Eagles Free Agents – What to Do?

In my last post, I spoke about the Phillies’ off-season and how I thought it was a success. I also took the position that the Eagles could learn a few lessons from how the Phillies handled all their free agents. The Eagles have a total of nine free agents (3 are restricted and 6 are unrestricted). Here are my thoughts on those players and what I would like the Eagles to do.

First, it should be noted that the NFL salary cap is projected to be around $124 Million. This means that the Eagles will have about $40 Million to spend, which is the 5th most among NFL trams. In other words, they will have a lot of flexibility.

First the restricted free agents. With restricted free agents, Eagles have the right to put a franchise tag on one player and a transition tag on one player. The bottom line with these tags is that if the Eagles put the tag on any player, they would have the opportunity to match any offer that player received from another team. The restricted free agents are:

Hank Baskett (WR): Hank Basket is probably the most interesting restricted free agent the Eagles have because it may provide some insight on how they intend to approach other possible moves, such as TJ Houshmandzadeh of the Bengals or Anquan Boldin of the Cardinals. If they make a big commitment to Baskett, it probably means any fan hoping for a big pick up at wide receiver will be disappointed. This includes a franchise or transition tag, which would have to occur by February 19. However, I highly doubt this will happen as that would be very expensive offer for some one who is essentially a 3rd or 4th receiver on the team. Bottom line, I would like to see the Eagles play a wait and see game with Baskett. There’s no need to sign him right away and they could always see who is available at the start of free agency. Even if they don’t get someone right away, he could still be available later. The other possibility is that they sign him to some contract that they would be able to get out of. Needless to say, I am very interested to see how the Eagles will handle Baskett’s situation prior to free agency starting.

Nick Cole (G): Before the season, I would have thought Nick Cole would have been easily expendable. However, he clearly played a very large role when Shawn Andrews and Max Jean-Gilles both went down with injuries. He played very well on an offensive line that gelled at the end of the season and was a big part of their success. For the right price, I think they should bring him back as a capable back up. However, after his success this year he may be looking for more than a back up role. As an offensive lineman, it may be too expensive to put a franchise or transition tag on him. According to NFL.com, it would cost $8.45 Million to put a franchise tag on him and $7.74 Million to put a transition tag on him. That’s too much for someone who would be a back up. If for some reason the Eagles do, it will be their way of saying that they don’t think Andrews or Jean-Gilles will be back for next year.

Tank Daniels (LB): If you’ve never heard of him, join the club. I’ll admit, my first reaction was even: who? So I did a little research. Tank did play in every game this year for the Eagles, but he was exclusively a special teams player. Bottom line, don’t expect the Eagles to resign him unless it’s for the league minimum.

As for the unrestricted free agents:

Brian Dawkins (S): Brian Dawkins is clearly the name that will attract the most attention among Eagles fans. When it comes to B-Dawk, the question is simple: how much is it worth to keep a future Hall-of-Famer on your team? In my opinion, Brian Dawkins is just that, a Hall-of-Famer. If there is anyone I can be accused of having a man crush on, it is Brian Dawkins, so if there was ever a time my “rational” fandom may get thrown out, it is for Brain Dawkins. Early in the 2008 season, it looked as though Dawkins had lost a step and some intensity, but by mid season, Jim Johnson was using him appropriately and he was back to that fiery leader and intense player that just creates havoc for offenses and punishes whoever he hits. When I wrote last week that the Eagles should learn from the Phillies’ off-season, Brian Dawkins was one of the main people I was thinking of at the time. In my opinion, the Eagles need to do whatever it takes to keep Dawkins and make sure he retires having only ever worn the midnight green.

Correll Buckhalter (RB): Let me start by saying that Correll Buckhalter has been a very good back up running back and a great compliment back to spell Brian Westbrook. That being said, he will never be a starting running back here and I would think he will look to see if he can land somewhere he can play a bigger role. Buckhalter has also had injury problems, although he has not lost any significant time due to injury since 2005. All that being said, I think the Eagles should look for someone else younger to fill this role. Ideally, it will be one of their top priorities entering the NFL draft in April.

Joselio Hanson (CB): Joselio Hanson is the one player that I would love to see the Eagles keep but I know that it will be extremely difficult for them to do so. Hanson ended up leaping over former starter Lito Sheppard to become the regular third cornerback when the Eagles went to the nickel formation. In the process, he proved himself very capable and showed that he is even capable of starting in this league, which is why there is no way the Eagles will be able to keep him. There is a pattern of this. The Eagles routinely have third cornerbacks who are very good, who then end up going on to start for other teams – teams that make the playoffs. Do the names Al Harris and Rod Hood sound familiar? Both were nickel corners here and are now both starting: Al Harris for the Packers and Rod Hood for the Cardinals. I think we will be adding Joselio Hanson to that list as he has certainly earned the right to start somewhere and I don’t see the Eagles paying him starter’s money, nor do I think they should.

