Soon Donovan Will Be Back

I tend to think there is some truth to this- which, of course, as an Eagles’ fan fills me with great joy.

Rich Hoffman’s point about “consistency” is a good one. The Eagles have placed a premium on consistency- frequently choosing to take their cap chances via duration risk via long term contracts to solid young players rather than bringing in pricy, yet talented, free agents. This approach has not been validated in Super Bowl victories- but it has been enough to put them far ahead of the NFC East at the very least.

Last year, my post-season treatise went on for pages- particularly concerning the offense. I identified multiple fixes: the offensive line, the running back mix, quarterback, and #1 wide out. Clearly, they fixed the line. They found one, maybe two, back-up quarterbacks who could play, the running back mix is still a concern and the wide-out situation, wile pretty good this year, still smells of a short term solution. But all in all, there was great progress here in 2006- and most issues this year will be addressed with an eye toward maintaining that consistency in approach.

But we’re addressing offense today on “Frank Helps You Think It All Out”. The offensive line reconstruction was a total success- particularly in the interior- where the guys the Eagles were grooming all turned out to be players. Shawn Andrews will be going to a thousand Pro-Bowls, Jamaal Jackson arguably could have gone too and Todd Herremans is giving solid play at a cheap cap number while being groomed to move outside to right tackle. It was a little bit of miracle that the current veteran tackles made it through the season injury free for once- but the Eagles are grooming their replacements from the Winston Justice, Herremans and Andrews trifecta. Their problems here are the ones from a position of strength- a.k.a. do you want still to move Andrews outside to LT (his original destiny), give up a perennial all-Pro Guard for some sort of no doubt very competent tackle?

The position(s) really needing addressing is the aforementioned running back mix. Westbrook is a great player- but his relative fragility, the fact that he simply cannot handle the 25 carries week after week a feature back demands, and his big cap number means the Eagles still need a cheap player to actually contribute weekly on a dozen or so touches in the secondary role here. The only way you get cheap guys who contribute is through the draft. I guess Moats is a bust- but it isn’t like we ever see him play. Buckhalter is simply not too good and way too hurt and there are no other serious options on the roster.

Other decisions are free agent ones- which are sort of out of Banner’s hands. If someone dumps ridiculous contracts with good roles in front of Stallworth or Garcia- what can you do? Despite his brave play, I don’t think the Eagles sweat a Garcia departure all that much. AJ Feeley enjoys the complete and utter confidence of the Reid regime.

Donte Stallworth is more problematic. He’s not a great number one, he gets hurt, doesn’t play hurt and has more than a little clubhouse lawyer in him- but he and Brown gave the team a plus combo for once outside. While the Eagles always have trouble at this position- Donte goes against a lot of what they believe organizationally- in particular, paying up for a guy who isn’t a competent, relatively low cost pro. To be honest, if they re-sign one free agent, I tend to think it’ll be Stallworth- just because I think they can replace Garcia with a guy on the roster already.

It is hard to cut a punter who is not a minus- but Dirk Johnson is certainly not a plus either. The Eagles are trying to strike it lucky with a veteran Aussie rules player. I dunno; I can see “practice squad” and “NFL Europe” or something other than “active roster” written all over that guy even if it works out. And I’ve seen enough of Mahe as a punt returner- open audition please.

So it merely tweaks here- as behooves the top offense in the NFC, one guided by the back-up quarterback. The defense is the more radical overhaul- filled with guys to cut. Dhani Jones, I’m talkin’ to you!