They Realize They Have To Spend The Money, Right?

The whole reason I'm ok with the Dawkins thing (and see Gabe's post below for a preview of how the dueling PR offensives are going to play out today, Gonzo can probably skip the coffee this morning) is that I generally believe the Eagles are doing everything they can to put the best possible team on the field.

Now of course, you can't add the words "for next year" to the end of that sentence.  That's not how the Eagles roll.  They don't load up for one big shot, with the understanding that this might slightly impair their ability to compete in coming years.  

Maybe you're cool with that, maybe you're not, but at this point it's pretty clear that's how this organization works.  And you only have to look to Cleveland (unloading players to re-stock the draft picks they traded away in a desperate attempt to keep everyone's jobs last year) to see that the short-sighted focus isn't a sure thing. 

So if it was time for Dawk to move on because the team doesn't think he's the best guy for the job any more, ok, I can accept that.  As long as you're doing everything you can to build this team, I can't fault that.

Which brings me to fullback.

Again, I'm a humongous fan of Dan Klecko.  I don't even like saying anything bad about him.  But let's at least say we can all agree he wasn't a top-ten fullback last season.  And we'll leave it at that.

Meanwhile, fullbacks are running around like crazy in free agency:

At fullback, Tony Richardson (New York Jets) and Corey McIntyre (Buffalo) re-signed with their clubs, and Detroit's Moran Norris signed with San Francisco. But Heath Evans, Lorenzo Neal, Terrelle Smith and Leonard Weaver remain on the market.

The Rams are known to have at least some interest in Evans and Weaver but don't want to spend a ton of money at the position. Neal has had a great career, but at age 38 may not have much left.

So you're saying none of those guys can help this team?  Weaver made the Pro Bowl, for pete's sake.  He also fits perfectly with what the Eagles ask their fullbacks to do.  Yes, Neal is a pipe dream, but Evans is also a quality player.

Do the Eagles really think Klecko is going to be better than all of these guys next year?

Are Weaver's contract demands just ridiculous?  Does the fact that he hasn't signed anywhere suggest that maybe there's some flexibility there?

Are we really about to go into yet another season with a [non top ten] player at a position we could easily upgrade in a basically unconstrained financial situation? 

This is driving me nuts. 

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Passing along a link on this topic.  I think he'd do better comparing the ALYs before and after these guys got to their respective teams, as well as taking a quick look at some of the other rushing stats, but I'm still linking to it for style.