Keep an Eye on Justin McCareins

The New York Jets made news today by releasing a former Eagle and a possible future Eagle in the exact same day:

[Adrien] Clarke, a third-year pro who spent most of the 2007 season under a microscope at a position where the spotlight rarely shines -- left guard -- was waived by the Jets Tuesday. They also parted ways with wide receiver Justin McCareins and cornerback Andre Dyson.

Clarke is of course the former Eagle linemen whom the Jets signed to replace Pete Kendall.  (That didn't work out so well for them.)  As for the future Eagle ... it's not the cornerback, Dyson (although he used to be pretty good himself).  It's McCareins.

The Eagles had interest in McCareins as far back as 2004, when it was thought he might be the #81 who could get the team's offense into high gear (story from the Inquirer but no longer available online):

Less than a week removed from voiding the final three years of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers and becoming a free agent, wide receiver Terrell Owens is the victim of a procedural oversight that will force him to remain with his former team...

Though no team officials ruled out the possibility that the Eagles would pursue Owens as a free agent, it is believed they were more inclined to go after a lesser-known free agent such as Justin McCareins from Tennessee or Darnerien McCants from Washington...

And from a Tennessee source:

One option the Titans have between now and March 3 would be to try and sign McCareins to a long-term deal as a pre-emptive strike.  However, Tennessee has other matters to resolve first -- such as the cap mess and the Kearse situation [me: HA] -- before turning matters to McCareins.

Brady says he has not yet heard from Reese regarding a new contract. If McCareins isn't locked up, according to Brady, rumors are already spreading in the Philadelphia media that the Eagles, who need to upgrade Donovan McNabb's supporting cast, would have some interest in the former Northern Illinois star.

As everyone knows, the Eagles eventually did get Owens and McCareins went to New Jersey as a restricted free agent, where he had four decent to sub-par seasons with the Jets. If you look closely at his numbers, though, you see a guy who for three years (before things went south) put up the kind of numbers that the Eagles typically like to see out of their wide receivers. 

And while McCareins is a big-bodied guy -- he's listed as 6-2, 215 on NFL.com -- he's also fast.  He ran a 4.42 40-yard dash at the 2000 combine (when, heaven help us, Mike McMahon put up a 4.5 and Freddie Mitchell did a 4.43).  That's not Stallworth fast, but it's moving pretty well for a guy with his size.

Obviously, I'm not changing my tune here.  I still think the team should go get Stallworth and be done with it.  But if for whatever reason that's not going to happen -- and you can stop dreaming about Larry Fitzgerald -- then McCareins would be a nice complement to the Brown / Curtis tandem.  He's got better red zone size than either of those guys, and he's faster and more athletic than Hank Baskett. 

Keep an eye on him.