Per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo the Eagles and Brandon Brooks have agreed to a modified contract for 2022
#Eagles G Brandon Brooks will speak to the media at 11a. He recently signed a new contract reducing his 2022 cap number from $19.4m to $7.1m. The only ‘22 cash is a $1.12m non-gtd base salary.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) January 26, 2022
Clearly a deal for cap purposes in anticipation of him not being an Eagle this year.
The contract and press conference would seem to indicate that the rumors of Brooks retiring are true. Brooks had a salary that was guaranteed for injury this year but he either gave away the guarantee or was healthy enough to where it would not have been a factor.
By reducing Brooks salary from $13.5 million to $1.12 million the Eagles will be able to carry Brooks on the roster for $12.38 million less than his original contract bringing his cap charge to about $7.1 million. If they were forced to release Brooks in March he would have cost $15.76 million on the salary cap. Now they will be able to carry Brooks on the roster at $7.1 million until June 1. On June 2nd they will make the retirement official with the NFL and Brooks’ cap charge will reduce to $5.939 million in 2022 and they can defer $9.797 in dead money to 2023.
This was by far the best case scenario for Philadelphia if Brooks was not going to play this year. Often when players restructure deals and people say its for the good of the team it is meaningless since the teams generally control the rights to restructure. In this case this truly was a deal that was done in the best interest of the Eagles. The Eagles are now estimated to have about $24 million in cap room in 2022.