Tomorrow is a crazy day in the NFL. Unlike other sports, when free agency opens in the NFL, everyone seems to sign at once. This got a little crazy last year, when we signed Stacey Andrews, and then the whole Brian Dawkins drama unfolded. This year, there is speculation that we might be in on many big name free agents, including Julius Peppers, Antrel Rolle and Darren Sproles.
I will keep this page updated today and tomorrow (and through the weekend if necessary) with any rumors I read. Please add anything I miss in the comments field.
(5:06pm): The Eagles released LB Will Witherspoon. Are you serious? We finally get an athletic LB who can somewhat guard TE’s and we release him? They’d better sign someone great to replace him. Can’t believe they did this.
(2:00pm): First FOXSports said that Aaron Kampman was visiting the Birds! Then they said he wasn’t, we were just talking. Now, no one really knows what’s going on.
(1:59pm): Chester Taylor off the board, signs with Chicago.
(10:53am): Though he will probably sign with the Lions, apparently the Eagles called Kyle Vanden Bosch shortly after midnight.
(10:14am): Be prepared to hear more about this: Fox29 is reporting that Andy Reid wants to keep McNabb, but the majority of other front office people don’t. Ugh.
(10:07am): Feel free to go buy a Leonard Weaver jersey now. Weaver signed a 3-year extension with the Birds for $11 million, $6.5 guaranteed. Good move, hopefully they get him more carries next year.
(9:10am): According to Peppers’ agent, he is likely to sign with the Bears, but if he doesn’t…
“Chicago will be our first visit and we don’t want them looking over their shoulder worrying about other teams right now. They were the first to call and they’ve made us a ballpark offer and it’s good enough to where we’ll make a visit. Pending the outcome of that visit we may visit with Philadelphia and see where we are from there.”
I would be shocked if he leaves Chi-town without a deal.
Friday Morning Update:
So we didn’t wake up to anyone holding up an Eagles jersey, but here’s what we know…
- The Eagles made an offer for Julius Peppers, but it wasn’t enough. The Bears, Redskins and Seahawks seem to be in the running.
- ESPN’s Adam Schefter says Aaron Kampman might end up in Seattle (if Peppers doesn’t).
- The Giants look like the frontrunners for Antrel Rolle.
- The Falcons look like the frontrunners for Dunta Robinson.
- The Eagles were interested in Darren Sproles before the Chargers put the highest tender on him
So essentially, the Eagles are doing nothing right now. Peppers’ and Rolle’s price tags are probably too high – and the only rumor that has us interested in anything comes from Adam Kaplan who tweeted that we are “poking around” for a veteran RB. Too early to be disappointed, but not off to a good start.
(7:20pm): From the Chicago Sun Times:
After Peppers, Aaron Kampman is regarded as the second-best defensive end available, followed by Kyle Vanden Bosch. But one league source told me that Kampman may be headed to Philadelphia.
Kampman struggled last year in Green Bay’s 3-4, as he is a 4-3 DE. He had 15.5 sacks in 2006, 12 in 2007 and 9.5 in 2008. He dropped down to 3.5 last year partially due to injury. He would be a good pick-up and certainly an upgrade, but I would be hesitant about signing another player coming off of injury after the Stacey Andrews disaster.
(4:11pm): Cross Darren Sproles off the list as well. The Chargers changed their mind and decided to give him the highest tender, meaning we would have to give up a 1st and 3rd round pick just to sign him.
(3:54pm): ProFootballTalk now says that the Eagles have not spoken to anyone about McNabb. I’m just not going comment on him unless something actually happens. The “rumors” surrounding him are ridiculous and 99.9% of the time unfounded.
(12:00pm): Mike Lombardi of Pro Football Post has this to say about why we won’t trade Vick for anything less than a 2nd rounder (which we won’t get for him).
And unless they get a second round pick, they won’t move him. You think that’s too much? Not really if you understand that if they hold on to him and he becomes a free agent in 2011, then signs with another team, the Eagles would probably get a compensatory third-round pick. So it makes sense to ask for a second rounder right now. Who will pay that? No one. That’s why I see Vick back with the Eagles.
(11:55pm): You can probably cross the following players off the list of possible signings, as the draft picks the Eagles would have to give up are just too high (mostly 1st rounders): S Nick Collins, LB DeMeco Ryans, DE Elvis Dumervil, G Jahri Evans.
