March 02, 2021

Eagles 2021 free agency rumor and report tracker

By Jimmy Kempski
PhillyVoice Staff

The Philadelphia Eagles won't be big players in free agency this offseason, seeing as they won't have much money to spend. Still, they likely also won't completely sit out of free agency either.

And so let's track the reports and rumors about the Birds as they trickle in ahead of the new league year. Most recent entries are at the top.

Eagles expected to have interest in Raiders QB Marcus Mariota

Ben Standig of The Athletic is reporting that the Eagles could have interest in Mariota is he's cut or traded.

And, while Philadelphia wouldn’t seem like an obvious landing spot — Jalen Hurts remains, and Mariota and Carson Wentz are repped by the same agency — one prominent league source said to keep an eye on the Eagles if Mariota is traded or released.

I can say with near 100 percent certainty that the Eagles won't be trading for Mariota. At a minimum, his salary in 2021 will be $10,625,000, which the Eagles cannot afford. That's where the conversation ends. That salary can also rise substantially beyond that number if Mariota hits playing time and team performance benchmarks, though that portion of his cap number wouldn't count until 2022.

But what if the Raiders release Mariota, as is expected? Well, he is a good backup quarterback who could help a contender, and as such should have a decent market. A team like the Eagles that is highly unlikely to contend in 2021 should not be spending a big chunk of their already extremely limited funds on a backup quarterback.