Eagles agree to pay Patterson $150K

A day after placing Mike Patterson on the Non-Football Illness List which triggered a clause in his contract that took back approximately $150,000, the Eagles decided to pay the rest of the defensive tackle's salary anyway.

"We were looking at the contract and at the end of the day it is about the players," Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said in a statement. "So we made it happen. I called Mike Patterson [on
Thursday] and told him that we all care about him and can't wait for him to get back."

Patterson contracted viral pneumonia last week and was briefly hospitalized. He missed Sunday's game in Tampa, but was home and resting as of earlier this week. The Eagles decided on Wednesday, however, to end Patterson's season when they needed to clear a roster spot for fullback Emil Igwenagu.

Patterson's agent, Peter Schaffer, told The Inquirer on Wednesday that he planned to file a grievance through the NFL against the Eagles. He claimed that his client could have only contracted the illness while working and called Roseman's decision "wrong and petty."

A day later, Schaffer's colleague, J.R. Rickert, said that "our long-standing relationship with the Eagles allowed for a successful resolution to our differences."

Patterson, 29, played in only five games this season and finished with nine tackles and one sack. He missed the first half of the season as he recovered from January surgery to remove an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) from his brain.

They first placed Patterson on the NFI List in late August and reduced his pay 50 percent, which resulted in a loss of about $1 million from his base salary. He was paid in full for the five games in which he played, and will now see his full salary for the final three games after the Eagles renegotiated his contract.