Eagles news: Ex-Birds lineman lands in Miami; thoughts on Kenny Pickett trade; projected depth chart

The Eagles announced Monday they've signed linebacker Devin White to a one-year deal, making an agreement reported last week official.

Terms of the contract weren't disclosed, but ESPN reported the contract is worth up to $7.5 million.

White had spent the past five years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who drafted the former LSU standout with the No. 5 pick in the 2019 draft. Late last season, White dealt with a foot injury that kept him sidelined for three games.

We're about a month away from the 2024 NFL draft, and the Eagles are currently projected to have eight picks.

The Eagles gave up a third round pick (No. 98) in the upcoming draft to the Pittsburgh Steelers in a trade for quarterback Kenny Pickett. But they also acquired the Steelers fourth-round pick (No. 120), essentially moving back 22 draft spots.

The Birds also agreed to give up the highest two of the four seventh-round draft picks they're projected to have in the 2025 draft.

The Eagles have agreed to terms on a one-year contract with former San Francisco 49ers linebacker Oren Burks on Saturday, according to a league source confirming a report from The Athletic.

Burks, 28, has spent the last two seasons mostly as a key special-teams contributor and backup linebacker with the Niners, but started five games last year while playing 34% of the team’s defensive snaps. He had 46 tackles, one interception, and one pass breakup with his expanded role in the defense and came off the bench in Super Bowl LVIII when Niners’ linebacker Dre Greenlaw ruptured his Achilles.

Before signing with San Fran in 2021, Burks spent the first four years of his career with the Green Bay Packers. A former third-round pick out of Vanderbilt, Burks has appeared in 91 games through six seasons with just 15 starts. He had a major role on the Packers’ special-teams units, playing more than 60% of Green Bay’s special teams snaps in each of his four seasons.

We're in the second week of free agency, and while the well has significantly dried up, there are still a number of top NFL players available.

Former Broncos safety Justin Simmons, who has experiencing playing in new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio's system, has yet to sign with another team.

Here are a handful of the best free agents still on the market as of Monday morning, according to ESPN's rankings, along with the team they played for last season:

For an NFL team, the process of settling on a backup quarterback never solely comes down to the quality and profile of the backup quarterback … or the quality and profile of the starting quarterback. It would be convenient if it did. Match the young, promising prospect with the grizzled, savvy veteran. Match a mobile No. 1 QB with a mobile No. 2 QB. Match a pocket passer with a pocket passer. Match the established starter with a capable clipboard-holder whose presence won’t foster controversy.

Of course, in a salary-cap league, nothing is ever that convenient. Nothing is ever that easy. Unless a team stumbles into drafting or acquiring an all-time all-timer — a Mahomes, a Brady, a Peyton Manning — the most effective cheat code for building a Super Bowl-caliber team comes down to this: Get elite performance from an inexpensive quarterback — usually, this quarterback is still on his rookie contract — while using the remaining ample cap space to surround him with plenty of talent. This was the formula that the Eagles followed in winning Super Bowl LII and reaching LVII, and it extended to their backups as well. Nick Foles counted just $1.6 million against the cap in 2017-18, and Gardner Minshew’s cap number in 2022-23 was $2.54 million, according to the database Overthecap.com.

The Eagles aren’t in that situation, not anymore. Under the terms of the contract extension Jalen Hurts signed last year, his cap number jumps to $13.6 million this season. And even with the 2024 per-team cap figure increasing to $255.4 million, giving each club an additional $30 million to spend, Hurts will still account for 5.2% of the Eagles’ spending power, more than twice as much as he did in 2023.

The Eagles entered the NFL’s free agency period several holes to fill and more than 20 players set to hit the market.

Here are the players the Eagles have added or plan to add:

Here are the players the Eagles plan to keep:

After a week of NFL free agency, 12 former Eagles players have yet to be signed by other teams.

Among those yet to sign are Julio Jones, the seven-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro the Eagles added to the team in October. Jones, 35, had just 11 catches in 10 games last season, but did manage to haul in three touchdowns.

Here's the full list of Eagles players yet to sign anywhere: