Iggles Blog - Philadelphia Eagles Blog

Bye Bye, Donte

Meet the Eagles new deep-threat wide receiver: "Bethel Johnson defines speed. A former second-round draft pick of New England in 2003, Johnson has played four years in the NFL primarily as a kickoff return man and he has yet to be caught from behind.  Hopefully, that means his best football is ahead of him."

There's no way this is just a special teams move.  I'm sure he'll help us there -- Lord knows we need it -- but this is more than that.  Put him next in the line of Pinkston/Stallworth/Johnson.

Oh well.

At the halfway mark for free agency

Boy, the NFL sure moves quickly these days, doesn't it?  It wasn't that long ago that the really exciting part of free agency wouldn't begin until later in the summer, after teams were forced to cut major players to get under a stingy salary cap.  Now we have teams spending money like they're afraid the league is going to run out of players any day now.

There's not much to say so far about the Eagles.  They re-signed Juqua Thomas, who showed flashes down the stretch as a very good pass rush specialist from the defensive end position.  That move finally puts into jeopardy Jerome McDougle's future with the Eagles.  There's no cap benefit to cutting him, but he's had his chance with the Eagles and it's probably time to give a younger player a chance.  My guess is the Eagles move him before (or during) the draft for a low-round pick or the opportunity to move up a few slots to take a player they want.  That's really the best way to get some value out of him right now.

Re-signing Quintin Mikell was a nice move, but it's only a major talking point because the rest of the off-season has been so quiet around Philly.  Along the same lines, I'd like to see the Eagles bring back Ike Reese at the veteran minimum, now that he's been released by Atlanta.  The Eagles' special teams were not very good last year and having a guy like Ike around can only help there.  (In 2005, the Eagles were ranked second in the NFC in punt coverage and fifth in kickoff coverage.  In 2006, they were 9th/13th.  That adds up.)

Honestly, I couldn't care less about the Jeff Garcia story.  I'm glad he was able to parlay a great performance for us into one last starting spot somewhere else, but last year proved that we weren't winning a Super Bowl with him at QB, so there are no tears with him leaving. 

I do, however, care greatly about Donte Stallworth.  I stand by what I wrote about him last year (although it turns out the real key to the season was Donovan McNabb's right knee -- who knew).  The guy is a significant factor in the offense and in my mind there is no reason -- none -- to watch him walk away if he can be re-signed for any reasonable amount of money.

Of course, the operating assumption going into free agency was that his salary demands were going to be anything but reasonable.  But now that he's been out there a few days, it seems pretty clear that no one's going to be giving him completely insane dollars to sign.  Which means the Eagles are back in the game.

Tuesday's hot rumor was that Stallworth had signed with the Patriots for six years at $32 million, with $12 million of that guaranteed.  It turned out not to be true, but it does seem as if those numbers may have been in the ballpark of what New England offered him.

Honestly, if that's all it's going to take -- or even a little more -- the Eagles need to get this deal done.  If Reggie Brown is worth $10 million guaranteed and $27 million over five years to this team, then Stallworth is clearly worth 6/12/32.  I'd even say 5/12/32 or 6/12/36.   

For some reason, I really feel like the Eagles are back in the Stallworth game.  It's nothing more than a gut feeling, and you could go broke quickly wagering on the Eagles to re-sign any of their players once they hit free agecy, but the price is right, Donte likes playing here and Reid understands how much Stallworth means to this offense.

So you know what they say, fellas... Git 'er dun.

The Offseason So Far

With the free agency period starting at midnight, today seems like a good day to get back out there with some thoughts on the Eagles' offseason.  In no particular order:

Joe Banner has not lost his touch.  Amazingly, I've heard people criticizing the Eagles because they are "only" $8-10 million under the salary cap for next season when so many other teams have three to four times as much money to play with.  Are you kidding?  Because the Eagles have always managed their cap so well, they had three ways they could have approached this offseason:

1) Hoard their cap space and make a big splash in free agency -- unfortunately, too much money is already chasing too few players.  Maybe they could have made a run at Adalius Thomas (my guess for this year's most likely free agent bust), but otherwise there isn't enough talent out there to justify some big expenditures. 

2) Hoard their cap space, make a run at a few big name free agents and -- if that didn't work out -- use the leftover to re-sign their own players.  Ah, but here's the rub.  I've been saying all year that the contracts the Eagles were handing out last season (not all of which the fans loved) were going to look downright cheap once the amount of leaguewide cap room exploded this year.  If the Eagles had waited even a few more months to pursue those extensions, they would absolutely have cost the team more to get done, as players realized just how much money was out there. 

Now I'm not saying these guys got taken advantage of or that their agents didn't know what was going on.  There's always a risk/reward trade-off here.  But consider that last offseason Shawn Andrews got a 7-year, $40 million extension that doesn't even kick in until 2009 (except for some bonus payments).  Then ask if you'd rather have him or Kris Dielman.

3) Which left the final option.  Blow most of your cap space on long-term extensions for your most talented, highest-character players at once-in-a-lifetime prices that will position the team for outstanding long-term cap health.  And yeah, try to win a Super Bowl in there somewhere too.   

The Eagles are not going to be standing pat this offseason.  So the Eagles aren't going to be huge spenders this summer, but I think people are forgetting the way Andy Reid operates.  Yes, he is a very conservative guy who plays things close to the vest.  On the other hands, he does not hesitate to move quickly and assertively when he sees a need for the team to address.

After last year's season, Reid has to understand that he needs to do something about his defense.  Because he didn't show Jim Johnson the door, we know he doesn't think coaching or scheme is the problem (nor, for the record, do I).  Which means, as always, it comes down to the players. 

I don't actually see the Eagles making any drastic moves before the draft, because doing so would tip their hand.  If they're thinking about drafting a defensive end, for example, better to hold onto McDougle a little longer so other teams don't realize where they're going.  The same thing holds at the linebacker position, wiith Jones and Trotter.  Come draft day, however, don't be surprised if the Eagles' moves come fast and furious.

Doesn't it seem quiet this summer?  The last two years we've been dealing with the TO fallout, the questions about McNabb's leadership abilities and murmurs over Reid's ability to hang onto his team.  With that kind of baseline, the relatively mild surprise that came from slamming the door on Jeff Garcia seems almost quaint.  Maybe the knives will come out again once Reid comes back from taking care of his family business.

Speaking of Garcia, you're telling me there are 32 better starting quarterbacks in the league right now?  I don't really mind seeing him go, since we've got McNabb and AJ, but really?  There's no way he would be at least potentially better than Rex Grossman, Chris Simms, David Carr, Tavaris Jackson, Charlie Frye, Aaron Brooks, that other guy in Oakland, JP Losman and even Steve McNair?  I know some of those teams are going to draft guys, but that's just off the top of my head.

Absolutely, Garcia's got some limitations, but he's a lot better choice than a lot of the other crap out there.  The Redskins should sign him just so they could have a shot at us next year in his revenge games.