The Eagles drafted nine players in the 2024 NFL Draft and then signed a handful more once Round 7 finished.
General manager Howie Roseman said this is the smallest UDFA class in his time with the Eagles and they expected that. It’s why the Eagles went to work after the season, signing players from other teams’ practices squads.
But the Eagles have found some UDFA gems in the past. Just last year, they added Eli Ricks, Ben VanSumeren and Mekhi Garner and all three played roles during their rookie seasons. And if you look back in recent years, the Eagles have also gotten guys like Reed Blankenship, T.J. Edwards, Nate Herbig and Sua Opeta after the draft.
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While UDFAs get standard three-year contracts, the guaranteed money and signing bonuses often tell a story about how much the Eagles wanted to land these players.
This year, the Eagles’ initial UDFA class included seven players but one of them was international exemption OT Laekin Vakalahi and then after rookie camp the Eagles signed CB Shon Stephens. So for this story, we’ll take a look at the contract details for the six priority UDFA signings.
The Eagles haven’t been shy about spending money on their UDFAs in recent seasons and this year gave out over $181,000 in signing bonuses and guaranteed over $1.3 million for their six-man UDFA class, according to OverTheCap.com.
Here’s a look at guaranteed money from past years:
NFL
2023: $918,000 (9 players)
2022: $1,747,000 (12 players)
2021: $480,000 (7 players)
2020: $764,000 (13 players)
All of these UDFA contracts are three-year deals that come with base salaries of $795K, $960K and $1.075M over the next three seasons. If any of these UDFAs play out their full three-year contracts, they would become restricted free agents after the 2026 season.
Roseman agreed that it was surprising the Eagles didn’t draft an offensive lineman earlier than Round 5 and they didn’t end up taking an offensive tackle at all. So it isn’t surprising to see that the top two UDFAs in terms of guaranteed money are offensive tackles. They also didn’t address the TE position in the draft so seeing a tight end up there isn’t shocking either.
Here’s a look at the details from this class, via OverTheCap:
Anim Dankwah, OT, Howard
Total guarantee: $275,000
Signing bonus: $50,000
Gottlieb Ayedze, OT, Maryland
Total guarantee: $250,000
Signing bonus: $30,000
Kendall Milton, RB, Georgia
Total guarantee: $250,000
Signing bonus: $25,000
McCallen Castles, TE, Tennessee
Total guarantee: $230,000
Signing bonus: $30,000
Gabe Hall, DT, Baylor
Total guarantee: $176,103
Signing bonus: $26,103
Andre’ Sam, S, LSU
Total guarantee: $170,000
Signing bonus: $20,000
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