I love Brian Dawkins

[andrewaters]

But let me play devils advocate on this situation.

Everyone here is talking about what a horrible offseason these guys are having. Let me ask you this question.

If the Eagles had resigned their 35 year old free safety to a contract keeping him here I would think the majority of us on this board would be thinking this was a pretty good offseason.. signed Stacy Andrews to shore up the offensive line and got some depth at Safety. Resigned Joselio... got pretty good value for Lito and unloaded two guys that nobody on this board seem to like Greg Lewis and Sean Considine.

Now the Eagles haven't signed their 35 year old free safety but still signed Stacy Andrews and got younger at safety with a young guy that is going to get to prove himself on the field and if he looks good the Iggles will have the money to sign him to a long term deal.

How has our offseason been that bad?

We have 2 first rounders and can go in a lot of different directions. We have a ton of picks.

Who is to say that in the draft we don't go:

1. Chris Wells
1a. Sean Smith
2. Duke Robinson
And trade a third and fifth to the Chiefs for Tony Gonzalez..
4. Lawrence Sidburry

Then what would you think of our offseason. I'm guessing folks would be pretty jacked about that.

[MDFAN]

Sorry AW, but I'm not sure where you get this from -- "Everyone here is talking about what a horrible offseason these guys are having." -- I think that should be changed to "some" not "everyone".

So while I agree with a lot of what you said I wouldn't call this a great off season either, like 2004 was with OD and Kearse both coming on board.

But, IMO, this hasn't been a bad off season either --- as you make a good case for.

[fly]

I see your point. Basically, why does our opinion offseason hinge entirely on whether or not Dawk was resigned? And I don't think it does. We've lost more players from last year's NFCCG team than we've replaced. So far. That's not to say we haven't gotten better at those starting spots. For all we know, Celek may have a breakout season that makes us wonder why we kept LJ at all last year. Same thing for Demps.

On the offensive line, we have had 2 aging, but solid tackles that we've tried to get replacements for over the past couple of years. As the coaches have decided that it's now time to move on, I think we're (the fans at least, not sure about the coaches) less sure about their replacements than say, about letting Sheldon/Lito replace Vincent/Taylor. It's not as if the FO didn't have a plan, but the only player with some nfl experience at LT is Winston Justice. We signed a RT that hopefully bounces back from injury and keeps the right side of the line solid. All the while I've heard from people with a lot more football knowledge than me want an upgrade at center.

Same thing at safety. I think the Eagles have tried to take a similar strategy in drafting at that position for when they were ready to move on with Dawk. They took JR Reed, Quintin Demps and Consodine in the past few years, and now have signed Sean Jones, but it's still a question mark. I like Mikell alot and hope that the combo of Demps/Jones fill in well at safety.

Same story at TE. LJ has been a disappointment, but now we're still a bit thin on talent here after Celek.

When you're a few minutes from the Super Bowl, it's tough to lose some long-term starters at key positions. But we all knew the roster was going to turn over at these spots eventually. The FO has tried to plan for it accordingly, but we won't really know until Sept/Oct how well the plan works out. So I would probably say that even if Dawk signed, there would still be at least general questions about those other positions.

All the while, we've seen Westbrook - who has been such an invaluable guy in our success over the past few years - start to slow down. And we don't have a guy on our roster right now to back him up to be excited about.

I agree with you in general. We shouldn't be panicking right now...and I am always jacked up for the draft and for the new season. But the Birds have a lot of work to do and we don't know quite sure how it will shake out.

As for the draft, I still don't see how Wells fits on this team. Maybe his hands are underrated, but the Eagles love backs who can catch the ball out of the backfield.

I wish it were September already.

[sfphillyfan]

It's not just Dawk, AW.

I was hoping to get either a top notch TE or a RB or a WR, via trade or free agency before the draft. It was one of those things where you were hoping to get at least one but wanted 3 out of 3. Now, we havent addressed those needs yet and so we have to look for it in the draft. And in that case.... are we rebuilding?

[leifdawg]

But let me play devils advocate on this situation.

Everyone here is talking about what a horrible offseason these guys are having. Let me ask you this question.

If the Eagles had resigned their 35 year old free safety to a contract keeping him here I would think the majority of us on this board would be thinking this was a pretty good offseason.. signed Stacy Andrews to shore up the offensive line and got some depth at Safety. Resigned Joselio... got pretty good value for Lito and unloaded two guys that nobody on this board seem to like Greg Lewis and Sean Considine.

Now the Eagles haven't signed their 35 year old free safety but still signed Stacy Andrews and got younger at safety with a young guy that is going to get to prove himself on the field and if he looks good the Iggles will have the money to sign him to a long term deal.

How has our offseason been that bad?

We have 2 first rounders and can go in a lot of different directions. We have a ton of picks.

Who is to say that in the draft we don't go:

1. Chris Wells
1a. Sean Smith
2. Duke Robinson
And trade a third and fifth to the Chiefs for Tony Gonzalez..
4. Lawrence Sidburry

Then what would you think of our offseason. I'm guessing folks would be pretty jacked about that.

Like MD said, your not the only one. Dawk's my all-time favorite Eagle, but it was time to move on, and Denver way overpaid.

but the only player with some nfl experience at LT is Winston Justice.

