In his first offseason with his regained personnel control, Philadelphia Eagles vice president of football operations Howie Roseman did a few things. He helped to hire Doug Pederson as the team's head coach. He faciliated a trade up to the No. 2 overall pick, which allowed the team to select quarterback Carson Wentz. And he re-signed many of the players that make up the team's nucleus.
In theory, especially when you consider that the team spent quite a few picks to move up for Wentz, the extensions made sense. Thus far, however, many of them haven't panned out the way that Roseman anticipated.
Fletcher Cox signed a six-year/$102.6 million extension this past offseason, with more than $63 million of that guaranteed. Instead of continuing to build off of his first Pro-Bowl season in 2015, Cox has regressed in 2016. A year after looking like one of the five best defensive lineman in the NFL, Cox, who seemed set to become even more dominant as the team moved back to a 4-3 defense, has just 22 total tackles through the first 10 games of the season. While the team's defense certainly has less chances to make plays now that Chip Kelly's offense isn't forcing them into playing more than 80 snaps a game, Cox hasn't been the disruptive force that he was the past two seasons.
His fellow defensive lineman Vinny Curry signed a five-year/$47.25 million deal this offseason, with $23 million guaranteed. Curry, who was just a rotation player in Billy Davis' 3-4 defense, hasn't seen his strong limited production from the past two seasons translate into him being a consistent defensive star in his first year as a starter. Curry has played over 40 percent of the defensive snaps this year, and has just nine solo tackles and one sack to show for it. Two years ago, Curry posted nine sacks in a reserve role, which suggested led some to believe he would easily be a 10 plus sack guy if he were to be given an expanded role.
Zach Ertz's five-year/42.5 million extension, which guaranteed him $21 million, made him the sixth highest paid tight-end in the league in terms of annual salary. Ertz, however, doesn't seem on pace to top his 75 catches for 853 yards that he had a year ago. While Nelson Agholor cost him a touchdown yesterday, Ertz has had over 60 receiving yards just one time this season and missed two games due to a rib injury. Doug Pederson has seemed to try to get him involved more recently, but the trick with Ertz seems to be getting him to be a consistently elite pass catching weapon, while also making sure he stays healthy. He's paid like one of the league's best tight-ends now, and thus far he hasn't been that this year, with 35 catches for 337 yards.
Lane Johnson looked like the Eagles best offensive lineman through the first four games of the season, but has since been completing a 10-game suspension for failing a performance-enhancing drug test for the second time. Johnson remains the Eagles most talented offensive lineman and the likely replacement to Jason Peters at left tackle when he retires, but he's now also just one more failed drug test away from a multiple season ban. Perhaps the silver lining for the Eagles is that the second suspension voided a good chunk of guaranteed money in the five-year deal he signed this past offseason, meaning they can keep him at his high annual clip (he's set to make a contract-low $7.75 million in 2017) while he's productive and release him if he declines or is suspended again without much noise.
Despite the underperformances of these four, there's good news. Cox is still 25. Ertz and Johnson are 26. And Curry is 28. All of them can, and probably will, produce better in the latter half of the season, with Johnson being the exception because he can't come back until Week 16. And in many senses, Roseman was smart to bet on future production, knowing that the team gave up a ton of future draft picks to move up for Wentz. While they brought back multiple picks in the Sam Bradford trade, wide receiver and cornerback have become such glaring holes on the team, along with offensive line depth, that those positions are likely to be where the team looks with high draft picks this year.
Perhaps Curry won't ever pan out as a long-term starter. Bad contracts happen. Cox, however, needs to return to being the elite lineman that he was the past two seasons. Johnson needs to stay on the field. And Ertz, who is on a team that noticeably lacks offensive weapons, needs to live up to his contract to help take pressure off of Wentz.
It should be noted that not all of Roseman's extensions haven't panned out so far, with Malcolm Jenkins continuing to be one of the team's best defensive players. Roseman also took care of three key special teams players this past week, a move that he should be applauded for. But simply because he appears to have landed a franchise quarterback and has some surrounding pieces does not mean that his seat isn't still hot to some degree. The Indianapolis Colts have an elite quarterback talent in his fifth season that they are wasting because they haven't put enough offensive talent around him. Roseman and company need to attempt to put a Seahawks-esque core around Wentz, because the goal is to be a consistent Super Bowl contender with Wentz, like the Seahawks have become with Russell Wilson.
