Josh Sweat has agreed to a four-year contract with the Cards that reunites him with Jonathan Gannon, his defensive coordinator with the Eagles in 2021 and 2022.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the deal is worth $76.4 milion over four years for an average of $19.1 million per year.
Sweat, the Eagles’ 4th-round pick in 2018, had 43.0 sacks in seven years with the Eagles, 8th-most in franchise history. He made the Pro Bowl in 2021 and had a career-high 11.0 sacks during the 2022 Super Bowl season.
He had 8.0 sacks this past season but had just one in an eight-game span leading up to the Super Bowl, where he had 2 ½ sacks, three quarterback hits and two tackles for loss.
That Super Bowl performance undoubtedly added tremendously to his value, and any chance the Eagles had of retaining him evaporated after Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.
The same is true of Milton Williams, who the Eagles lost to the Patriots earlier Monday as the free agent legal tampering period began. They also lost backup cornerback Isaiah Rodgers to the Vikings. Along with starting corner Darius Slay, who they released last week, that’s four key pieces of the NFL’s Mo. 1 defense that are no longer with the team.
Sweat’s $19.1 million annual average ranks 14th among NFL edge rushers. He earned just under $40 million in seven years with the Eagles.
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The irony is that any NFL team could have had Sweat for next to nothing last year. The Eagles shopped him around with no takers, then restructured his contract, lowering his 2024 salary from $16 million to $10 million.
Sweat’s career has been marked by long quiet periods interspersed with stretches of dominance. In 2022, he had 3 ½ sacks the first 10 games of the season, then 7 ½ the last six games. In 2023, he had 6 ½ sacks through Week 9, then didn’t record a sack the last eight games of the season. And this past season, he had seven sacks through Week 11 and just one the next eight games before his monster Super Bowl.
His 2 ½ sacks against the Chiefs are tied for 7th-most in Super Bowl history and the most by an Eagle in any postseason game.
With Sweat gone and Brandon Graham facing possible retirement, the Eagles are entering a transition at the edge spot.
Nolan Smith, 24, had a breakout second season with 6 ½ sacks the last 13 regular-season games and then a club-record 4.0 sacks in the postseason, including one each vs. the Packers, Rams and Commanders.
Conventional wisdom says the Eagles will add an edge early in the draft – perhaps with the 32nd pick – but as of now Smith is the only proven outside rusher on the roster.
After signing a three-year, $51 million contract a year ago, Bryce Huff had just 2 ½ sacks, missed five games with a broken wrist and didn’t play in the entire postseason. Jalyx Hunt, as a rookie 3rd-round pick, showed promise, with 1 ½ sacks in the regular season and then 1 ½ more in the playoffs, including half a sack in the Super Bowl.
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