June 27, 2026
While we were publishing our dumpster fire series all week, there were some Eagles tidbits that popped up, so let's round them up in a notes post here.
Simmons signed a three-year deal worth $105.8 million and a reported $100 million in guarantees. To be determined how much of that money is actually guaranteed when the "real" numbers come out.
He is now the highest-paid defensive tackle in NFL history, at an average annual value of a little over $35 million. The highest-paid DT was formerly the Chiefs' Chris Jones, who signed a five-year contract worth $158.75 million ($31.75 million AAV) two years ago.
Simmons had a monster season in 2025, despite playing for the abysmal Tennessee Titans. From old friend Turron Davenport:
Simmons posted a career-high 11 sacks last season, breaking Jurrell Casey's franchise record for most sacks (10.5) in a season by a defensive tackle. Along with his 11 sacks, Simmons led all NFL interior defensive linemen in solo tackles (39), tackles for loss (17), sacks (11), sack yards (79.0), quarterback pressures (60), pressure rate (14.5) and forced fumbles (tied 3). He was named first-team All Pro and was selected to the Pro Bowl for the fourth time in his seven-year career.
Simmons is the best interior defensive lineman in the NFL, and he is deserving of that deal.
The overwhelming sentiment from an Eagles perspective was that Jalen Carter should be happy that the iDL market got pushed up a bit. I view that a little differently. In my opinion, it could have been worse.
The top of the iDL market increased roughly 11 percent. However, the salary cap has increased roughly 18 percent since Jones signed his deal that set a new top of the market in 2024. Simmons is a significantly more productive player than Jones of late.
Simmons will turn 29 on Sunday. Carter turned 25 in April. However, while Carter has shown flashes that he can be among the league's best players, he had a disappointing 2025 season during which his production wasn't close to Simmons'.
The Simmons deal probably sets a ceiling on any new Carter deal.
Brendan Sorsby applied for entry into the supplemental draft, and he received a sharply worded denial in return:
Here’s the NFL’s letter to Brendan Sorsby, informing him it is declining his petition to enter the supplemental draft, which will not be held this year. pic.twitter.com/Tfoei8fCjp
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) June 23, 2026
Oof.
Sorsby was then also denied entry into the CFL. Double oof.
Sorsby's agent did a better job convincing water-carrying national media to promote him as a "first-round talent" than he did actually getting him into the NFL at all.
In reality, if Sorsby were a first-round talent, he would have entered the regular old NFL Draft in April. He has good size, really good athleticism, and a good arm. He also might have a two-cent head.
If the Eagles were sure that Sorsby was going to be suspended for the full 2026 season, it would make sense for them to bid on him, as Tanner McKee and Andy Dalton will be free agents after this season.
I thought that something like a fifth-round bid would have made sense. But that's no longer a debate.
Video, via Caps Off Podcast (h/t @kb_973):
I certainly agree that Huff was not used in a way that accentuated his very limited skill set. Of course, Vic Fangio wasn't going to change up his scheme for this one-dimensional player, nor should he have. It was merely a rare bad signing that offseason by Howie Roseman, and Fangio was right to identify Huff as a flawed player.
But Huff wasn't just a bad player for the Eagles. His effect sucked too, so much so that we wrote that he was "unplayable" after like two games.
But it's also funny that Huff compared how the Eagles ran their defensive line meetings with how they ran them when he played for the Jets, considering the Eagles' D-line battered Patrick Mahomes for four quarters in the Super Bowl that year, while the Jets have had the worst record in the NFL the last decade.
In the 2020 draft the Eagles selected Jalen Reagor over Justin Jefferson. That choice was immediately criticized harshly, and ended up being a disastrous pick. Reagor has 86 career receptions in six seasons, and Jefferson is a top-three type of receiver.
In the 2024 draft, the Eagles had something of an either-or choice at corner, between Quinyon Mitchell and Terrion Arnold. They chose Mitchell.
Arnold struggled his first two seasons in the NFL, and his career looks like it's already over:
Prosecutors say rising NFL star Terrion Arnold was the mastermind in a February plot to lure three men to an apartment where they were allegedly robbed, beaten and held at gunpoint. pic.twitter.com/UCfFqacbEZ
— Good Morning America (@GMA) June 26, 2026
Meanwhile, Mitchell earned a Super Bowl ring in 2024 and a First-Team All-Pro nod in 2025.
Tomorrow.
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