Top 50 FA: Will the Eagles sign anyone on this list

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Nominating FF for worst post of the year.

It's an honor just to be nominated.

[PhillyPhreak54]

Eagles Free Agent Interests Continue To Grow

By Scout.com

Date: Mar 4, 2006

The Eagles may be one of the first teams to strike once free agency finally rolls around. They figure to be very busy very early and make impact moves, spending some of the reported $20 million that they have to manuever with.

As Scout.com first reported earlier this week, the Eagles have interest in New York Jets center Kevin Mawae who has been told he'll be released. Interestingly enough, the Eagles were very interested in signing Mawae during free agency of 1998. Instead, they signed C Steve Everett who was the number one rated offensive lineman in free agency that year.
The team has been compiling a list of available free agent centers and also has their eye on ones that will be released so it's a virtual lock that one of them will be signed.

Recent speculation has turned to New Orleans Saints center LeCharles Bentley who Scout.com reported back at the Super Bowl wouldn't be re-signing with the Saints. There has been some speculation that Bentley could be moved to either tackle or guard.

According to a team source, the Eagles may also make a run at New England Patriots wide receiver David Givens. It may come down to how much money he wants. Most teams view him as a complimentary receiver not a true number one, but more and more, the Eagles are viewing second-year pro Reggie Brown as their number one receiver, so if Givens wants to be paid like a number one, he'll likely be signing elsewhere.

The Eagles are also expected to talk with Antwaan Randle El and would be more likely to give him a bigger paycheck than they would be to Givens.

The newest interest is at a position that the Eagles previously didn't seem to want to pursue. All of the talk was that they would stick with Mike McMahon as their backup to Donovan McNabb, but that may be changing. The Eagles are now looking for a veteran backup quarterback and have their eyes on Jay Fiedler who was recently released by the Jets and Jeff Garcia of the Detroit Lions.

The free agency period was supposed to start on March 3rd, but was pushed back until Monday to give teams time to manuever themselves under the cap and to give negotiators every possible minute to work out a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

[PhillyPhanInDC]

Thank god. What the Eagles need is a big, possesion type of WR to compliment Reggie. Givens is young, and has been getting progressively better each year. He is a big physical guy with excellent hands, and has a decent amount of quickness. With those two on the field and a healthy Pinky, and a Greg Lewis returning to his proper role, the WR corps would be set. They'll also grab a rookie in the draft for sure. The only reason I would take givens more that ARE at this point is I am sure Givens will come cheaper.....probably by a lot. That means the Birds can spend money on other positions as well.

As for the QB rumors, I'd rather have Garcia than Fiedler.

[The BIGSTUD]

I know punter isn't really a position people talk about or care about, but Dirk Johnson is a free agent and Landeta was shot.

What are we going to do about punter? Draft a young one?

[Geowhizzer]

I know punter isn't really a position people talk about or care about, but Dirk Johnson is a free agent and Landeta was shot.

What are we going to do about punter? Draft a young one?

That's what Shawn Barber is for!

[The BIGSTUD]

Are you sure he could extend his knees in punting formation?

[PhillyPhanInDC]

I know punter isn't really a position people talk about or care about, but Dirk Johnson is a free agent and Landeta was shot.

What are we going to do about punter? Draft a young one?

The offered Dirk a tender, and I doubt they let him go to another team without a bit of a fight.

[PhillyPhanInDC]

Info on Givens:

Agent: Givens' exit just business
By John Tomase
Saturday, March 4, 2006 - Updated: 09:11 AM EST

David Givens appears to be entering his final hours in a Patriots uniform.

Free agency starts at 12:01 a.m. Monday morning and agent Brad Blank yesterday said he has had no contact with the organization since speaking to director of player personnel Scott Pioli following a playoff victory over the Jaguars on Jan. 7.

The Patriots appear willing to let Givens walk, and Blank can't necessarily blame them.

"The Patriots have to make a business decision," Blank said. "The indications and the vibe I'm getting are that they're not going to make an offer. If they give David a lot of money, it's going to impact the salary structure of the rest of their receivers, one in particular. Frankly, if I were the Patriots, I'd do the same thing. I can understand why they wouldn't want to upset that apple cart."

The receiver in question is Deion Branch, Tom Brady's top target and the MVP of Super Bowl XXXIX. He's due just over $1 million in 2006 and could become a free agent next winter.

Considering the Pats have never paid a receiver more than $2.5 million in a season (Troy Brown), it seems unlikely they'd break the bank for Givens this year and Branch next.

"The Patriots have never had a $5 (million) or $6 million receiver," Blank said. "The Colts have three of them."

The most recent is Reggie Wayne, who signed a six-year, $39 million deal last month. Blank said he doesn't view Wayne's contract as any kind of barometer for Givens, because their numbers aren't comparable - Wayne has averaged 80 catches the last two seasons, while Givens has yet to reach 60.

Givens caught 59 passes for 738 yards in 13 games last season, his fourth since the Patriots selected him in the seventh round of the 2002 draft out of Notre Dame. He played for the $1.43 million medium tender.

Givens stacks up quite well against the two remaining marquee free agents on the market: Pittsburgh's Antwaan Randle El and Cleveland's Antonio Bryant. The former is well known for his throwing skills, while the latter topped 1,000 yards last year but has had off-field issues.

"They're different players," Blank said. "One's an apple, one's an orange and one's a lemon. My guy's not the lemon."

A number of teams are expected to have interest in Givens, particularly the Browns, who are coached by former Pats defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel, have millions to spend, and are in the market for a wideout.

