It's getting harder and harder to take the "Super Bowl hangover" cliche seriously in recent years. The last eight Super Bowls have included five franchises with multiple appearances, compared to just two with single appearances. And this can largely be attributed to the gap in quality of the best-run and worst-run franchises in the NFL.
You won't find many fans around the league (outside of maybe Dallas) who argue that the Eagles aren't in that "best-run" group, but even the front office's strong reputation may be under-selling just how much better Philly is at roster construction than anyone else. We see some clear examples of this in the list of the highest-paid Eagles.
List of Highest-Paid Eagles Players Features No Misses
Player | Average Salary | 2025 Cap Hit |
|---|---|---|
Jalen Hurts | $51.0 million | $21.9 million |
A.J. Brown | $32.0 million | $17.5 million |
Lane Johnson | $25.0 million | $18.4 million |
DeVonta Smith | $25.0 million | $7.5 million |
Jordan Mailata | $22.0 million | $15.2 million |
Landon DIckerson | $21.0 million | $6.6 million |
Saquon Barkley | $20.6 million | $6.7 million |
Zack Baun | $17.0 million | $4.4 million |
Cam Jurgens | $17.0 million | $3.5 million |
The idea that the best players get the most money seems pretty straightforward, in theory. But it's a lot more difficult in practice. Teams are regularly forced to overpay to keep strong players at a position of need, or to win a free-agent bidding war. Or an attempt to pre-emptively extend a promising young player goes awry when it turns out they had already peaked. But you see almost none of that at the top of the Eagles' payroll.
Jalen Hurts is almost a free square on top. Most teams' highest-paid player is their QB, whether it's a good one or not. It's almost a requisite for a successful team to have that right. But then you keep going down the list and really see what sets the Eagles apart.
How about that the only players on that list who didn't make the Pro Bowl last year were Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Jordan Mailata. I'm not going to sit here and argue about snubs, but those also aren't exactly the players on the list you might be concerned about paying big money to. Certainly none of them are guys you'd consider a bust even with their big salaries.
Mailata was even PFF's top-graded tackle last season, while Brown ranked 4th among 133 graded WRs. Leaving Hurts (12th among 42 QBs) and Smith (19th at WR) as the big disappointments on this list. Again, those are "disappointments" that you can feel pretty good about.
Now consider that this entire group is under contract through at least 2027 (with seven of the nine through at least 2028). This is an absolute masterclass in locking up your core by ownership and GM Howie Roseman.
The Eagles' Worst Contract Can Still Haunt Them
To find a real miss, you have to go down to the No. 10 highest-paid Eagle in Dallas Goedert. He carries a $10.7 million cap hit this year, and the structure of his deal (four void years, including a huge one in 2026) makes it incredibly hard to trade him. And even if he does play out this final year, the void years mean he's still going to make a big dent in the Eagles' cap space next offseason.
Considering injuries have limited Goedert to 14 or fewer games in each of the last three seasons and he's coming off his worst receiving season (496 yards and 2 TDs on 42 catches) since his 2018 rookie season, that's a pretty rough spot to be in. And that's the risk the Eagles have taken time and time again.
One of the franchises at the forefront of deferring money with void years (a fairly technical process that you can read more about here), the Eagles have played with fire for years. This process is great if you get your players right, and it can create huge roadblocks if you don't. And that's the key.
Roseman and the Eagles have almost never missed when they've made these risky deals. Having to go all the way down to No. 10 on their salary list to find a contract that isn't an obvious win inarguably positions the Eagles' front office among the NFL's elite.