Interesting item on teams who want to sign "You know who" in the offseason

[bobbyinlondon]

in your never ending quest to defend the front office youre missing the point...youre only listing the very best free agents at their position...no one is saying they should have dropped 20 million in signing bonuses...but to have done absolutely nothing is inexcusable

Actually, I'm not listing THE VERY BEST FAs that were out there. I'm listing FAs that some fans (not necessarily you) are pointing to and saying we could have added this guy or that guy. On the O line, Rivera has had back problems, and I don't know too many people who would give a guard an 8M signing bonus; also McKenzie had been very inconsistent with the Jets, which is why they really didn't re-sign him.


Continuing on, the secondary was considered a strength, and if Lito ever gets his head out of his butt and stops looking in the backfield all of the time, it will continue to be.

At LB, you had Peterson, who was a Franchise player and the Eagles aren't going to give him  a 6 year 38M deal, which is what he has said he wants; Witherspoon was a RFA with 1st round compensation; Reese took a 4M bonus from the Falcons, in the mistaken notion that he was going to compete for the starting SLB job.

Back to the DL for a minute. At DE, you had Darren Howard, who was franchised, but the Cowboys tried to switch 1st rounders with them, and the Saints wanted the 11th pick straight up; Kyle Vanden Bosch had an injur plagued year with the Cards--he signed for the vet minimum and then wound up with 12.5 sacks--again, just like Burgess, who knew he'd have that kind of year? Who knew Courtney Brown would all of a sudden become a player when he went to Denver?

At DT, youcan't force a guy to sign his franchise tender. Simon had told Ashley Fox way back in February he was fine with it and willing to play under it, then all of a sudden, he wasn't. The Eagles had tried to get him signed for two years, and he kept asking for more money; he and his agent shot down at least THREE trades because they made outrageous demands. Now here is the kicker--he and Hollis wound up with the same amount of tackles (35) and the same amount of sacks (0). Is he truly worth 30M and a 13M bonus?  Chris Hovan, there's another guy who washed out with the Vikings--but, in a contract year (since he made the vet minimum), he played like he did in his rookie year.

At QB, there simply wasn't a glut of talent out there--Warner wanted to start, which is why he wound up in Arizona; Johnson wanted to go back to Minny if he wasn't going to start--and now he's whining that he wants to start next year; Hasslebeck from the Giants--if the Eagles thought that much about him two years ago, they would have kept him. Blake, when he got his chance to play last year in the last two games, was just awful.

In the end, it comes down to this--when you're signing FAs, no FO has tea leaves, tarot cards, or crystal balls to read the future. You can only go on what you see on film and if a guy accepts your offer or if he shoots for the moon. FA is a crap shoot just like the draft--you don't know what you're getting from one year to the next.

One of the big problem was having 13 draft picks as well. When you pretty much have a set team, and then have 13 picks on top of that, that causes you not to spend in FA as well.

[hunt]

In the end, it comes down to this--when you're signing FAs, no FO has tea leaves, tarot cards, or crystal balls to read the future. You can only go on what you see on film and if a guy accepts your offer or if he shoots for the moon. FA is a crap shoot just like the draft--you don't know what you're getting from one year to the next.

huh?  that's the front office's job...talent evaluation.

[ice grillin you]

id rather go for players and fail than just sign mike mcmahon

[Cerevant]

linebacker

I might agree with you there.  This might be worth looking at who was available.

...kick returner

I'm assuming this is because JR Reed was hurt.
Year   Rank                                      Ret       Yds     Avg    Long  TD
2004  13   J.R. Reed       PHI     33      761     23.1    66       0
2005  16   Roderick Hood   PHI   38   900   23.7   53   0

Yeah, that really killed us this year.

...punt returner

The Eagles were bad last year, but there were a number of players on the roster who could play PR, and it turns out they ended up with the league leader.  If the Eagles were serious about having a big play punt returner, Westbrook would be back there.

defensive end

This one comes under FF's question - who was available when they knew they had a need?  It was thought they were fine at this position until Dougs got shot.

...fullback...

Andy has dicked around with this position ever since Ritchie got hurt.  I don't know if he takes it seriously.  But still - who?  Was there really someone out there who was a no-brainer over their own draft pick?

[MadMarchHare]

Well, off the top of my head, you had Pierce (was he a UFA or a RFA?);  Peterson was coming off a serious knee injury.
Anyone else?

Maybe Edgerton Hartwell.  That's it for quality.  And Pierce is a MLB, where we didn't need a replacement (sorry GF).

[Wingspan]

Let's just say the LB's were expected to be much better than they were.

i dont buy that at all...mainly because i expected nothing from the LBs...i certianly never expected some castoff backups from other teams to come in and hold their own on the field.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

If I were running the Eagles, I would have found a real fullback as soon as I felt there was a chance of Ritchie not being able to cut it.  I might have also tried to replace Ike's presence on special teams, but I'm sure I would have felt confident of getting some special teams help in the draft.  I have to say I'm a little baffled they didn't take a true KR with any of their multitude of draft picks.

The thing is that hindsight truly is 20/20.  Most of the major injuries (ie: everyone but JR Reed) were incurred after the FA pool was pretty much dried up anyway.  Here are the big issues...

Jason Short:  Eagles were hoping he'd come back and make a huge difference on teams

Pinkston:  He's a better overall player than Greg Lewis.  Having him available might have changed the situation with TO overall, but if not would certainly have slightly improved the offense.  Regardless, especially with the team eyeing Reggie Brown in the draft, there was no perceived reason to sign a Muhammed, Burress, or Mason whatsoever.

