I don’t think Sheldon is being unprofessional, rather calculated. Word is he has been talking to the Eagles about a contract restructuring just like Lito did around the same time but he handled his business under the radar and not publicly in contrast to what Lito and his agent did.  If you believe that to be true then you have to give him credit for being professional.  Now…

With the departure of Brian Dawkins and a veteran, ex-pro bowl corner in Lito, Sheldon must feel he has some leverage in 2 ways:

1. Is it safe to assume he became the default leader of the defense once Dawk left considering his tenure, style of play and relative consistency?
2. Can the Eagles really afford to lose him or have him playing unhappily and underperforming?  For me this is heightened with the Jason Peters signing and even more so if they make a blockbuster deal or Bouldin/Edwards or to a lesser degree uncharacteristically draft a running back (Moreno) with a first round pick.  The Eagles would officially be saying we are going for it HARD, RIGHT NOW.  Having security at the cornerback position with a proven veteran in Sheldon would need to be there as well.

With all that said, I still think he should keep it shut and just play.  I don’t know his worth or value relative to his performance and contemporaries.  But you signed the deal.  This is why I hate football.  It breeds this.  You don’t have this problem in the NBA.  Your salary is your salary no renegotiations.  The player is stuck with it and the team is stuck with it if they can’t trade the player.

I am surprised the Eagles made a statement, but clearly they are getting tired of this bubbling up every season and they felt the need to take a stand.

Will be interesting to see how this plays out.  I think Sheldon is a professional and I haven’t heard anything about him not showing up for camp and doing his job.  But I heard him talk to Sal Pal yesterday on 950 and he is hell bent on getting out of Philly at this point.  Can we feasible expect max effort from a player that doesn’t want to be here anymore?

I understand the meat-on-the-hoof business (was well-exposed in ex-Cowboy Pete Gent’s book ”North Dallas Forty”).  Evidently, so does Sheldon.  The Midnight Green Regime breeds stubbornness and on-field near-misses. 

love his demeanor on the field, and love him as a football player, he’s one of my favorite Eagles (though if he decides to dog it this year, that will change).

but, he’s acting as though no other Eagles should have gotten money during the duration of his contract. If you don’t understand that veterans are going to get released, you don’t understand the business of the NFL.

Here is what his agent said in 2004 after he signed the contract…

“We didn’t need to do this now, but this deal was too attractive and too important not to get it done,” Chayut said at the time. “They made him a multimillionaire, taking all the risk out of injury. He’s set for life.”