LJ Smith (TE): In my opinion, LJ Smith has been a disappointment. The last two seasons his production has really dropped off as he has not had over 300 yards receiving since 2006. In fact, his last two seasons were statistically his worst since coming into the league. A lot of the drop off can be attributed to injuries as he only played in 10 games in 2007 and 13 games in 2008, but in watching him, it is more than just the time missed for injuries. It also seems as though Donovan does not have the confidence in him that you would want a quarterback to have in your starting tight end. Early in Donovan’s career, he liked using the tight end as his safety valve and he had someone he could count on in Chad Lewis. After Chad Lewis retired, Donovan never truly developed that same confidence in LJ. Consider this, LJ’s best statistical year was in 2005 when Donovan missed almost half the season. In fact, when you look and see that Brent Celek had more yardage than LJ did this past year, I think the choice is obvious that the Eagles should let LJ Smith go and see what the younger Brent Celek can do in a permanent starting role.

John Runyan (RT) and Tra Thomas (LT): I put these two players together since they have been the bookends of the Eagles offensive line throughout this great run. Think about it this way: since 2000, the Eagles have played 144 regular season games. In 134 of those games, Thomas and Runyan were the starting tackles. That doesn’t even count the 17 post-season games they have played together. This has been a great source of continuity for the Eagles, but it can’t last as Runyan is 35 years old and Thomas is 34. I don’t see how the Eagles can keep both these players given their ages. Unfortunately, this is something that the Eagles should have seen coming. Usually, the Eagles are very good at looking ahead at losing their older veteran players and having younger players ready to go. They did so when they lost Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor as their starting cornerbacks and they had Lito Sheppard and Sheldon Brown ready to go.

As a side note: This is one of the most frustrating things I saw with the Eagles’ draft last year. They had the perfect opportunity to draft Jeff Otah in the 1st round. Instead they traded the pick to Carolina, who drafted Otah. What did Otah do? He only stepped right in and started at right tackle at the beginning of the season and helped lead Carolina back to the playoffs. We’ll see what the Eagles do with their extra first round pick this year, but I think it will be tough for them to top a starting tackle which they now desperately need. I think the Eagles will have to sign one of these two guys for continuity’s sake. The other possibility is to move their current guards (Herrimans and Andrews) to the tackle spots and use Jean-Gilles and Cole as the guards. While this is a possibility, I think it is imprudent as it would eliminate any possible depth at what has been a critical part of the Eagles success for the past eight to nine years. That is why I’d like them to resign either Runyan or Thomas. They could then fill the other spot either through the draft, free agency or moving one of the guards. Which one would I prefer? I like Runyan’s tenacity and he has been the more durable, but he is a year older. Thomas protects the back side of McNabb and therefore is a little more critical, but he is also the more inconsistent of the two. It’s a tough pick, but I think I would have to favor Runyan.

Well those are the Eagles free agents. Next up, if I can find a reliable list of available free agents, I’ll take a look at the free agents that I think the Eagles should or may consider taking a run at. NFL free agency starts March 1, so it should be interesting.

A Tale of Two Off-Seasons

As the excitement of a great Superbowl passes into just a memory, it is that exciting time of year that baseball fans look forward to: Pitchers and Catchers reporting to Spring Training. For the Phillies, this will happen on Saturday the 14th. The big news on the Phillies front this weekend was the signing of Ryan Howard to a 3 year $54 Million deal thereby avoiding arbitration this year and the next two years. Essentially, Howard signed for the remaining years that the Phillies already had the exclusive rights to.

All in all, I think it was a great move for both sides. For Ryan Howard, it provides security which he has not had under his prior year to year deals. While the $15 Million he will receive in the first year of the deal was less than the $18 Million he was asking for at arbitration, it gives him security for the two years beyond that at $19 and $20 Million respectively. For the Phillies, it means that they won’t have to worry about Howard’s future with the team and the pesky negotiations that they would have had to undergo every year for the next three of his arbitration eligible years.

In fact, in looking back at the Phillies off-season, the Howard signing was the capstone of what was a great off-season. While they made no major signings of new players, the Phillies had multiple players who were either unrestricted or restricted free agents. They re-signed all their major contributors from last year with the exception of Pat Burrell who they found a suitable replacement for in Raul Ibanez. Howard was the latest of these signings.

