March 05, 2024
In case you're a Philadelphia Eagles fan who was living in a cave, long-time star center Jason Kelce retired on Monday. So what's next for the Eagles' offensive line, and their salary cap?
Retirements work in a similar way to releases. Normally, if a player is released, whatever guaranteed salary is left on his deal, and any prorated bonus money that has already been paid out to the player will remain on the team's salary cap.
If a player retires, he does not get paid his salary (duh) or any roster bonuses, but any prorated bonus money already paid to the player that has not yet counted toward the salary cap will, you know, count toward the salary cap. Kelce has a lot of prorated bonus money that has not yet counted toward the cap.
Kelce was originally scheduled to count for $10,178,000 on the 2024 salary cap. The Eagles would be left with $25,116,000 in dead money with an outright release and/or retirement. However, they could spread out his dead money hit over two seasons ($8,678,000 in 2024, and $16,438,000 in 2025) by keeping him on the roster until after June 1, which is what they will almost certainly do.
Because Kelce's scheduled cap number in 2024 was $10,178,000 and his dead money number in 2024 will be $8,678,000, the Eagles will actually save the difference of those two figures ($1,500,000) in 2024.
It's also worth noting that because the Eagles have to keep him on their roster until June 1, he will count for $10,178,00 on their salary cap until official retirement papers are filed with the league after June 1. At that point, they'll save the $1.5 million.
Got all that? Yes? No? Well the short-short version is that Kelce's retirement won't kill the Eagles' cap in 2024, but the $16.4 million hit in 2025 will leave a mark.
That one is easy. The Eagles drafted Cam Jurgens to replace Kelce, which is what he will do in 2024. Of course, Jurgens started at RG for the Eagles last season. The Eagles' starting 5 in 2023:
| LT | LG | C | RG | RT |
| Jordan Mailata | Landon Dickerson | Jason Kelce | Cam Jurgens | Lane Johnson |
Aaaand their starting 5 in 2024:
| LT | LG | C | RG | RT |
| Jordan Mailata | Landon Dickerson | Cam Jurgens | ??? | Lane Johnson |
Jurgens is athletically gifted, just as Kelce was, so the Eagles may still be able to execute some of the run looks they employed that teams with mortal centers would never have a prayer of running effectively. The bigger concern is how communication might change along the offensive line. Kelce made the line calls forever in this offense, so the shift to Jurgens will be something to watch. Jurgens is intelligent, but there could be some communication growing pains. Presumably the Eagles won't ask Jalen Hurts to put more on his plate and make line calls after a down season.
At the start of 2023 training camp, there was an open competition for the starting RG job between Jurgens and then-rookie Tyler Steen, which was quickly won by Jurgens. Steen never looked fully comfortable at guard during the summer, but he looked good when he got reps at LT, his position in college at Alabama.
During the 2023 season, Steen had extended action in just one game, against the Cowboys Week 9, at RG in relief of Jurgens, and he struggled. Otherwise, the team trusted career backup Sua Opeta over him whenever they needed a reserve guard.
Steen's transition from tackle to guard did not go well his rookie season, and the team will have to evaluate what his best position will ultimately be in the NFL. That said, he was the 65th overall pick, barely just outside the second round, so he will likely get the first shot at being the starting RG.
Another option could be Jack Driscoll, who seemed to be on a starting trajectory, as he played reasonably well as a rookie at RT in 2020 and as a RG in 2021, but his progression stalled in 2022 and 2023. Driscoll has some guard-tackle versatility, and 17 NFL starts under his belt. His career snap counts, not including when he has come in as a sixth offensive lineman:
| Year | LT | LG | C | RG | RT |
| 2020 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 287 |
| 2021 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 438 | 74 |
| 2022 | 148 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 204 |
| 2023 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 130 |
| TOTAL | 150 | 0 | 0 | 473 | 695 |
Driscoll will be a free agent this offseason, and there are always plenty of teams around the league that are desperate for offensive line help, so it will be interesting to see if someone out there signs Driscoll with the intent of giving him a chance to start. But Kelce's retirement probably increases the odds to some degree that the Eagles will look to bring him back.
When a starter leaves and a backup moves up into a bigger role, depth is depleted. #Analysis. Let's just say for the sake of argument that Steen will start at RG. Here's what the Eagles' depth would look like along their offensive line (free agents in red):
| Offense | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| LT | Jordan Mailata | Fred Johnson | Le'Raven Clark | |
| LG | Landon Dickerson | Sua Opeta (FA) | ||
| C | Cam Jurgens | Jason Poe | ||
| RG | Tyler Steen | Brett Toth | Lecitus Smith | |
| RT | Lane Johnson | Jack Driscoll (FA) | Roderick Johnson | Darian Kinnard |
Their depth is not exactly stacked.
I think there are three main buckets of the types of offensive linemen they'll be looking for this offseason, and it feels a lot more likely that they add through the draft than through free agency. The Brandon Brooks signing in 2016 aside, the team's M.O. has been to draft and develop linemen, not to pay for outsiders, even if Brooks was a homerun signing. The offensive line free agent market can get a little nuts. I mean, Andre Dillard (!) got a three-year deal worth $29 million last offseason.
• Lane Johnson understudy: In the locker room after the Eagles' playoff loss to the Bucs, Johnson said that he thinks he has "a few good years left," and while that may be true, he turns 34 in May and the Eagles have a consistent history of putting succession plans in place years in advance along the offensive line, like they did with Kelce/Jurgens, Kelce/Suemalo, Kelce/Dickerson, Peters/Dillard, etc.
If a Johnson understudy could also effectively cross-train at RG early on — and maybe even start there — that would solve a lot of problems along the offensive line. Kelce's retirement probably increases the already very high chances that the Eagles will draft an eventual Johnson replacement with a high pick, even if they won't be playing the same position as Kelce.
• Plug-and-play RG: That could be via free agency (again, I don't see that, but it wouldn't surprise me), or through the draft. It's worth noting that the Eagles are reportedly having Boston College's Christian Mahogany in for a top-30 visit. That guy is a guard only, so it shows that maybe they're at least open to taking a guard with a high pick?
• Versatile backup: If Driscoll leaves in free agency, it's probably lock that the Eagles will try to add an offensive lineman with guard/center or guard/tackle versatility (guard/center preferred), even if they also draft a Johnson understudy. That would probably be more of a Day 3 guy.
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