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Eagles QB
Donovan McNabb
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Looking for a team to adopt? Longing to align yourself with a club that appears to have
everything going for it? Want a legitimate shot at a Super Bowl more than once this
decade?
Well then, consider becoming a fan of the Eagles.
This is a franchise on the rise. Notice I didn’t write "team" on the
rise. I wrote "franchise" because the success the Eagles are enjoying goes
beyond the guys who wear the helmets. While Donovan McNabb, Chad Lewis, Hugh Douglas,
Jeremiah Trotter, Brian Dawkins and the rest of the gang may wind up with most of the
glory, the front office and coaching staff deserve the same attention. They are, after
all, the folks who put this team together.
Not long ago, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie was a frequent target for critics who
didn’t like the way he ran his team. There were suggestions that he and executive
vice president Joe Banner were meddlesome. Some members of the media blamed the duo for
making poor decisions in handling the personnel department and said they were too involved
in building the roster. Heck, those allegations had been printed right in the very pages
of Pro Football Weekly more than once.
The criticism may have been well-founded. But so are the accolades Lurie and Banner
deserve for getting the ship righted. And this ship isn’t setting sail on a run to
pick up a load of mediocrity. The Eagles’ ship is chugging toward an NFL title. Maybe
not this year, but soon.
It’s hard not to believe good things are to come when you look at the facts.
The personnel department is now headed by director of football operations Tom Modrak, a
very well-respected football man. He’s guided the last two drafts with input from
head coach Andy Reid, who deserves serious Coach of the Year consideration for guiding
this young team to the playoffs in just his second season on the job. In those last two
drafts, the Eagles have nailed their first-round picks. McNabb? Bingo! DT Corey Simon?
Bull's-eye!
Then examine the salary-cap shape this team is in. Unlike most NFL teams, the Eagles
have cap space to spare. When the free-agent signing period begins in March, the Eagles
will have options like few other clubs. From what I hear, the Eagles will have about $7
million to play with once all is said and done. That $7 million is pure extra — it
doesn’t include the money they will have to spend on rookies and their own free
agents.
"We will have an opportunity here to lock up some of our players long-term, which
we’ve done a lot of lately, or be able to go into the free-agent market and either
pick up a few (mid-level) or veteran or leader-type guys, or go after a really top guy
early if we want," said Banner, who is responsible for managing the Eagles’
salary cap. "And that will really all end up being driven by Tom Modrak and
Andy’s evaluation of what we need and the quality of what’s out there. But we
will have the choice to go in either of those directions based on the cap space we
have."
You just know the likes of Jerry Jones, Daniel Snyder and Wayne Weaver are just burning
with envy when they hear about the space the Eagles have under the cap.
Why do the Eagles find themselves in such fine shape? They have instituted
Banner’s philosophy of trying to retain their own top players by signing them to
extensions well before their contracts are set to expire. The Eagles are intent upon
building their foundation largely from within. Because of this, they have no starters up
for unrestricted free agency in the spring.
"The one thing we’ve done is, we’ve gone to young players much earlier
than any other team in the league," Banner said. "When we went to Brian Dawkins,
he’d only been in the league for one and a half years and wasn’t near being a
Pro Bowl player, and (we) signed him to a six-year contract."
Dawkins, of course, has developed into a Pro Bowl player. And look at some of the other
players the Eagles have signed long-term long before their contracts were due to expire:
RB Duce Staley. CBs Bobby Taylor and Troy Vincent. DT Hollis Thomas. OLT Tra Thomas. What
did the Eagles do when they acquired DE Hugh Douglas in a trade with the Jets? They
immediately signed him to a long-term deal. Plus, the team was able to add ORT Jon Runyan
and RB-KR Brian Mitchell in free agency last offseason.
"The philosophy from a cap perspective of trying to approach good young players
very early in their contract, I think, has helped us," Banner said. "And then
the accuracy of Tom Modrak and Andy Reid’s evaluation of which of those young players
(to sign). You know, we didn’t just lock up all of our young players. We were
selective about it. And it’s amazing, they’ve basically batted, like, 100
percent."
OK, so the Eagles have a very good nucleus on which to build. The only starter who is
eligible for free agency is MLB Jeremiah Trotter, and he’s only slated to be a
restricted free agent. And the club has money to spend on the open market if it so
chooses.
What else could be going right for this franchise?
Well, it has a new stadium on the way. The NFL is all about new stadiums and the large
amount of unshared revenue they bring teams. After years of political wrangling, the
Eagles will move out of the hell hole known as Veterans Stadium and into a brand-new,
state-of-the-art facility in 2003. For this, Banner deserves the bulk of the credit. While
it may have seemed like an impossible task to get the Philadelphia politicians to agree on
such a project, Banner never gave up. And just weeks ago, the relentless pursuit for new
digs was approved by the city.
The Eagles aren’t just riding a hot streak. Jeff Lurie, Joe Banner, Tom Modrak and
Andy Reid have slowly built the framework for what may become one of the top NFL teams in
the next few seasons.
And they know it.
"I can tell you, and I’ll be accountable for it, but we will have no excuse
to not be a very competitive team and be able to stay with anyone in the league,"
Banner said. "We’re doing the right job on the cap. And we will spend the money
necessary. And we’re making the right player evaluations. And we continue to get the
outstanding job from Andy Reid and his staff. There is no reason that this shouldn’t
be one of the top franchises for as far forward as we can see now."
I would have to agree. |
