March 18, 2026
During the first week of NFL free agency, the Philadelphia Eagles added five outside players, and re-signed a few of their own. Here are five more bargain players who could make some sense.
Disclaimer: There is shockingly little available in free agency. It was already one of the worst free agent groups ever, and the players worth signing are pretty much all gone. So, yes, we're digging deep here.
Dortch bounced around a bunch of practice squads before finding a role in the regular offense and as a return specialist with the Cardinals.
Over the last four seasons, he has averaged 36 catches for 324 yards and 3 TDs per season. He also had a career high 11.6 yards per return in 2025, which was good for 10th in the NFL.
As a receiver, if you can get him the ball in space, he can make defenders miss after the catch.
The Eagles have shown interest in this type of player in recent years. They drafted Ainias Smith, and signed Avery Williams in free agency last offseason. Neither player worked out, obviously. But if they wanted to try again, a guy like Dortch has at least had some success in the NFL, and should be cheap.
(Also, though the Eagles agreed to terms with Marquise Brown on Tuesday, they still need more depth at wide receiver.)
Safeties got absolutely picked clean in free agency, so the Eagles are either going to have to trade for one or use a decent draft resource on one.
In the meantime, I imagine they can pretty easily re-sign Epps, who was released by the Patriots before the start of the 2025 season. The Eagles scooped him up and he played in 12 games, missing four with an undisclosed injury in the middle of the season, before starting four December games against the Chargers, Raiders, Commanders, and Bills upon his return to the 53-man roster. He also started in the Eagles' playoff loss to the 49ers.
On the season, Epps had 21 tackles, and no other stats (no PBUs, FFs, or INTs).
Epps is a solid backup at this stage of his career. He knows where he needs to be, but isn't going to provide much in the way of splash plays. In addition to the need for a starter, they also need depth.
Johnson appeared in all 18 of the Eagles' games in 2025, and started 9. He played a career-high 626 regular season snaps, plus another 72 in the playoffs. He played 521 snaps at RT in relief of Lane Johnson, and 67 snaps at LT in the Week 18 "resting starters" game against the Commanders.
Johnson was fine enough in relief of Lane Johnson, but was pretty obviously a major downgrade, which is going to be true of any backup trying to fill the shoes of one of the best offensive linemen in NFL history.
Last offseason, Johnson signed with the Jaguars in hopes of competing for a starting job. He did not win a starting job in their training camp, and the Jags traded him back to the Eagles for a late Day 3 pick. Johnson wants to start, and knows that will not happen in Philly as long as Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson stay healthy.
My assumption was that he would once again look around the league and try to sign with a team that he believes offers a better chance to earn a starting spot. But now that we're a week into free agency, maybe the Eagles can just bring him back now instead of needing to trade for him again in September.
We covered Daniels previously, and he is still available. Daniels has played eight NFL seasons after he was the 39th overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. He played four seasons in Chicago, three in Pittsburgh, and then last season in Miami. When he was a prospect coming out of college, the Eagles brought him in for a pre-draft visit. It should be noted that the Eagles have acquired at least four players — Darius Leonard, Rashaad Penny, Tremon Smith, and Jeremy Reaves — who visited the Eagles that year at various points after the 2018 draft, and showed interest in others, like S Justin Reid.
Daniels has appeared in 91 career games, with 85 starts. He has been a Week 1 starter every year he has been in the NFL, with the exception of his rookie season. He has also been a pretty good earner over his career. After he left Chicago to play for Pittsburgh, he scored a three-year deal worth $26.5 million. When he left Pittsburgh to play in Miami, he got another three-year deal worth $24 million.
However, after suffering a season-ending Achilles tear after four games in 2024 and another season-ending pectoral injury after 3 snaps in 2025, Daniels can now be found in the bargain bin. Also, the Dolphins released Daniels in mid-February, which means that he would not count against the compensatory pick formula for the next team that signs him.
Though an injury risk at this stage of his career, Daniels is a versatile interior lineman who has played at least 500 snaps at every interior position:
| LG snaps | C snaps | RG snaps |
| 1,626 | 508 | 3,437 |
He also has ideal athleticism, or at least he did when he competed at the 2018 NFL Combine:
There are mixed reviews of Tyler Steen's 2025 season. Personally, I thought he was a perfectly acceptable NFL starter, and he's young enough to assume he'll continue to grow. But if the Eagles wanted to give Steen some veteran competition, Daniels would be a worthy challenger. But also, Daniels would provide some insurance on the interior in case Cam Jurgens and Landon Dickerson continue to struggle with their various injuries, especially with Brett Toth leaving in free agency.
Bobenmoyer long-snapped for the Broncos from 2019 to 2022, and with the Raiders from 2023 to 2025.
The Eagles need a long snapper and Bobenmyer is a long snapper. #Analysis.
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