Reinforcements Are Coming

The general sense among Eagles fans seems to be that the team isn't going to be that aggressive this offseason.  They will patch a hole here or there, but overall the roster in September is going to look pretty much the way it does right now.

I think that's way off. 

In fact, I think we're about to enter the most volatile and exciting (in terms of transactions, not soap opera drama) offseason since the Kearse / Owens exacta of 2004.  Here are some reasons why:

1.  Contrary to popular opinion, the Eagles' salary cap situation is fantastic.  I know it doesn't look that great at first glance, but there are three factors people are (mostly) forgetting:

• The available cap room will grow when year-end cuts are made (most people are on this one).
• The Eagles have a higher proportion of their players under contract already.  (With only 39 guys under contract for next season -- and a new contract in line for Marques Colston -- New Orleans is going to burn through that $30 million in a hurry.)
• The 2008 cap numbers are just a snapshot of what is in actuality a moving picture.

I bolded out that last one because it's really the most important.  Capology in the NFL used to be about cramming as much salary as you could into your available space each year to build/keep a squad together for a run at the Super Bowl.  Although the Redsksins still run things that way, it's not how the rest of the league does business any more. 

If someone out there could put together a salary cap table that moved beyond 2008 and included information on 2009, 2010 and 2011, what you would find is that almost every team had massive amounts of available salary cap space.  But the difference is that the Eagles would have all that space available AND a core of solid young players locked up whose cap-killing bonus payments are behind them.  (Which means the salary cap parts of this and this are wrong, incidentally.) 

The net result of maximizing every inch of cap room for the past few seasons is that the Eagles have way more than enough money to spend on big-time free agents -- if they so choose.  All they have to do is structure the contract so that the cap hits come a little bit later, and boom, they can pay as much or more than anyone else in the league without hamstringing themselves in the future.

2.  The offense is set, so the defense can be the focus.  Look, we all agree the Eagles need some more offensive weapons.  But all that means is we're talking about one great player or two pretty good ones.  There will be more than enough money left over to fix the defense -- and it should be clear to everyone by now that the defense needs fixing.

It's not a bad unit.  They learned how to stop the run this year and they played with a lot of heart in a lot of tough situations.  But the pass defense really wasn't good at all:

Not all of those numbers are terrible (note that the sack statistic is more in line with past performance than people probably realize), but the big problem is simply that the Eagles gave up way too many yards through the air per play.  In fact, only two teams gave up more than the twelve 40+ yard passing plays the Eagles did this year. 

Those numbers are a clear sign that the Eagles could use help in the secondary and on the defensive line.

3.  The window is right now.  You probably think I'm talking about McNabb, but if The Franchise gets hit by a car tomorrow and Kevin Kolb is an amazingly fast learner and struggles far less than most young quarterbacks do (Tony Romo in the playoffs, anyone?), and the Eagles magically grow up around him so that he doesn't have to shoulder too much of the offense, then POSSIBLY he could be ready to win a Super Bowl in the last year of the "dominant" phase of Brian Westbrook's career.

Translation: "Win now, baby."

Comments

[Tom G, ballssticksstuff.com]

I'm not worried that the Eagles will have enough money to spend, what I'm more worried about is whether nor not there will be players available in free agency on which to spend that money. More and more, because of the rising cap, teams are holding on to good players, so they don't hit free agency as much as they used to.

[bigmyc04]

I don't have much to say about this post, but you may want to eventually comment on Sheldon Brown's appearance on Sports Final recently...it seems to be a doozy. This appears to have been a direct shot a the QB from the veteran corner. Strangely, I agree with both sides of this issue. The Eagles DO need playmakers and they do need an offense to be much more consistent (meaning the QB.)

[rdsims]

the eagles need playmakers on both sides of the ball. chad, larry, jared, and most important of all, a very good back-up for b-west. the "d" gave up too much yardage, and the receivers got no separation from press-coverage, i.e. woodson & harris. lito hasn't been healthy since 2004, and sheldon can't cover #17 for the giants. it all comes down to whether jeff, joe, and andy are will to be aggressive, or let the rest of the nfc east pass them by.

[Andrew]

King's cap numbers appear to be off by at least a couple of million, and they don't include the LTBE credit in Reno Mahe's contract from last year that will expand the cap by $4M in 2008.

[ShouldaTookRickyWilliams]

Hey guys. I for one feel we need to get a true #1 WR so we can make one or two last runs at the SB with the guys we have now. So I was hoping for a trade for Chad Johnson or someone like that (Fitzgerald is a pipe dream). Didn't want to wait on a college wideout to develop. But I've been checking out the highlight reels on all the top rated college receivers (Malcolm Kelly, Desean Jackson, Limas Sweed, Early Doucet). None of them jumped out at me for various reasons except for...wait for it...Malcolm Kelly. You guys need to check out his highlight reel on youtube. He has the sickest hands! He's 6' 4", 210 lbs, with good speed. He catches EVERYTHING that is thrown his way, with too many one-handed catches to count. I think he can jump in and make an impact right away. I'd love for you guys (and the esteemed writer of this blog as well) to check out his clips and state your thoughts.