(11:48am): ProFootballTalk is reporting a rumor that the Eagles could trade McNabb to the Rams for the 33rd pick in the draft (1st pick in 2nd round). I would be very surprised if we traded McNabb this off-season. I’d give it an 80% chance he’s our starting QB next year.
Thursday (11:46am): The Eagles will reportedly tender Chris Gocong at a 3rd round level. What this means is if another team signs him and we don’t match, we get their 3rd round pick. If another team doesn’t sign him, we pay him the 1-year tender salary. This is a surprising move for me because unless another team really wants him, it seems he will be an Eagle next year. He doesn’t appear to have a starting job with Bradley, Witherspoon and Jordan/Fokou around, and he’s seems much better suited for a 3-4 defense where he could be LB/DE.
click through for all the updates!
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{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
Well, Pete, if Gocong is MUCH better suited for a 3-4 defense, then maybe one of the 3-4 defense teams feel the same way and the Eagles are banking on one of them signing him, even for the higher tender.
That would be fantastic. Rumors are the Pats might want him, and they were stupid enough to give us a 5th rounder for Greg Lewis (who didn’t even make it through training camp with them).
I know he is somewhat expensive to retain, but I wouldn’t mind seeing the Michael Vick experiment last one more season…I can’t see his value decreasing over the course of next season and he may have additional suitors with 2 full years under his belt. Teams are still looking to get him cheap right now.
Per ESPN, Sproles tendered a 1st and 3rd so he is out
Kampman is one of those “high motor” guys that announcers fawn over every time the Packers play. He needs to put his hand on the ground to be effective, and that 3-4 left him upright and cut out his effectiveness last season. Hopefully their loss is our gain and he could rebound from his injuries.
Honestly though if you are the eagles and for years you have been as close to the hip as possible with your wallet (and talking to the media for that matter) is this not the year you say “screw it, this is Donovan’s last year, we have a capable offense to compete, I’m signing Peppers, Rolle, and a decent OL and grab a guy like T. Jones to complement McCoy”? Just tell me why not? You are really on the verge of losing your fan base if you throw out the same B.S. roster or a similar one as last year. I am so sick of the Eagles being “Interested” in someone and them never signing him!
Richie -
Since it’s un-capped year, I get your point. Why not just front-load a bunch of contracts? Maybe I don’t understand how it would work?
I get not going after Peppers since it’s no secret he takes plays/games off – and wants a ridiculous contract. But then just switch him out for Kampman in your scenario up there.
The last time they went crazy (Owens, Kearse) we made the Super Bowl the next year. But neither contract turned out well, so I think they are scared to do that again. They do make big-ish moves (Peters last year was a big move).
The only thing in your post I disagreed with is the losing your fan base. They might get pissed, but they won’t stop coming. Especially when you’re B.S. roster gets to the playoffs pretty much every year.
Pete, I agree. I don’t know anyone personally that has given up on the Eagles. Sixers yes, Eagles no.
I’m getting annoyed with the front office bashing, the Eagles are smart (most of the time) not cheap.
maybe I’m being ignorant – but I never understood how a team could be “cheap” in a league with a hard cap?
we don’t overpay for players and we let some of our guys go early. the only time that has bitten us was last year with Dawkins.
that being said – I get some of the front office bashing, especially when they talk as though they are the gold standard of the league, yet have never won a title. They are a top-5 franchise, certainly. But “gold standard” infers best, and they are not that.
I hear ya Pete, and I should’ve worded it as frustrated. Yes the roster gets to the playoffs, but 40% of the teams in the league make the playoffs and the year they went for it they made the Super Bowl. I also agree with the Peppers notion. I don’t like him really either he is 30 years old and may give you 2-3 decent years, but I think he was taking plays off because of the team he was on.
Dre, you aren’t really drinking Banner’s Kool Aid are you? Smart? Really? Stacy Andrews, Shawn Andrews, Peters, Samuel, Let Dawkins go, Sign Sean Jones to replace or Macho Harris? Okay Peters played half decent that is all I will give him. And Weaver was a great pickup I love him. Give me one other good addition they have made in the last three years? Don’t give me draft picks either because that was Heckert atleast it seems that way. I’m not bashing, just aggravated.
