The Philadelphia Eagles have been working away this offseason, trying to solidify the core of impact players on their roster. Both Malcolm Jenkins and his counterpart in the defensive backfield, Walter Thurmond, had excellent seasons in 2015. It appears the Eagles will keep Jenkins around for the long haul after they have finally reached a contract extension, according to NFL.com.
Jenkins recorded 16 starts out of 16 games, with 109 combined tackles, 10 pass defenses, two interceptions, a defensive touchdown and three forced fumbles. He was the best defender on the Eagles roster in 2015 as he recorded the most takeaways of anyone on the team. He's only been with the Eagles for the past two seasons, but he has managed to lead them in tackling over that same time frame. The Eagles will now have $25 million in cap space after reaching a deal with Jenkins and locking him down until 2020.
The long-term extension definitely helped Philadelphia cope with Jenkins $7.2 million dollar cap hit which should free up so much needed cap space. The Eagles must now try to retain several other key defenders whose involvement could either make or break this defense.
They also must remember that they will have to deal with Sam Bradford at some point, according to ESPN, which makes the entire free agency process a little bit more difficult. Philadelphia cannot retain all of its talent that's about to hit the open market, but this move allows it to at the very least have some more flexibility in just how much it can offer its own players.
The Eagles were thought to be dumping most of the players from the Chip Kelly regime, according to ESPN. However, it appears they have their own evaluation process going on.
