AR press conference

[WEST is GOD]

They sign free agents, but every team signs free agents. It's the quality that is important. Barber was moot. He was let go after one year, and when they signed him they didn't have high hopes for him coming off an injury. Emmons was signed before he turned into the quality LB that he is. Every team makes some nice signings, but the Eagles don't make nearly as much as they should considering their great cap situation and the fact that every year they are so close but not good enough. They never risk denting future plans just a little bit to go out and get one more quality player that could help this team. Every now and then the Eagles will find a player to come in and contribute, but all teams do that.

[rjs246]

A circular conversation where no one will concede a point that includes TO_is_a_shteinBAG?! I don't believe it!

[Wingspan]

They never risk denting future plans just a little bit to go out and get one more quality player that could help this team.

oh really, TO is GOD?

[WEST is GOD]

Didn't I already state earlier besides TO and Kearse? I believe I did.

That still doesn't excuse the most recent offseason where their big FA signing was McMahon. TO and the Freak are signed. Time to move on from that "magical" offseason. Last offseason was the worst offseason ever and it shouldn't have been. The team is now paying for it. They have no d-line depth. They have terrible LBs. They have no o-line depth if god forbid someone goes down.

Don't even act like you expected the Eagles to sign TO and Kearse. No one here did. Why? Because the Eagles never went after the big players. After the one uncharacteristic year they went back to their old ways and it still didn't get us a parade. Which is all I care about.

[General_Failure]

Buddy Ryan never would have let this shtein happen.

[Rome]

No one has managed to explain the salary cap conundrum to my satisfaction.

You're all on report as of now.




BTW: I realize they are under by 12M now.  My point was, they won't be when it comes time for them to spend the wad just as they have every other year.   Also - the reason they usually have this kind of money available has been well documented.  Banner's juiced every penny out of the incentives loophole, so of course they're going to have more than most teams.

Also - high ticket free agents don't win you Super Bowls.  Smart drafting does.  Reid & Heckert have hit some screaming home runs in that regard but they've also whiffed horribly on others.  It's the nature of the beast.

[PhillyPhreak54]

Just want to throw this out there....

They're not $12M under.

It's more like $9.5M.

[WEST is GOD]

No one has managed to explain the salary cap conundrum to my satisfaction.

You're all on report as of now.




BTW: I realize they are under by 12M now.  My point was, they won't be when it comes time for them to spend the wad just as they have every other year.   Also - the reason they usually have this kind of money available has been well documented.  Banner's juiced every penny out of the incentives loophole, so of course they're going to have more than most teams.

Also - high ticket free agents don't win you Super Bowls.  Smart drafting does.  Reid & Heckert have hit some screaming home runs in that regard but they've also whiffed horribly on others.  It's the nature of the beast.

I don't get down on the Eagles for draft busts as much as I do what positions they draft. Freddie Mitchell didn't work out... ok. Some other players didn't turn out to be good... ok. It happens with all teams. What pisses me off sometimes is what positions they target as needs. Though I trust the Eagles will drafts more often than not, and I don't often get angry with their drafts.

I think you win Superbowls with drafts AND free agency. Not one or the other. You need an nice balance of signing quality players to fill needs and drafting to fill needs and for long-term needs. The Eagles just seem one-sided. This past offseason they relied 100% on the draft to fix their needs, and what do you know? Moats isn't working out. Reggie Brown is hardly contributing anything, and Mccoy can't even get on the field.

They don't have to be the taterskins and sign 5 huge names per year, but a couple wouldn't hurt. Although if the taterskins knew what they were doing then I'm sure they could've made those bust signings work out.

[Rome]

Eagles rookies rarely play at all, so judging 2005's draft class now is pointless and more than a little unfair.

The Eagles have signed free agents in the past when they've felt that in doing so, they would be acquiring upgrades.  The thing is, though, last year's team was loaded with Pro Bowlers.  There were few players available in free agency that would have been upgrades and even fewer who would have come at a reasonable price.

No, if you're looking for the Eagles to fill their personnel slots with free agents, you're rarely, if ever going to be happy with the results.  In my opinion, building through the draft is the best way to build championship teams in the salary cap era. 

[General_Failure]

No one has managed to explain the salary cap conundrum to my satisfaction.

You're all on report as of now.

That number doesn't count incentive bonuses that apparently will only be reached by McNabb this year. As I understand it they only count against the cap when they're reached.

[WEST is GOD]

Well, if the Eagles season goes in the tank, then they'll have no choice but to make some big FA signings. Especially if they let TO walk, they'll need to sign or trade for a 1,000 yard receiver.

But my problem is exactly what you said and how you said it. You said you build championship teams through the draft in the salary cap era. I agree. The Eagles aren't building right now though. They are there, and they need something to push them over the hump. Draftees, especially when drafting deep like the Eagles are won't push you over the top. When you are on the verge of winning a championship that is when free agency becomes important.

But if you are a 4-12 team looking to become championship caliber then you do build through the draft. The Eagles were a 13-3 team. The draft isn't what is going to get them over the hump.

[Rome]

The Eagles lost five starters from last year's team (Mayberry, Simon, Ritchie, Pinky & Burgess) and other than Ritchie & Simon, everyone assumed that the players they replaced them with were going to be more than adequate.

It turns out that they were wrong in nearly every instance but that doesn't mean you abandon your scheme and go all willy nilly in free agency.  That tactic never fricken works.   Just look at teams who've broken the bank in the recent past.  None of them succeeded.  Not one.  The Eagles cannot rely on free agents to win anything.  They have to rely on their own talent evaluation and acquisition skills via the draft.

It's just that simple.

[WEST is GOD]

They can't rely on it 100%, but in the same token it can do nothing but make your team better. Say next year the Eagles signed Darren Howard and Julian Peterson. They are going to be a much better defensive team with those 2 players. All they have to do is use them the way they are supposed to be used and execute. You base your system around your players, not your players around your system.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

I would like to point out that the chances of the Eagles adding both Darren Howard and Julian Peterson next off-season are precisely MEATCICLE.  ZERO.  NO WAY IN FARGING HELL.

Are you following the same team here, space boy?

[Diomedes]

FF, will you please knock it off?  You're interrupting a perfectly superfluous spat between hekilledhisnephew99RIP and TOisDOG.