Eagles Restructure Contract of Blake Countess, Add Year to Deal

Five days after acquiring Blake Countess, the Eagles moved to keep him around.

According to league sources, the Eagles have restructured the contract of the 25-year-old safety and extended it a year.

Financial details of the new deal weren't immediately available, but the significant part is that the Eagles now control his rights through 2020 instead of 2019.

Countess's 2019 base salary, originally $2.025 million, was lowered, although details of that reduction weren't immediately available. The restructure likely includes playing-time and performance-based incentives so Countess has a chance to make up the salary he's losing.

Countess didn't play a ton on defense for the Rams, but the Eagles have a huge need for young safety talent behind starters Malcolm Jenkins, who is 31, and Rodney McLeod, who turns 29 next month and is only signed through the end of this season.

The Rams, unable to get Countess to agree to a pay cut, released him on Thursday, and the Eagles were awarded his contract on waivers.

That contract was due to pay Countess $2.025 million in base salary in 2019 with a matching $2.025 million cap figure.

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So the Eagles will get a small amount of cap relief and have the option to keep Countess around beyond 2019 if he winds up making the team and playing well.

The Eagles selected Countess out of Auburn in the sixth round of the 2016 draft but released him after training camp.

They tried to add him to their practice squad, but he signed with the Rams' practice squad instead and was promoted to their active roster that November. He played in 41 of the Rams' last 42 games, with four starts.

Countess has two career interceptions. In his three seasons with the Rams, he played 141, 164 and 58 snaps on defense - last year was the least he played on defense as a pro. He played 61, 325 and 356 snaps on special teams for 742 total special teams.

In the Rams' postseason run to the Super Bowl, Countess played seven snaps on defense in the three playoff games and 72 on special teams.

NBC Sports Philadelphia's Dave Zangaro contributed to this story. 

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