A Theory About Dawk

Wow, I just had a forehead-slappingly obvious thought about what's going on with the Dawkins situation.

Keep in mind, I don't think the Eagles really expected Dawkins to leave.  The beauty of this story, however, is that it works just as well in the alternate universe in which Dawk is re-signed, but only plays for one more year OR gets hurt OR isn't as effective and gets transitioned out next year.

The giant puzzle so far in this year's free agency is not the handling of the old guys.  Other than Dawk (and perhaps Tra) we pretty much expected the mass exodus we've seen so far.

No, what's been most surprising about the last two weeks is the huge amount of money given to Joselio Hanson.  Don't get me wrong, Hanson's a good player (these days).  And the Eagles have more than enough money to keep him around.

But a $21 million, non-phony money, deal is a lot of money for a nickel cornerback.  Sure, to keep thim they needed to pay him like a starter -- because someone else would have paid him starter money -- but the difference is for that other team he would have been a starter.

So what makes Hanson different from Rod Hood and Al Harris and Ike Reese and all those other valuable role players the Eagles have complacently allowed to slip off in free agency in pursuit of starting opportunities?  Is it just that Hanson's better than those guys?

Or is it because the Eagles actually see him as a starter here?

From my perspective, the most disappointing aspect of the Dawkins' exit would be all the rumors we've heard the last couple days about how the Eagles think Quintin Demps is on the right track, but may not be ready to start next year.  Why, then, do you let Dawk go?  Especially because you're not going to find someone better in free agency and while there are some quality safeties in this draft, the whole problem with Demps is just that this is a very complicated defense that takes awhile to learn.  Why would you expect some rookie to be able to step in and perform on that stuff better than Demps could in his second year in the system?

But let's assume for a minute the rumors are true and Demps isn't the guy next year.  The only other guy on the roster right now who could take that FS position would be everyone's favorite interview -- Sheldon Brown.

So you move Sheldon to safety and what happens at corner?  Well, either you sign a guy in the next couple days OR you name Hanson your starting right cornerback. 

But then doesn't that leave you perilously thin at nickelback?  Yeah, a little.  Especially if Jack Ikegwuonu doesn't look that good in training camp.  On the other hand, Demps really is kind of a hybrid cornerback/safety, played in a couple of situational packages this year, and could easily fill the nickel role.  And don't sleep on our man from Canada.  The Eagles have turned even less well-qualified guys into contributors before.

Why not just announce all this now?  First of all, I doubt it's actually set.  The Eagles are master contingency planners and I'm sure they've got a couple different scenarios they're considering.  There's also no need, since OTAs are a ways away and it might just help tip off everyone else at the draft.  Better to have all the other teams think that you're thinking safety, when really you're checking out corners.

Now, of course, this is certainly the rosy scenario here.  Remember that this is the team that, two years ago, thought it didn't need a punt returner and, last year, thought it could get by without a fullback.

I hope we're not adding free safety to that list.