Herremans played some LT at in his rookie season and looked decent. His overall ability and football IQ has increased 10 fold since then.

It's not just Dawk, AW.

I was hoping to get either a top notch TE or a RB or a WR, via trade or free agency before the draft. It was one of those things where you were hoping to get at least one but wanted 3 out of 3. Now, we havent addressed those needs yet and so we have to look for it in the draft. And in that case.... are we rebuilding?

The only one of those positions that was definitely available was TE (and if I remember right you weren't a big fan of Kellen Winslow). The facts is most NFL trades occur right before or during the draft. We have a ton of picks, be paitient. A top notch RB is better found in the draft.

And no, the Eagles are NOT rebuilding.

[Green With Envy]

It's not just Dawk, AW.

I was hoping to get either a top notch TE or a RB or a WR, via trade or free agency before the draft. It was one of those things where you were hoping to get at least one but wanted 3 out of 3. Now, we havent addressed those needs yet and so we have to look for it in the draft. And in that case.... are we rebuilding?

TE? No free agents excite me and the trade deadlines not over, but I have to be honest, I don't see us making a trade unless we can get Gonzales for a 4th rounder. With RB I think they go the way of the draft and pick up a veteran close to training camp. WR. No one excited me in FA and the only likely trade would be for Bolden and that wont happen until the draft.

My guess is that the Eagles do not go OL in the first round but go skill. I think Dunlap or Shawn Andrews moves to LT (maybe Herrmans). With Dunlap (who had a great training camp) the Eagles are only down one OL and they still have Runyan in their back pocket (no one else will sign a 35 year old RT with knee surgery). My guess is Pettagrew and a RB (not Wells) in the first, but lets be honest, the Eagles are the hardest team to figure out for the draft.

[Leonard Tose]

Other than Dawkins, I think the offseason has been fine so far.

I would have liked to have seen them address the interior of the o-line with another FA signing, but I didn't expect them to do much in FA, there just wasn't much talent out there in areas of great need.

I'm much more hopeful about the draft and possibly trading for Boldin.

[stocknowledge]

Thus far, other than signing Hanson for a ridiculously low price (I think he needs a new agent!), this offseason has been a bust.

Look at what the Redskins and Giants have done, then judge what we have done.

There are some on this board who think the FO does a great job no matter what they do. Just saving money doesn't translate into having a great offseason.

[Leonard Tose]

Thus far, other than signing Hanson for a ridiculously low price (I think he needs a new agent!), this offseason has been a bust.

Look at what the Redskins and Giants have done, then judge what we have done.

There are some on this board who think the FO does a great job no matter what they do. Just saving money doesn't translate into having a great offseason.

By the same token, just spending money doesn't translate into having a great offseason. The Redskins win the offseason nearly every year.

[stocknowledge]

By the same token, just spending money doesn't translate into having a great offseason. The Redskins win the offseason nearly every year.

That's because the Redskins don't have the vaguest idea of how to build a team. Snyder and Cerrato are completely clueless.

The Giants, as proven, do know what they are doing.

This offseason, we have definitely lost Dawkins, Thomas, Considine, and Buckhalter. We've added Andrews, Jones and resigned Hanson. I don't see how that qualifies as having a good offseason.

[Leonard Tose]

That's because the Redskins don't have the vaguest idea of how to build a team. Snyder and Cerrato are completely clueless.

The Giants, as proven, do know what they are doing.

This offseason, we have definitely lost Dawkins, Thomas, Considine, and Buckhalter. We've added Andrews, Jones and resigned Hanson. I don't see how that qualifies as having a good offseason.

FA market was pretty limp this year, I don't think the Eagles would have been well-served going all out for some of the talent in free agency this year.

They've got a lot of picks and a lot of ammo for the draft. We'll find out about this offseason then. It's too early to judge right now.

[sfphillyfan]

I love this argument. Spend vs fiscally cap responsible.

Both are ways to build a team. Just because the Redskins and Raiders do it and can't build a winner doesn't mean it's the wrong way to build a team.

By the same token, just because the Patriots are relatively cheap doesn't mean it's the only way to build a team.

All I know is that whatever WE'RE doing hasn't worked. (Yes, I'm talking SB.)

[andrewaters]

What TE was out there that could've helped us. You could argue we had the best free agent TE on our team and let him go.

We got the best OL available I think.

We didn't go after TJ, but he is a 31 year old WR and the Iggles just don't do that.

The one thing that I think we could've done possibly was signed Derrick Ward. That was the one I wanted that we didn't get.

We are loaded with picks and most trades happen around the draft. Let's just wait and see.

[MDFAN]

What TE was out there that could've helped us. You could argue we had the best free agent TE on our team and let him go.

We got the best OL available I think.

We didn't go after TJ, but he is a 31 year old WR and the Iggles just don't do that.

The one thing that I think we could've done possibly was signed Derrick Ward. That was the one I wanted that we didn't get.

We are loaded with picks and most trades happen around the draft. Let's just wait and see.

Another scenario of course is that the Eagles have targeted both TE's and RB's in the draft and expect to get one of their choices at each position.

These may or may not be the choices being bandied about on message boards but, IMO, they have a plan in place.

[sfphillyfan]

AW - LJ Smith sucks or he'd have been signed by now.

Anyway, I know he comes with baggage but what about the f'ing Soldier? We couldve gotten him.