My “tift” if you will with the front office is the attitude they portray that makes me put their decisions under a microssope. The Gold standard notion I think started it, then Andy’s unwillingness to let his fan base in, Banner’s complete pompous attitude towards everything, the recent Westbrrok debacle about them not giving him the proper “goodbye”. Same for Dawkins. It is just the way they portray themselves is horrible. That is all.
The front office has been right much more times than it has been wrong, especially having to draft in the latter half of each round for the the past 10 years. I don’t get the front office bashing either. The Eagles have put a strong product on the field year after year, its not like they are failing.
I don’t want the “fanbase” to be let in, I promise that the product would be much, much worse if the front office did what the majority of fanboys wanted.
The problem is that I am tired of being good! I am tired of drafting in the mid to late first. I am tired of being pet like a dog like this Front Office always does! I am tired of not winning a super bowl. There is no consolation anymore for not winning a super bowl. I am sorry. It was great in like ‘04-06, but I am sick of it now. I guess I am too spoiled by the Phillies and maybe that is where this animosity comes from.
It’s funny – when I worked for the Phillies (05-06), ticket-holders would always complain about how they shouldn’t be paying what they were paying for their seats, and often times they would say something like “it’s not like you guys are the Eagles or anything.” Now? It’s the complete opposite.
Richie, Stacy Andrews and Jason Peters were a good deals at the time. Remember, with hindsight they may be bad (we’ll see year two).
Dawkins I didn’t agree with but I understood.
The Kool-Aid is good going down but coming back up it has a bitter taste.
This is ridiculous, we could have solidified our chances to win a Super Bowl for the next five years if we made the right moves this offseason. The bottom line is the FO isn’t willing to take risks. OK GOOD THANKS. BUT WITH RISKS CAN COME GREAT REWARD. Look at the Patriots. Starting Tom Brady in the Supoer Bowl. Taking chances on Randy Moss and Corey Dillon. They were both productive in New England. GO SIGN SOMEONE BIG. GET ROLLE OR GET SOMEONE GOOD. You let your best safety go and look what happens. Our safeties were terrible last year, couldn’t cover a tight end or make a tackle in the run game to save their life. No picks either, I can’t recall one INT from the safety spot. I know there must have been one, but I can’t remember any. TRADE MCNABB, I’m so sick of all Philadelphia teams making stupid decisions besides the Phillies. What the Phillies done in terms of signings and trades has really brought out the ineptitude of the other Philadelphia team’s front offices. Ok I understand TO didn’t work out, and other signings didn’t go as planned, but how many Super Bowls have the Eagles EVER won? ZERO
Adam needs a hug, or a drink.
Give it time – we are only 14 hours into free agency. Looks like they made an offer for Peppers and are in the running for Kampman. They have 6 picks in the first 4 rounds of the draft as well.
All i want is for them to sign Rolle, trade Mcnabb for one of the niners 1st round picks, hopefully 13th and get Rolando Mclain there and take either OL Campbell from Maryland or Smith from Rutgers. In the 2nd and 3rd grab two pass rushers and we are set! I’m not asking much am I?
I love the Andy doesn’t want to get rid of McNabb. You know why? Because the FO people have egos bigger than Andy’s belly and that would mean he failed in the McNabb era. Here is my thing he is gone after next year Andy, so go “balls to the wall” this year!
BOTH PETE BOTH
What sucks is that if the Eagles signed somebody like Will Witherspoon, I’d be pretty jazzed. Perhaps they got a call from Peppers agent and needed to immeditately free up that $5 million to sweeten their deal and show that they were serious…? No idea either about this, but there has to be something going on here that the general public isn’t aware of. There HAS to be, right?
ha, Peppers just signed with the Bears. Awesome.
Seems to me like once again the Eagles are overvaluing their roster.
How do you release Witherspoon? They guy was legit and lined up with Bradley and whoever else would have been a pretty damn good 3 man LB corp.
Obviously we all wanted Peppers and that isn’t happening, at least he isn’t going to the Giants.
Personally I am more disappointed that we didn’t go hard in for Rolle. I guess it’s still possible but unlikely.
we released witherspoon? WTF?
Can someone give me the pro’s for the eagles releasing Witherspoon?
I can only think of cons.