At the end of last week the Eagles made their latest move in free agency by signing safety Sean Jones. Curiously, they only signed him to a one year deal. The last “major” free agent I can remember the Eagles signing to a one year deal was Shawn Barber in 2002. What are the parallels with Shawn Barber? Barber was signed to play linebacker as a stop gap until a younger player was ready. The Eagles had drafted Quinton Caver in the second round of 2001, the year before they signed Barber. Having drafted Caver in the second round, the Eagles expected Caver to be a starting linebacker. Barber was brought in for the one year so they could evaluate Caver’s progress. After Barber’s one year deal was up, he left. Does any of this sound familiar? Most people believe (me included) that Sean Jones is being brought in for one year to hold the free safety position for Quintin Demps, who was a rookie this past year. This will give Demps one more year to mature and learn Jim Johnson’s complex defensive scheme.
If it works, it sounds like a good plan. But what happened with this plan in 2002 when Shawn Barber played one year for Quinton Caver? It turned out that Caver was not good enough to be a starter in the NFL and the Eagles ended up without either Caver or Barber for the 2003 season. As a result, they had to sign Nate Wayne as a free agent to play the WILL linebacker position in 2003. The long term effect was that they have never had one player play the WILL linebacker for two full seasons. In other words, there has been no continuity there. Let’s hope that the Eagles are correct that Demps is the long term solution here. The free safety is much more important in Jim Johnson’s defensive scheme than the WILL linebacker is. We can’t afford to have an ongoing project at the free safety position like we did for the WILL linebacker.
News came out today that Tra Thomas has signed a 3 year deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars. While Tra Thomas has shown signs of aging over the last few years, I am disappointed that the Eagles did not make more of an attempt to bring him back. The biggest reason I am concerned has more to with the fact that the Eagles do not seem to have a real answer at left tackle, unless they have a plan and they aren’t telling us. The simple fact of the matter is that the most crucial part of the offensive line is left tackle. In fact, after the quarterback, it is probably the second most important position on the team. Why? The left tackle protects the blind side of the quarterback (note: for a left handed quarterback, this reasoning applies to right tackles). There are discussions that the Eagles could move one of the starting guards (Todd Herrimans or Shawn Andrews) to left tackle, but that makes me nervous for such an important position. At this time, there are really no free agents left that could fill the roll. The Eagles do have two first round draft picks, so that may be where we find the answer. For now, I’m just scratching my head.
One more aside on Tra Thomas: as I look back at his 12 years with the Eagles, I am happy to admit that I was wrong when they drafted him. I can still remember the that April Saturday in 1998 when I screamed “NOOOOO!” at the radio when I learned the Eagles had drafted another offensive lineman instead of taking a chance on a controversial but very talented wide receiver named Randy Moss. The Eagles drafted Tra Thomas with the 11th pick in the draft while Moss fell to 21st where he was taken by the Minnesota Vikings. While both players have gone on to have good careers and have both made multiple Pro-Bowls, Tra Thomas was certainly the more consistent of the two and was one of the bedrocks on which these great Eagles teams were built. The old adage is that you win and lose football games in the trenches and Tra Thomas was one of the main reasons we were doing more winning than losing these last 10 years. For that, he will be missed.
If it works, it sounds like a good plan. But what happened with this plan in 2002 when Shawn Barber played one year for Quinton Caver? It turned out that Caver was not good enough to be a starter in the NFL and the Eagles ended up without either Caver or Barber for the 2003 season. As a result, they had to sign Nate Wayne as a free agent to play the WILL linebacker position in 2003. The long term effect was that they have never had one player play the WILL linebacker for two full seasons. In other words, there has been no continuity there. Let’s hope that the Eagles are correct that Demps is the long term solution here. The free safety is much more important in Jim Johnson’s defensive scheme than the WILL linebacker is. We can’t afford to have an ongoing project at the free safety position like we did for the WILL linebacker.
News came out today that Tra Thomas has signed a 3 year deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars. While Tra Thomas has shown signs of aging over the last few years, I am disappointed that the Eagles did not make more of an attempt to bring him back. The biggest reason I am concerned has more to with the fact that the Eagles do not seem to have a real answer at left tackle, unless they have a plan and they aren’t telling us. The simple fact of the matter is that the most crucial part of the offensive line is left tackle. In fact, after the quarterback, it is probably the second most important position on the team. Why? The left tackle protects the blind side of the quarterback (note: for a left handed quarterback, this reasoning applies to right tackles). There are discussions that the Eagles could move one of the starting guards (Todd Herrimans or Shawn Andrews) to left tackle, but that makes me nervous for such an important position. At this time, there are really no free agents left that could fill the roll. The Eagles do have two first round draft picks, so that may be where we find the answer. For now, I’m just scratching my head.
One more aside on Tra Thomas: as I look back at his 12 years with the Eagles, I am happy to admit that I was wrong when they drafted him. I can still remember the that April Saturday in 1998 when I screamed “NOOOOO!” at the radio when I learned the Eagles had drafted another offensive lineman instead of taking a chance on a controversial but very talented wide receiver named Randy Moss. The Eagles drafted Tra Thomas with the 11th pick in the draft while Moss fell to 21st where he was taken by the Minnesota Vikings. While both players have gone on to have good careers and have both made multiple Pro-Bowls, Tra Thomas was certainly the more consistent of the two and was one of the bedrocks on which these great Eagles teams were built. The old adage is that you win and lose football games in the trenches and Tra Thomas was one of the main reasons we were doing more winning than losing these last 10 years. For that, he will be missed.
So long, Tra. Hey, when are you gonna post another political blog? Seems like Obama is conquering another huge issue every day. I keep waiting for the news to say "Today President Obama did a lot of paper work and then watched reruns of "The Office" all evening" but instead the news is like "on Monday, the president solved the housing foreclosure problem, on Tuesday, he changed how the federal government views science and on Wednesday he proposed a new way to do education in America..." I need someone to tell me what to think about all these changes and if you don't blog, where else will I turn?! Maybe you could do a comparison of Roosevelt's first 100 days with Obama's first 100 days (when they are up)
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