Building The Roster
It has already begun and it takes off like a rocket ship now. Let’s break this into four parts as the bulk of the 2026 Eagles roster will be in place within a matter of two months …
1. February 17 is the date when teams can begin to use the Franchise and Transition tag on pending unrestricted free agents, and this is something the Eagles have thought through as they plan out their free agency strategy. Will the team tag a player before the deadline of March 3? Remains to be seen, but the point is that the roster building – which really started in January as the Eagles signed players to future contracts – is on top of us right now.
2. The NFL Scouting Combine begins on February 23 and ends on March 2. Absorb that, because it is truly around the corner. The Eagles, of course, won Super Bowl LIX on February 9 of last year, celebrated at the Super Bowl Parade in Philadelphia on February 14, and moved shop to Indianapolis for the NFL Combine on February 27. As important as it is for the Combine invitees to perform athletically at Lucas Oil Stadium, the interview process with the NFL teams is also so very important.
3. NFL free agency opens officially on March 11 at 4 PM as the 2026 League Year begins and teams can sign unrestricted and restricted free agents. But the fun stuff begins at noon on March 9 when teams are permitted to contact, and enter into contract negotiations, with the certified agents of players who will become unrestricted free agents upon the expiration of their 2025 player contracts at 4 PM on March 11. There is so much to consider here with one important note: The league informed all 32 teams it is projecting a salary cap in the range of $301.2 million to $305.7 million for the 2026 season, a range that signifies an increase of more than $20 million in cap space from 2025 and potentially as much as $25 million per team. So, there is some breathing room for all teams and we will see how the Eagles handle their players projected to be free agents relative to the salary cap room they have.
4. And then … April brings us the grandest weekend of the offseason, the 2026 NFL Draft. It begins on Thursday, April 23 and runs through Saturday, April 25. The Eagles, at this very moment, have five draft picks – including No. 23 in the first round – but are projected to have additional selections via the NFL’s compensatory draft pick program. If all goes according to projections – nothing official here – the Eagles would get an additional third-round selection, an extra No. 4, and an extra No. 5, meaning the team would have two picks in each of the third, fourth, and fifth rounds. That is substantial draft capital for a team that has been excellent building a young and very talented roster mostly through the NFL Draft. Oh, and Executive Vice President of Football Operations/General Manager Howie Roseman has been known to consider trades to build a championship team, so that is in play starting on March 11 at 4 PM.