although this amount obviously appears significantly larger than it should be, the Eagles also chose to split the guaranteed money.

They are apparently paying Williams $375,000 in 2025 and $125,000 in 2026. Fitzgerald also notes that there is a small salary increase in his first two years of the rookie contract. And if you are wondering why the Eagles suddenly chose to split his salary, well, Fitzgerald noted, “A split salary brings a player’s salary down if he lands on a reserve list.” The Eagles know, “You can’t rework a rookie’s contract until year 4 so if a player has an injury history you can’t modify the deal to account for that.” So, their opting for this strategy shows the precautions they are taking beforehand.

Anyway, the $375,000 the Eagles are paying Williams almost matches the salary of a practice squad player. This suggests that the $676,568 the Eagles are scheduled to pay Williams in total may not be significant in a few years. The Eagles are adding more injury protection to their contracts, showing they don’t want to put any burden on their checkbooks. Either you perform or perish —that’s probably the strategy the Eagles are settling on. Fitzgerald even predicted, “This could end up being a strategy other teams besides the Eagles use moving forward to try to get more injury protection on the back end of a rookie contract.”

However, this is not the first time their contract maneuvering has been put on display. Roseman has been so effective in his contractual plays that even the league is now considering changing the salary cap rules.

Roger Goodell eyes crackdown on Howie Roseman’s cap schemes

Days after the league failed to ban Tush Push, the Eagles were presented with another potential setback. This time, though, the problems aren’t on the field. Instead, it’s aimed at their negotiation tactics. According to Ari Meirov of the 33rd Team, the NFL plans to hold lengthy discussions to verify the intended spirit of the current salary cap system. And probably determine whether any changes in the new CBA will be necessary. Well, the Eagles, as you know, are the current masters in structuring their players’ contracts. Take, for instance, Mekhi Becton last year. He was signed for a one-year deal worth only $5.5M.

However, Becton accounted for only $2 million on the Eagles’ salary cap. Then, once he moved to the Chargers, the Eagles were only hit with $3.5M in dead money. Suppose Becton had counted for his full $5.5M salary in 2024, he would have eaten up 2.2% of the Eagles’ salary cap. Instead, the $2 million accounted for only 0.8% of the Eagles’ total salary cap. Those $3.5M were converted into void years. With the rising salary cap in the whole league, the bulk of Becton’s salary cap charges were paid when the salary cap was higher. This made it easier for him to fit and also for the Eagles to leverage more financial freedom.

Repeating this process has helped the Eagles sign as many talented players as possible. Even Bengals QB Joe Burrow called out his ownership for not adopting the Eagles’ approach. “The Eagles are paying everybody. That seems like the way, whatever they’re doing,” Burrow said on the Pardon My Take podcast. Maybe after seeing how the Eagles are trying to change the way rookie contracts are designed, other NFL franchises could take some valuable notes and implement those themselves.