So When Does Shawn Andrews Start Bitching?

Now that Lito Sheppard has established the guideline that two Pro Bowls qualifies a player to complain about his contract and then get moved out of town, when do we start hearing from Shawn Andrews?

Andrews is arguably the team's second-best player at his position -- and he's still only 25 years old.  (Did you know Andrews was born on Christmas Day?  Of course he was.)  And while he's only two years removed from signing a new contract and getting $10 million in bonus payments, check out his salaries over the next eight seasons the Eagles have him:

2008 - $780,000
2009 - $750,000
2010 - $2,000,000
2011 - $2,500,000
2012 - $2,750,000
2013 - $3,750,000
2014 - $5,250,000
2015 - $6,250,000

Lito has nothing to complain about in comparison.

At some point, this isn't going to fly.  Yes, I realize Andrews got more money faster than if he had waited.  There's clearly a LOT of value in having an early extension that sets you for life.  You can be sure Andrews was thinking about that last year when he had that ankle problem and was (only half-jokingly) wondering what it would mean for his career.

But you look at the salaries being paid out across the league to guys who can't carry Andrews' jock and you just have to wonder about the inflexibility of this stance:

"Here's the reality: You want the players to feel good about the team they work for, you want them to feel appreciated, you want the locker room to be positive," Banner said. "At the same time, you have situations where players are unhappy with justification. You have situations where players are unhappy just because that's the nature of - I think Brian said at the Super Bowl, 'Yeah, everybody wants more money.' You've got to sort through that and you've got to figure out where the appropriate situations where something warrants being done - and this is the key part - at what point in their contract, if you're actually going to do another extension, give him a third contract - I would suggest 1 or 2 years into a 5-year contract doesn't make any sense. You start to get into third or fourth year, and you have to look at situation by situation."

That's Joe Banner explaining why Brian Westbrook may deserve more money, but he doesn't deserve more money now.  So does that mean Shawn Andrews has to wait until 2014 (he'll be 32) to ask for a raise? 

At some point -- and sure, let's win a Super Bowl first -- you have to think it might be better to pay off a couple of these guys, just to establish that you're willing to do so.  Then when the next guy says he wants more money too, it's not: "We just don't do that, dude."

It's: "You're not Brian Westbrook.  Come back when you are."