The Philadelphia Eagles continued what has been a 24-hour spending spree on Wednesday, agreeing to terms with breakout star Zack Baun on a new three-year, $51 million deal that places him among the highest-paid off-ball linebackers in the NFL.
Baun more than earned his pay day. He was arguably the most impactful singular defensive player in football during the 2024 season, and the first-team All-Pro somehow took his game to another level during Philly’s four playoff wins.
Days before the start of the new league year, GM Howie Roseman and Co. have already re-upped running back Saquon Barkley and Baun to top-market contracts. Here’s the latest on what these moves mean for Philly’s projected salary cap space, and the future of stud pending free agents like EDGE Josh Sweat, DT Milton Williams and RG Mekhi Becton.
Zack Baun’s contract details
Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Baun’s deal includes $34M in guarantees and an additional $1.5 million in possible escalators and incentives. Baun’s $17 million average annual value puts him just behind Chicago’s Tremaine Edwards ($18M) and Baltimore’s Roquan Smith ($20M) as the NFL’s highest-paid inside linebackers for the 2025 season, per Spotrac.
Baun signed a one-year, $3.5 million deal with the Eagles last offseason, presumably at the time to add depth to Philly’s EDGE rusher group and help on special teams. The Eagles moved him to off-ball linebacker next to Nakobe Dean in training camp and watched him prosper, and Roseman went against his previous philosophy in committing big future cash to that position.
Baun is now the lone Eagles veteran on defense to be signed through the 2027 season. The only other Philly defenders currently on the books for the next three years were 2024 rookies.
Eagles updated salary cap situation
The Eagles entered Wednesday with about $30 million in projected salary cap space. They had cleared about $10 million on top of their original number of $19.4 million, per Over the Cap, after releasing cornerbacks Darius Slay and James Bradberry, and extending Saquon Barkley.
The Barkley deal cut his 2025 cap hit in half, from $13.5 million to $6.8 million. Really, that’s a testament to Jeffrey Lurie and an Eagles ownership group that’s willing to commit real cash up front for star players who grossly outperform their contracts.
While pending Eagles free agents like Sweat and Williams are largely expected to move on for mega deals in free agency, Baun’s deal should not prohibit Philly from bringing back guys like Becton, linebacker Oren Burks and cornerback Isaiah Rodgers.
The wins just keep coming for Roseman and the Eagles.
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