By and large, things are looking up for the Philadelphia Eagles. The projected starters are looking like they’re coming together nicely and on paper should be a formidable lineup to face this season. Some analysts are even talking Super Bowl for the Eagles, which I’ll certainly enjoy but probably won’t buy into too much. But the Eagles do have a pretty big problem looming over their heads right now — a problem their very fresh and very raw rookies can be the answer to.

That problem is free agency. Going deeper than that, the problem is that a lot of these starters are on one-year deals. Players the Eagles are relying on tremendously aren’t locked up long-term, like Sam Bradford, Walter Thurmond, Nolan Carroll, Cedric Thornton, Brandon Boykin, Mychal Kendricks, Vinny Curry and Matt Tobin. And then you have key reserves like David Molk, Andrew Gardner and Miles Austin only signed through this year.

It should go without saying that there’s absolutely no way the Eagles can retain all those players, especially when you look at what the price tags will be if those players have strong years. Bradford is going to want his money if he blows up in 2015, as will Thornton, Kendricks, Boykin, Curry and even Thurmond. Bradford alone could eat up the Eagles’ cap room, and that’s not even counting the money the Eagles will need for free agency and the draft. There just isn’t enough money to go around, which is a particular killer when it hits a lot of your starting lineup. Of course, trades are always an option, but it’s tough to count on that. Getting enough value back to make it worth it can be tricky.

This is where the young players can make a world of difference. Super Bowls are won when you have key players locked up on rookie deals that you can’t negotiate. You need to have those bargains to win — look at Russell Wilson as a prime example of that. No way would Seattle have the success they’ve had if Wilson was getting paid his real market value. That’s the wall they’re now running into now. Seattle either has to pay Wilson and re-stock the lineup with great young players on cheap deals, or let Wilson walk and try to catch lightning in a bottle again. The odds of being able to keep him and that same young talent together are extremely slim.

If the Eagles want to truly make a Super Bowl run soon, they’re going to have to walk a delicate line. They’ll need to hope their young guys become players quickly so they can lock up their key veterans with long-term deals. And then they’re going to have to kill it in the draft and replenish the talented youth pool. Or, of course, they could get really lucky and have those vets take team-friendly deals to stick around. But players know they have to strike while the iron’s hot when it comes to making their money in this league, so don’t count on that happening too frequently.

Let’s hope Chip Kelly knows what he’s doing when it comes to personnel evaluation. 2015 could be a big step towards greatness if he does.

Doug Green is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com covering the Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL.  Follow him on Twitter @DGreenNFL.