Eagles
Rasul Douglas Takes Pay Cut
Penn State Great Valley MBA, Penn State Berks Undergrad, Eagle Scout and Vigil Honor, IT Service Manager. I joined Sports Talk Philly in 2017 and root for all the Philly teams (as well as their minor league counter parts).
All posts by Paul BowmanPublished11 May 2020
By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor 
The NFL offseason continues to move along as scheduled.
Last week, NJ.com’s Mike Kaye reported that Rasul Douglas had agreed to a restructured deal.
On Monday, Dave Zangaro of NBC Sports confirmed the news, but with details of the new contract.
Douglas is now scheduled to make just $825,000 in 2019.
He was set to make a bit over $2 million in 2020 on the final year of his rookie contract, but was also being shopped by the Eagles since March.
While he has shown great flashes in limited reps, Rasul has lacked consistency and found himself burned rather routinely when forced into a starting role or significant reps.
On the flip side, he is always ready and one of the healthiest defensive backs in Philadelphia. If he could build on his success in limited reps, it would be huge.
While a lower cap hit could give him an edge on a roster spot, it is still not a guarantee as Cre’Von LeBlanc, Sidney Jones, Avonte Maddox and Trevor Williams figure to compete for the final starter spot and the backup positions.
It would seem easy to praise Douglas for taking the pay cut, but it really does seem like an easy decision from his perspective, too.
The Eagles could have released him with a cap hit of under $200,000 and, if he has been shopped for three months and no one was willing to send the Eagles decent value for him, it’s hard to believe a team would pay him over $2 million anyway, especially with a shortened camp. His best chance of making money this season was making his contract seem like a better value.
While the move may help him crack the Eagles roster, it will also make his contract more appealing to other teams and should an injury or two occur on the other team, the Eagles could have an easier time moving Douglas.
Rasul was drafted in the third round of the 2017 draft. In 18 starts over three seasons, he has registered 118 tackles, five interceptions and 25 defensed passes.
Perhaps this will be the year for Douglas. It will be his first contract season, so he will surely be a player to watch.
