Jan. 21, 2026, 1:23 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
The Philadelphia Eagles’ roster-building strategy, dubbed the ‘Eagles Way,’ is gaining attention around the NFL.General Manager Howie Roseman has successfully built a top team while managing the salary cap.After losing key players last offseason, the Eagles will focus on retaining defensive talent this year.Philadelphia has over 20 upcoming free agents, including key defensive players.The Eagles are projected to have just over $10 million in salary cap space for 2026.<\/p>\n
The ‘Patriots Way’ is out, and with Philadelphia advancing to its second Super Bowl in three years, teams around the NFL sound prepared to start coping with the\u00a0‘Eagles<\/a>\u00a0Way’ of doing business.<\/p>\n Howie Roseman has built a juggernaut, paying his star players while geniusly circumventing the salary cap\u00a0and keeping cap hits below the league average. Last February, after Philadelphia won the Super Bowl, Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> quarterback Joe Burrow made comments<\/a> about the “Eagles paying their players.”<\/p>\n “The Eagles are paying everybody,” Burrow said. “That seems like the way. Whatever they’re doing.”<\/p>\n The\u00a0Eagles<\/a>\u00a0are really good at roster building, and when you have success, you risk losing talent and having to retool. Last offseason, Philadelphia lost Josh Sweat, Darius Slay, Milton Williams, Isaiah Rodgers, and several other key free agents from the Super Bowl championship team. This off-season, the focus will be on retaining and signing key players from a Championship defense to long-term deals.<\/p>\n During\u00a0his end-of-season press conference,<\/a>\u00a0Howie Roseman offered insight into the process, what takes place, and how the pendulum will swing toward the defense. Dallas Goedert, Nakobe Dean, Reed Blankenship, Jaelan Phillips, Adoree’ Jackson, Marcus Epps, Fred Johnson, Brandon Graham, and Jahan Dotson are\u00a0among 20 free agents who’ll hit the open market.<\/a>\u00a0Dean and Phillips are the only two who had hold priority, and both would depart depending on the market.<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n Still, Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, Jordan Davis, Moro Ojomo, and others are just a few of the defenders GM Howie Roseman wants to keep around long term.<\/p>\n A current look via Over The Cap<\/a> shows the\u00a0Eagles have $10,475,126 available to roll over to 2026 and $44 million in dead cap space, while the Titans, Chargers, and Raiders all have over $80 million in total cap space for March.<\/p>\n Projected NFL team salary caps for 2026Tennessee Titans: $93.51 millionLas Vegas Raiders: $82.44 millionLos Angeles Chargers: $80.2 millionSeattle Seahawks: $71.89 millionNew York Jets: $66.21 millionWashington Commanders: $63.53 millionCincinnati Bengals: $47.05 millionLos Angeles Rams: $46.51 millionPittsburgh Steelers: $37.77 millionNew England Patriots: $31 millionArizona Cardinals: $30.41 millionSan Francisco 49ers<\/a>: $29.87 millionDenver Broncos<\/a>: $27.26 millionIndianapolis Colts: $26.91 millionAtlanta Falcons: $18.18 millionTampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a>: $16.55 millionBaltimore Ravens<\/a>: $13.8 millionCarolina Panthers: $11.14 millionPhiladelphia Eagles: $10.47 millionNew York Giants: $1.8 millionChicago Bears<\/a>: -$4.3 millionGreen Bay Packers<\/a>: -$10.49 millionBuffalo Bills<\/a>: -$11.6 millionHouston Texans<\/a>: -$14.18 millionDetroit Lions: -$16.69 millionNew Orleans Saints: -$20.31 millionJacksonville Jaguars<\/a>: -$21.99 millionCleveland Browns: -$24.09 millionMiami Dolphins<\/a>: -$30.15 millionDallas Cowboys: -$39.52 millionMinnesota Vikings<\/a>: -$49.18 millionKansas City Chiefs: -$62.76 million<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 21, 2026, 1:23 p.m. ET The Philadelphia Eagles’ roster-building strategy, dubbed the ‘Eagles Way,’ is gaining attention…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2068],"tags":[95878,25,7,6,2123,242,109,2476,97111,97112,101342,95882,95898,96033,96089,95913,100896,95886,101343,95976,95953,97645,95936,96691,95951,96168,95988,100730,95895,99166,95899,96538,96090,95883,96012,96239,95881],"class_list":["post-694473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia-eagles","tag-accessfree","tag-eagles","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-pa","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-philadelphiaeagles","tag-sstssportsnfleagles","tag-sstsneagles","tag-tagadoree-jackson","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagbaltimore-ravens","tag-tagbuffalo-bills","tag-tagchicago-bears","tag-tagcincinnati-bengals","tag-tagdallas-goedert","tag-tagdenver-broncos","tag-tagfred-johnson","tag-taggreen-bay-packers","tag-taghouston-texans","tag-taghowie-roseman","tag-tagjacksonville-jaguars","tag-tagjaelan-phillips","tag-tagmiami-dolphins","tag-tagmilton-williams","tag-tagminnesota-vikings","tag-tagmoro-ojomo","tag-tagnfl-hub","tag-tagnolan-smith","tag-tagoverall-neutral","tag-tagphiladelphia","tag-tagsan-francisco-49ers","tag-tagsports-news","tag-tagstory-highlights-ai-enabled","tag-tagtampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-typestory"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}