Connor Barwin didn't try to talk around it on Tuesday. He wants to be back in Philadelphia next season, even if that means working out a new deal with the Eagles.
On TCN's Breakfast on Broad, Barwin was asked flatly if he'd be willing to take a pay cut to return to the Eagles next season.
"Yes, I would take a pay cut," he said. "I mean, my plan is to stay here. You know, people talk about my contract and I think, I like to think, I'm a reasonable person and I feel like I'll work with the Eagles and we'll restructure and make some kind of deal that works for everybody."
Before the end of the 2016 season, Barwin talked pretty openly about his frustrating year and his future with the team, but stopped short of admitting he'd take a pay cut. With one game left to play, he said he wanted to focus on the Cowboys (see story).
It's not hard to figure out why questions about Barwin's future keep coming up. Since his 14½-sack year in 2014, he had seven sacks in 2015 and just five in 2016 as the Eagles switched to a 4-3 defensive scheme.
Then, there's the contract. Barwin, 30, is set to have a salary cap hit of $8.35 million in 2017 and cutting him would save the Eagles $7.75 million in cap room. Plus, there's the fact that Vinny Curry, to whom the team just handed a big extension last year, played just 43 percent of defensive snaps in 2016.
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"Well, I'd like to be back here," Barwin said. "Obviously, I like playing in Philadelphia. But it's up to the coaches and management to decide."
Aside from just enjoying playing for the Eagles, Barwin has made Philadelphia his home and has been incredibly philanthropic since his arrival in 2013.
Barwin said he expects that the Eagles will review their situation and put a plan together in the next couple of months. He expects to know their plan by March, when free agency is set to begin.
Had Barwin had a big year, this talk wouldn't be going on. But the production just wasn't there. That frustrates him too.
"It was frustrating for me to not have the production I've had in the past," he said. "And then it was frustrating for me to not be in the playoffs again this year. In my career as a starter, I've been in the playoffs every year except for the last two years, so that was even more frustrating."
