Former Eagles pass rusher clearly regrets leaving Philly, maybe it’s time to bring him back

Eagles fans have seen this movie before.

A player leaves Philadelphia after reaching the mountaintop, chases the bigger check somewhere else, then wakes up a few months later in football Siberia wondering why the vibes feel dead.

Welcome to Arizona, Josh Sweat.

According to Cardinals insider Kyle Odegard, Sweat has not been at OTAs. That alone is whatever. Veterans skip voluntary workouts all the time. But the reasoning is where things get interesting.

“Don’t know the exact reason for the absence, but I’ve been hearing for awhile that Josh Sweat is not particularly happy in AZ.”

Oh no. Anyway.

Sweat left the Eagles after winning a Super Bowl and signed a four-year, $76.4 million deal with the Cardinals. Good for him. Nobody should ever get mad at a player for taking life-changing money. If Arizona wants to throw that kind of cash around, take it and buy something stupid.

But there is also a cost to taking the biggest bag from a bad franchise.

You go from playing meaningful football in Philadelphia to playing in a place where the season is usually over by Halloween. You go from a championship locker room to a team trying to figure out what it even is. You go from Howie Roseman building a contender every year to Arizona doing Arizona things.

That is quite the lifestyle change.

Eagles Let Josh Sweat Walk For A Reason

Josh Sweat was a good Eagle. No need to rewrite history.

He was productive. He made big plays. He helped win a Super Bowl. He deserves respect for what he did here.

But Howie Roseman was never giving him $76.4 million. Nor should he have. Sweat had a career-high 12 sacks in Arizona, so this is not about pretending he stinks. He does not. He can still rush the passer.

The issue is value.

The Eagles do not usually pay premium money for sentiment. They pay for projection, age, fit, contract structure, and long-term roster control. Sweat was coming off the perfect free agent sales pitch. He had a ring, production, name value, and a market willing to overpay.

Arizona did the overpaying.

The Eagles moved on.

That is how good teams stay good.

And now Sweat might be sitting there realizing the grass is not greener. It is just hotter, emptier, and surrounded by a franchise that has no idea what it is doing.

Getting Paid Is Great Until You Miss Winning

This is the part fans always forget during free agency.

Money matters. Of course it does. These guys should take care of themselves and their families. But once the direct deposit clears, you still have to go to work every day.

You still have to sit in that locker room. You still have to play those meaningless December games. You still have to look around and realize you left the Eagles for the Cardinals.

That has to sting a little.

Especially for a guy who just experienced the highest level of football in Philly. The parade. The pressure. The fanbase. The standard. The real stakes every single week.

Then you end up in Arizona, where the biggest headline in May is whether your expensive pass rusher already wants out.

Tough scene.

Could Sweat come back to the Eagles? Probably not. That contract is ugly, and Howie is not in the business of bailing out other teams unless there is real value on the other end.

But would it be funny if Sweat forced Arizona into a trade market one year after leaving Philly? Absolutely.

Would it be even funnier if Howie somehow got him back for pennies after refusing to overpay him the first time? Also yes.

That probably will not happen. But the fact that we are even talking about it this quickly tells you everything.

Josh Sweat got his money.

The Eagles kept their flexibility.

And somehow, Philly might have walked away happier than the guy who got $76 million.