Dirk Johnson:  Losing him was big.  Landeta eventually hit his groove, but all the other replacement attempts at Johnson were big-time sucky.

McDougle:  The depth chart at DE from the Super Bowl would have simply replaced Burgess with Kalu.  That, AT THE TIME, did not seem to be too much, if any, of a dropoff.  However, many "insiders" really thought this was going to be McDougle's year to break out.  I really think the Eagles would have gone after another DE in trade or FA if they had known McDougle wouldn't be available for the season.


Anyway, all this crap aside, needs on the team are now obvious and glaring:

QB - 2 new ones... preferably one somewhat-capable veteran backup and one younger guy
HB - still need a bigger guy... apparently Lamar Gordon is not the answer
FB - not a fan of Parry, but don't know who else is available out there
WR - We need a starter here.  Trying to pass off Pinkston/Brown/Lewis/McMullen as a Super Bowl-caliber group would make me laugh.
TE - If Lewis returns, we might be ok.  Good idea to get a young guy in the draft, though.
OL - Hoo boy.  Where do I start?  Hopefully, Thomas comes back strong.  Hopefully, Andrews gets his fat ass in shape.  Hopefully, the Eagles have enough good linemen that Artis Hicks is the 6th man and not a starter.  This could be a mess.
DL - This is similar to the OL.  Let's see... Kearse and Cole will probably start at the ends.  Patterson and Walker will probably start at the tackles.  McDougle will probably be back, for what it's worth, but this team needs a bunch of defensive linemen.  Have to get at least 1 good one in free agency or by trade...
LB - Adams won't be back.  The team needs to add a GOOD player by FA or trade to replace him.  Would be nice to replace Dhani, too, but unrealistic that the Eagles would sign 2 new starters.
DB - This group is still pretty good overall, especially if Hood comes back.  It might be time to bring someone in that could actually replace Dawkins down the line, but I'm sure they'll give Considine one more year... Yay.
Teams - Is Dirk going to be good to go?  Great.  We still need a punt returner.

Yuck.

[PhillyPhanInDC]

If I were running the Eagles, I would have found a real fullback as soon as I felt there was a chance of Ritchie not being able to cut it.  I might have also tried to replace Ike's presence on special teams, but I'm sure I would have felt confident of getting some special teams help in the draft.  I have to say I'm a little baffled they didn't take a true KR with any of their multitude of draft picks.

The thing is that hindsight truly is 20/20.  Most of the major injuries (ie: everyone but JR Reed) were incurred after the FA pool was pretty much dried up anyway.  Here are the big issues...

Jason Short:  Eagles were hoping he'd come back and make a huge difference on teams

Pinkston:  He's a better overall player than Greg Lewis.  Having him available might have changed the situation with TO overall, but if not would certainly have slightly improved the offense.  Regardless, especially with the team eyeing Reggie Brown in the draft, there was no perceived reason to sign a Muhammed, Burress, or Mason whatsoever.

Dirk Johnson:  Losing him was big.  Landeta eventually hit his groove, but all the other replacement attempts at Johnson were big-time sucky.

McDougle:  The depth chart at DE from the Super Bowl would have simply replaced Burgess with Kalu.  That, AT THE TIME, did not seem to be too much, if any, of a dropoff.  However, many "insiders" really thought this was going to be McDougle's year to break out.  I really think the Eagles would have gone after another DE in trade or FA if they had known McDougle wouldn't be available for the season.


Anyway, all this crap aside, needs on the team are now obvious and glaring:

QB - 2 new ones... preferably one somewhat-capable veteran backup and one younger guy
HB - still need a bigger guy... apparently Lamar Gordon is not the answer
FB - not a fan of Parry, but don't know who else is available out there
WR - We need a starter here.  Trying to pass off Pinkston/Brown/Lewis/McMullen as a Super Bowl-caliber group would make me laugh.
TE - If Lewis returns, we might be ok.  Good idea to get a young guy in the draft, though.
OL - Hoo boy.  Where do I start?  Hopefully, Thomas comes back strong.  Hopefully, Andrews gets his fat ass in shape.  Hopefully, the Eagles have enough good linemen that Artis Hicks is the 6th man and not a starter.  This could be a mess.
DL - This is similar to the OL.  Let's see... Kearse and Cole will probably start at the ends.  Patterson and Walker will probably start at the tackles.  McDougle will probably be back, for what it's worth, but this team needs a bunch of defensive linemen.  Have to get at least 1 good one in free agency or by trade...
LB - Adams won't be back.  The team needs to add a GOOD player by FA or trade to replace him.  Would be nice to replace Dhani, too, but unrealistic that the Eagles would sign 2 new starters.
DB - This group is still pretty good overall, especially if Hood comes back.  It might be time to bring someone in that could actually replace Dawkins down the line, but I'm sure they'll give Considine one more year... Yay.
Teams - Is Dirk going to be good to go?  Great.  We still need a punt returner.

Yuck.

Hey, Team "Ow my shoulder!" takes offense to that. If McCoy gets enough rope to hang himself, so should Considine. Also, I'll have you know, Considine kicks farging ass in Madden, where McCoy sucks, and that should tell you something. 

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Madden programmers smoke crack with stillupfront?

[General_Failure]

in your never ending quest to defend the front office youre missing the point...youre only listing the very best free agents at their position...no one is saying they should have dropped 20 million in signing bonuses...but to have done absolutely nothing is inexcusable

Signing guys that make no more than the guys already on the roster doesn't really use up all the cap space. Pick an argument and stick with it.

[Father Demon]

im wrong only because its impossible to be right when debating with homers of the highest degree

yous could learn a lot from phreak

yous could learn a lot from Jamie Kennedy

[ice grillin you]

oh word?