Hassan Ridgway will not return to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Instead, the 27-year-old guard moves to the San Francisco 49ers. They are reportedly signed him to a one-year, $2.5 million contract with $1 million guaranteed.
Ridgway’s departure is hardly surprising. Earlier we wrote that the Eagles should think about getting away from him..
CONSIDERATION: Ridgway primarily served as the Eagles’ fourth defensive tackle. He offered some quick passes but had trouble defending his run; In Pro Football Focus, he was the third-highest scoring defenseman in the entire league.
FORECAST: Ridgway is a free agent ahead of his 28th season. To his credit, he has played in every game in 2021 after previously missing 34 combined games in the previous three seasons. But one healthy season shouldn’t completely erase questions about its longevity. And even if that’s the case, there’s a problem with him struggling to escape. So there is no real reason to rush to re-sign Ridgway. They should be able to return to his minimum veteran deal later in the offseason if they can’t add talent to the free agent position and/or draft.
So the last part didn’t turn out to be true; Ridgway was in greater demand than expected. But it normal.
The Eagles should be able to find more defensive depth in free agency and/or the 2022 NFL Draft. They currently have the following players under contract in this position: Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave, Milton Williams, Marlon Tuipulotu, Marvin Wilson and Renell Wren. Coke was, of course, the subject of trade rumors, so its status was up in the air.
Ridgway became the first 2022 Eagles free agent to leave Philadelphia. They have 10 more players who officially entered the market on Wednesday afternoon, as well as Nate Herbig, who can be signed on the restricted free agent offer list.
If you were hoping that Ridgway’s contract would count towards the Eagles’ compensatory pick formula, Jimmy Kempsky says it probably won’t.