Eagles Cut Mike Patterson’s Salary

The Eagles recently renegotiated the contract of defensive tackle Mike Patterson, Adam Caplan reported today.

Per Reuben Frank of CSNPhilly.com, Patterson will now earn a base salary of $1.05M in 2012. That number was originally $2.1M.

Patterson may miss the entire season after having undergone offseason brain surgery. He suffered a seizure at training camp in 2011 and was diagnosed with arteriovenous malformation, a tangle of blood vessels in the brain. But Patterson played the entire season (and played well) before having brain surgery. Andy Reid said last month that Patterson could be out the entire season.

“I think that’s going to be an extended time here,” Reid said. “We’ve just got to see how that goes, if he’s able to go at all this year. We just have to see how that works out. We’ll take checkups in increments here, but right now, it’s going to be awhile.”

Even though he couldn’t participate in practice at training camp, Patterson still chose to be around the team and help some of the younger players.

“He doesn’t have to come to these rookie meetings at night, in the afternoon,” defensive line coach Jim Washburn said back in July. “He doesn’t have to be there. I said ‘Mike, you don’t have to be there.’ He said ‘Well I like to be there.’ He likes football. He’s a good one, god dangit. We miss him now.”

Originally a first-round pick in 2005, Patterson started 99 games in seven seasons with the Eagles.