NFL awards Eagles two sixth-round compensatory picks; salary cap set at $182.5 million

The NFL handed out 37 compensatory draft picks Wednesday, and the Eagles snagged a couple, both in the sixth round. They will arrive back-to-back, 224th and 225th overall.

The Eagles are scheduled to make 10 selections in the seven-round draft, which starts on April 29.

Compensatory picks are awarded after a review of the impact of free-agent losses the previous offseason. Cornerback Ronald Darby, linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill, running back Jordan Howard (who eventually was cut by Miami and returned), and tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai left the team last spring.

The league also finally set a firm number for the 2021 salary cap, $182.5 million. That is down from $198.2 million in 2020, an unprecedented dip, caused by revenue loss resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. The Eagles and many other teams have been restructuring contracts to be cap-compliant by the March 17 start of the league year. The Eagles seem to be about $25 million over the cap at the moment.

More restructurings are expected, but players could be traded or released as well, as was the case Tuesday with safety Blake Countess and defensive tackle Treyvon Hester. Tight end Zach Ertz is expected to depart via trade or release by March 17, which would free up nearly $5 million in cap room.

» READ MORE: After what he gave the Eagles, Zach Ertz deserves more than to be a sweetener in a Carson Wentz trade | Mike Sielski

Generally, teams don’t like to make a habit of spreading cap charges into future years by restructuring deals, because often, the cap charge outlives the player’s value. But this is a sort of perfect cap storm -- the pandemic caused the cap to go down for the first time, though teams had negotiated deals over the previous years that factored in an expected rise. And the NFL should reach lucrative new broadcast rights pacts in the coming months that could make the cap skyrocket over the next several years, making so-called dead money less of a concern.

Free agency also begins March 17, but the Eagles aren’t expected to be active in the early days of the talent bazaar. Their cap situation will make them bargain-hunters, which might be a good position this year -- with the reduced cap, more than a few free agents might not find the deals they envisioned, and might be enticed into one-year prove-it contracts that would allow them access to a better market next year.

The Eagles have a dozen players who will become unrestricted free agents on March 17. None of them project as keys to the team’s future. The most prominent -- after 39-year-old left tackle Jason Peters, whom no one expects to return -- are corner/safety Jalen Mills and linebacker Nate Gerry.