"We have to get a wide receiver, since there's a possibility that Bryant will go test the free agent market," Crennel said at last week's scouting combine. "We have to get somebody in to replace that production at that spot. If we can get a veteran, that would be good."

Asked if Givens qualified, Crennel smiled. "There are other veteran receivers available, too," he said.

Whatever happens, Blank plans on speaking to the Patriots at least once more.

"Even when David gets an offer, I'm going to call the Patriots and give them a chance to match it," Blank said. "There's nothing wrong with our relationship. David loves New England. If it gets to the point where he goes somewhere else, it will be rough for him to leave, God knows, but there are no hard feelings. This is a business."

Didn't see this posted, but Moulds rejected the Bills second attempt:

Moulds rejects Bills' second request he take pay cut
Associated Press

Veteran receiver Eric Moulds' future with the Buffalo Bills became more uncertain Thursday after he rejected the team's second request this week to take a pay cut.

"This thing is going nowhere," Moulds' personal adviser, Greg Johnson, told The Associated Press after he and the player's agent, Harry Henderson, held talks with the Bills. "The dollars they're presenting at this particular time are much too low. We're way too far apart to have an intelligent conversation anymore."

Although Johnson expects the Bills to release Moulds, a move that would save the team about $5.5 million in salary cap space, he's not sure when that would happen.

"I think they're going to cut him, but not any time soon," Johnson said.

The Bills were not immediately available for comment. General manager Marv Levy has previously said he is interested in retaining Moulds, a 10-year veteran and Buffalo's senior player who ranks second on the team in several career receiving categories.

Moulds rejected the team's initial request to accept a pay cut on Monday.

Although he didn't provide monetary details of the negotiations, Johnson said the Bills haven't budged from their stance that Moulds accept what he called a significant pay cut.

The Bills were under the salary cap even before the NFL on Thursday pushed back the start of its free agency period to Monday. It was initially scheduled to open on Friday.

Buffalo freed more than $9 million in cap space Wednesday by releasing three veterans, including defensive tackle Sam Adams. Those moves mean the team wouldn't have to release Moulds until adding free agents.

Keeping Moulds, who has two years left on his contract and is scheduled to make $10.85 million next season, would hamper the team's ability to address its more significant needs, particularly on the offensive and defensive lines.

Buffalo already has released offensive lineman Mike Williams and is not expected to re-sign veteran center Trey Teague.

On the other side of the ball, the Bills could be missing two starting defensive tackles after cutting Adams and with Ron Edwards becoming a free agent. Edwards started last year before a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 4.

Other Bills players eligible to become free agents on Monday are: Third-string receiver Josh Reed, backup defensive end Ryan Denney, backup defensive tackle Justin Bannan, backup offensive lineman Greg Jerman, long-snapper Mike Schneck and cornerback Kevin Thomas, who missed all last season with a knee injury.

[MDS]

Fielders parents own this camp called Brookwood. It's really big and they have large baseball fields and competitve sports programs. My camp is the exact opposite. It's full of dead fields that are uneven, not to mention, having nothing but Jews. Still, my little 12 year old team went into Brookwood and beat them down.

Sign Fiedler. I will have a small, small connection to an Eagle.

[Phanatic]

I used to go to Camp Council as a kid. Summer camp full of Jews coming of age and shtein. The movie Meatballs is especially funny to me to this day.

[hunt]

According to a team source, the Eagles may also make a run at New England Patriots wide receiver David Givens. It may come down to how much money he wants. Most teams view him as a complimentary receiver not a true number one, but more and more, the Eagles are viewing second-year pro Reggie Brown as their number one receiver, so if Givens wants to be paid like a number one, he'll likely be signing elsewhere.

The Eagles are also expected to talk with Antwaan Randle El and would be more likely to give him a bigger paycheck than they would be to Givens.

brown/givens/pinkston/lewis/mcmullen/etc = mediocrity at best

but reid has been selling brown as a #1 wr since right around week 12 (even though most of you called me stupid for pointing it out at the time).
get ready for another season without a go-to wr.

[Rome]

Why wouldn't Brown qualify as a go-to receiver in your estimation?

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Givens is a very good player and a good physical and situational complement to guys like Pinkston and Lewis.  Brown is too unproven to be considered a go-to guy just yet, but he certainly has #1-type skills.  Most good #1's need a good complementary #2, and Givens would be OK for that... or at least a lot better than the guys on the team now.

[hunt]

Why wouldn't Brown qualify as a go-to receiver in your estimation?

why would he?  he's never been one on the nfl level.  the guy has what, 9 nfl starts under his belt.
if you're a team with super bowl aspirations (the eagles still are, right?), you don't go into the season hoping your 2nd year guy can be the go-to guy...you make sure you have a go-to guy on the roster.
the one year #5 had a stud wr, he put up by far the best season of his career...he obviously benefits from having a go-to wr.

[Rome]

I agree in principle, hunt.

I happen to think that Reggie will be a #1 receiver.  Whether that happens in 2006 or 2007 is entirely up to him.  Some players have nice rookie years and then fade into oblivion.  I don't think Reggie will be one of them. 

He'll have an entire training camp to mesh with Donovan (plus any off-season work they do in Arizona as well) and if the Eagles target him as the #1 guy and bring in a guy like Givens to be a 1a-type, I can't see how the receiving corps could be considered "weak."

That said, if Moulds is available and is willing to come to Philly, you definitely take him.  A Moulds/Brown tandem could be devastating.