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The free agency signing period gets underway next week, but the Philadelphia Eagles aren't expected to be major players. For starters, they don't have a lot of salary cap room. They have less than $11 million in cap space, which ranks 29th among the league's 32 teams.
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More importantly, though, they have decided to play a long game and build through the draft around their young quarterback, Carson Wentz.
"We're trying to build this thing around a young quarterback and get some continuity," executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman said. "That's our priority.
"We want to make good decisions and we want to minimize our risks and go forward and have something to build upon."
The Eagles, who finished 7-9 last season under first-year coach Doug Pederson, are several bricks shy of a load. They need cornerback help -- they released one of their starters, Leodis McKelvin, and the other, Nolan Carroll, is a free agent.
They need help at wide receiver. Eagles wideouts caught a total of eight touchdown passes last season, and just one -- Jordan Matthews -- had more than 36 receptions.
They need a difference-making edge rusher. Injured Ryan Mathews isn't expected to be back and Darren Sproles will turn 34 in June. They have no depth at linebacker.
"It goes back to primarily having a young quarterback and being in this mode of trying to build a team around him," Roseman said. "We may have to take it on the chin for a year or two here from a resource perspective. But if we get this right, we can build around him for a really long time."
--Though he never appeared on the team's injury report, Carson Wentz played the latter part of the 2016 season with a sore elbow. He didn't miss a start and attempted 607 passes, second-most in league history for a rookie. Asked what he told Wentz after the season ended, coach Doug Pederson said: "Take time off. Get away. Get healthy. Get fresh. Get rejuvenated. And that's what he's done." Wentz didn't pick up a football for a month. After the Super Bowl, he went out to California to work on his mechanics with throwing guru Adam Dedeaux.
--Pederson made one significant change to his coaching staff. He fired wide receivers coach Greg Lewis and replaced him with Mike Groh. Groh has only been an NFL assistant for four years. He spent last year as the Los Angeles Rams' receivers coach and the two before that with the Chicago Bears. Pederson didn't have a prior relationship with Groh. "I sat down and had a great conversation with (Groh) and we really hit it off," he said. "Some of his expertise, some of the players he coached, his past experience and a lot of solid recommendations from around the league made him a great candidate for us."
--The Eagles need more, much more, production from defensive end Vinny Curry this season. The team gave him a five-year, $46.5 million deal, $18 million of it guaranteed, last March right before he was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent. That's a lot of money for a guy who put up just 16 1/2 sacks in his previous four NFL seasons. Last year, Curry had just 2 1/2 sacks. But Howie Roseman insists the team remains bullish on Curry, who has a $9 million cap number this season. "When we re-signed Vinny last year, we felt very confident he was a good fit for Jim Schwartz's scheme," he said. "Looking at the cut-ups and the tape from the season, he's a guy who got a lot of pressure. As we go forward, he's someone we're counting on for a large role. We know he can get pressure. We need more out of him. But we feel confident we'll get that."
