I am a little bit frightened that Jeffrey Lurie has given Howie Roseman free reign to spend his money as he sees fit. After paying Fletcher Cox $103 million, $63 million of which is guaranteed, the local and national media alike has taken notice.

Mark Eckel, NJ.com:

The deal the Miami Dolphins gave Ndamukong Suh – six years and $113 million with $59 million guaranteed – became the benchmark for defensive tackles.

Here’s the difference. Suh was a free agent. He was on the market and the Dolphins had to outbid Suh’s former team, the Detroit Lions and other potential suitors. Cox had a year left on his contract. The Eagles only outbid themselves.

That’s been Roseman’s mantra since he wrestled back control of the team. This offseason the team has spent $280 million on contracts, including a three-year, $21 million deal for a backup quarterback in Chase Daniel. That’s twice as much as any other team in the league.

Darin Gantt, Pro Football Talk which is now fully NBC branded and looks no different than CSN Philly which is incredibly confusing but hey synergy:

According to ESPN Stats and Information, the Eagles have now doled out over $280 million in guaranteed money this offseason, nearly double any other team including the drunken sailors of free agency, the Giants.

By doing so, they’ve doubled down on the core of a team that went 7-9 last year, after going 10-6 the previous two seasons under a coach they couldn’t wait to get away from.

So far this offseason, the Eagles have re-signed quarterback Sam Bradford, defensive end Vinny Curry, safety Malcolm Jenkins, tackle Lane Johnsonand tight end Zach Ertz. They also went out and signed free agent guard Brandon Brooks, safety Rodney McLeod, quarterback Chase Daniel, linebacker Nigel Bradham and cornerbacks Ron Brooks and Leodis McKelvin.

Oh, by the way, they unloaded the wagon of future draft picks on the Browns to draft quarterback Carson Wentz with the No. 2 overall pick this year.

ESPN.com:

With the latest $63 million outlay to defensive lineman Fletcher Cox, the Eagles have now handed out almost twice as much guaranteed money as any other team since Jan. 1.

Their guaranteed money in contracts now totals $280,254,834.

Eight players will receive at least $20 million – tackle Lane Johnson, quarterback Carson Wentz, defensive end Vinny Curry, quarterback Sam Bradford, tight end Zach Ertz, safety Malcolm Jenkins and guard Brandon Brooks.

On one hand, we were all thrilled that Roseman managed to get rid of certified slugs and lower case goats DeMarco Murray, Byron Maxwell and, to a lesser extent, Kiko Alonso. But where it relates to Murray and Maxwell, Roseman essentially replaced their salaries with, you know, all of the other money he’s paid out. The last time he was allowed to go off the leash, the 2011 offseason happened. Jason Babin happened. Nnamdi Asomugha, DRC, and Vince Young happened. What happened next was a bottoming out of the franchise and the eventual firing of Andy Reid, hiring of Chip Kelly, and demotion of Roseman, who nearly ruined the franchise the first time around. I don’t have confidence in him spending this money.

Cox is a great player, but as noted here, he’s not the best non-QB in the league. He got paid a hometown premium. Sam Bradford got paid crazy money because I don’t think Roseman had a plan and any foresight that he might trade up to draft a top quarterback. Chase Daniel got paid because Doug Pederson liked him. THE EAGLES SIGNED THREE QUARTERBACKS TO NON-TRIVIAL CONTRACTS(!!!). Think about that. Roseman ostensibly signed three starting quarterbacks this offseason. What? Who does that? Who has so little vision that they sign a quarterback every two months, on average, in an offseason. Well done!

It’s obvious that Lurie, for some reason, has confidence in Roseman’s ability to construct a winning football team. Maybe that’s justified. The most success Chip Kelly had here came in 2013 with players brought in by Roseman. But that was hardly a championship roster. It was a team that experienced success largely because of Kelly’s offense. Chip obviously didn’t do any better in building his own roster, but that doesn’t automatically make Roseman the guy. I like Wentz, love the Cox… but is anyone really sure the Eagles are building a winning team?