Reasons to be Excited in Philly
This has been one of the most exciting off seasons for Philadelphia Eagles fans. The offseason started with rumors swirling about that the Eagles were poised to make a big splash including possibly dealing one of their first round picks for an elite receiver (Braylon Edwards, Chad Ocho Cinco, or Anquan Boldin) or possibly packaging multiple picks to move up into the top five or ten to grab one of the big name offensive linemen. As the draft concluded the Eagles were one of the teams being viewed as having one of the best offseasons to-date.
The offseason actually began with the Eagles making a not so popular move by letting long time face of the franchise Brian Dawkins sign with the Denver Broncos. It was tough to see him leave but the Eagles were probably wise not to try and match the deal the Broncos were offering.
On the surface it does seem like a bad move to let a guy who has been the heart and sould of the defense just walk away. But if there is one thing I have come to learn in my years of following Reid’s Eagles it is that he always seems to have a plan B in place a year or two prior to having to let go of a veteran leader such as Dawkins. The team really likes Quintin Mikell even going so far as to have the coaching staff declare him their defensive MVP last season.
This leads to the second major change made when the team signed free agent safety Sean Jones away from the Cleveland Browns. Jones is expected to compete with Quintin Demps for the starting job at strong safety but ultimately Jones’ style of play and physicality should earn him the nod over Demps. Dawkins was showing signs that he had lost a step last season and the combination of Mikell and Jones is potentially more productive Dawkins and Mikell were lost season.
With the issues in the secondary figured out the Eagles’ next big move was to fix an ailing offensive line. One key reason the Eagles struggled to run the ball between the tackles last season was due to the tackles’ inability to seal off the corner and hold their blocks. With Jon Runyan’s career in question after undergoing microfracture knee surgery and Tra Thomas’ play declining towards the end of the season the team decided it needed to get younger and better at the tackle positions.
The first move to upgrade the line was to sign incumbant guard Shawn Andrews’ brother, Stacy, away from the Bengals. Stacy was the Bengals’ starting right tackle but speculation abounds that Reid is looking at Shawn to slide over to right tackle with Stacy manning the guard spot on the right side of the line.
With Stacy Andrews nailed down the team then turned its focus to left tackle. Early reports had Todd Herremans sliding out from his left guard spot to protect Donovan McNabb’s backside. Herremans has emerged as one of the top young gurads in the since assuming a starting role a couple of seasons ago. However, it remains to be seen whether he has the footwork to be able to play tackle in the NFL. After coming so close to a Super Bowl appearance last season the team decided not to pin its hopes on a guy who has little to no experience playing tackle in the NFL.
This revelation of sorts led to the team dealing away the 28th pick of the draft, the second of the team’s two first round picks, to the Buffalo Bills for Pro Bowl tackle Jason Peters. Peters had an up-and-down season a year ago but is highly regarded as the best young left tackle in the game. The Eagles promptly signed him to a six year extension upon acquiring him from the Bills in hopes that he will man the quarterback’s backside for years to come.
This leads up to the draft which saw the Eagles add several key players to an already pretty potent offense. The team’s first pick, Jeremy Maclin, came as a shock to everybody, including Maclin himself. The consensus amongst just about everyone in the know was that Maclin was a sure-fire top ten pick but the Raiders pick of Darius Heyward-Bey through a monkey wrench into those prognostications. With Maclin sitting there at 19 the Eagles pulled the trigger on a deal to move up two spots from 21 to grab him. He was just too good of a talent to pass up at that spot.
In the second round the Eagles picked up the backup running back and eventual successor to Brain Westbrook they so sorely needed in LeSean McCoy. McCoy has the skillset that Reid loves in a back and he should be able to comfortably add some weight to be able to stand up better to NFL defenses. McCoy will give the Eagles the option to move Westbrook around even more in the offense than the team currently does.
The Eagles rounded out the offensvie overhaul in the fifth round when they picked up Florida tight end Cornelius Ingram. Ingram, once considered the potential top TE talent in this year’s class, slid to the fifth round due to questions surrounding his knee injury and whether he would be able to play at the next level or not. Reid took a flyer on him in the fifth and so far the early reviews are that he is eventually going to be an upgrade over last year’s starter L. J. Smith.
Overall the Eagles had a very strong spring upgrading the talent along the offensive line and adding some needed quality depth at the skill positions giving Donovan McNabb even more weapons at his disposal. Things are definitely moving in the right direction for the Eagles and if things break their way this could very well be the season that long suffering Eagles fans get to celebrate a Super Bowl victory.