It’s made me realize that I was probably wrong about the Phillies’ decision regarding their new General Manager. At the end of the season, the Phillies’ GM Pat Gillick retired and the decision for his replacement was between his two assistants Ruben Amaro, Jr. and Mike Arbuckle. I always thought Arbuckle was the better choice as he was largely responsible for rebuilding the Phillies’ farm system and as a result was a key component to building the core of the current team. However, with all the contract issues with current players, Ruben Amaro was clearly the better choice since his background was dealing more with negotiating the player contracts. That choice is definitely paying dividends during this off season.

All this brings me back to my true passion: the Eagles who are just getting ready to start their off-season. Considering how close they came, they are in much the same position that the Phillies were in and they can take some lessons towards how they dealt with their players. Like the Phillies, they still have a core of players who are very much in a position to win now. In other words, they do not need to go through a major rebuilding project. As such, they should probably eschew their usual philosophy of making salary decisions based on the long term. In other words, they need to make decisions based on the people that will help them win now.

Going into this off-season, the Eagles have 9 free agents (6 unrestricted and 3 restricted free agents). In my next post, I will break down these free agents and what I think the Eagles should do. For now, I think they can take some lessons from the Phillies and realize that keeping their core together on a winning team should be a winning formula.

Superbowl Thoughts

Well what started out as a very unexciting Superbowl game, ended with a flurry activity and one of the most exciting endings in the big game’s history. After the way the first half ended, I was curious to see how the Cardinals would react. At first, they didn’t seem to react well as they continued to allow the Steelers to dictate the game. However, if we learned anything through these playoffs, it is that we should not count out Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald and the Cardinals. Pittsburgh continually failed to put away the game and they left a door open for the Cardinals to pull off the greatest comeback in Superbowl history. As the Steelers struggled in the fourth quarter, I kept thinking that they let the Cardinals hang around and now it was going to bite them. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they actually scored too easily which allowed a lot of time for the Steelers to come back.

The final drive was vintage Ben Roethlisberger. As he always does, he continued to buy time in the pocket so he could find the open receiver which was usually Santonio Holmes. Eventually, the game culminated with what I believe was the greatest catch in Superbowl history. At first viewing, I didn’t think Santonio Holmes got both feet in, but I thought the replay confirmed it pretty easily. The pass was perfect as, despite the triple coverage, only Big Ben’s receiver had a shot at it. As perfect as the pass was though, it was eclipsed by the poise and concentration Holmes showed in pulling it in while doing a tap dance with the tip of his shoes in the end zone. I can never remember a prettier catch in such a big game. The closest one was Dwight Clark’s leaping end zone grab against the Cowboys in the NFC Championship game to send the 49ers to their first Superbowl.

I felt Holmes rightfully deserved the MVP for this game, but a very strong case could have been made for Ben Roethlisberger. I forget which analyst I heard after the game but he was right in talking about how the current culture of fantasy football only focuses on stats and in doing so, it diminishes guys like Roethlisberger who just gets things done when they need to be. From a stats perspective, you would say that Kurt Warner had the better game. He threw for more yards, completions, completion percentage and touchdowns. However, if you asked him which side he would rather have been on, there would have been no question. All this proves something that I have been saying for years: When it comes to quarterbacks, the only stat that matters is wins and losses. It doesn’t matter how many yards Roethlisberger threw for, he needed to move his team 78 yards at the end of the game and he did. It doesn’t matter how many touchdowns Roethlisberger threw for, he needed to get one at the end of the game and he did. So even though his stats may not have shown it, he had an impressive game.

So where does this Superbowl rank? I heard a lot of talk after this game about it being the best ever. Not even close. It is definitely in the top ten, but the game was played sloppily by both teams for three quarters. Both teams committed stupid penalties that cost their teams in big ways. It wasn’t exactly a great display of football. In fact, I hate to admit it since I despise the Giants, but last year’s upset win over the Patriots was better. The best ever in my estimation continues to be Superbowl XXIII when Joe Montana became a legend with his game winning drive against the Cincinnati Bengals to win 20-16. For now, let’s just be happy that this game was competitive and not a blow out. I’m sure we can all remember that it wasn’t too long ago that the game routinely became a snooze fest by halftime. We don’t need to overreact by calling this one the best ever. Better than most, yes. Best, no.

Halftime Thoughts

Obviously the touchdown at the end of the first half was a huge turn in this game. That was a 10 point turn around when you consider that the Cardinals would have at least gotten three points on a field goal. The Cardinals have the ball first in the second half. It will be interesting to see how they react to such a huge momentum turner.

On another note: as an Eagles fan, it has been frustrating watching the Steelers jamming Larry Fitzgerald at the line. It is working so far and it just makes me wonder what could of been had the Eagles done the same. Such is the life of an Eagles fan.