| ProFootballWeekly.com asked
contributing editor Joel Buchsbaum for his thoughts on the news around the NFL. 
Eagles fire Tom Modrak
Tom Modrak, the director of football operations who helped lead the Eagles back to the
playoffs last season, has been fired.
Buchsbaum: According to four well-placed, well-informed executives around the NFL, Tom
Modrak’s firing, while not totally unexpected, was a total disgrace and something
that will be a black eye on the Eagles' organization for a long time to come. What made it
especially egregious to all four executives is, they said, basically Jeff Lurie and Joe
Banner looked for an excuse to fire Modrak even though if they had checked it out (the
rumors about his possibly leaving for another job) — and they probably did —
they would know there was not any truth to it. All the talk about Modrak going anywhere
was just newspaper (rumors), pure speculation. Modrak had been entirely up front with the
Eagles about where he stood, and he indicated repeatedly this past year that he was very
happy being where he was, with the power he currently had. Modrak was happily settled in
New Jersey near Philadelphia, and his daughter is scheduled to get married in two weeks,
and he had no plans to change his life. However, there was a period where the Eagles or
Modrak could void the contract — after the draft until May 23rd this year
and next year. Modrak gave the Eagles every indication he wanted to stay, and he wanted to
talk to them to just make sure everything was OK and he was staying. Instead, they kept
ducking him and ducking him, and then when he finally got a meeting, they basically fired
him and came up with a bogus excuse.
Modrak has done a brilliant job of rebuilding the Eagles. Or as one scout put it, he
turned what was the NFL’s outhouse into a penthouse-type situation. Yes, he did get a
great deal of help from head coach Andy Reid, and, yes, Joe Banner did a very nice job of
handling the cap for him, but Modrak was the guy that made the major moves that set things
up and got the organization going in the right direction, much like what Ron Wolf did for
the Green Bay Packers. Modrak was very loyal to the Eagles, although the first year he was
there, there was some friction. Now, although everyone agrees that Modrak was flat-out
screwed and it was a mistake, no one can say with entire certainty what the real reason
for the firing was. The general consensus was the Eagles had become convinced that Andy
Reid could walk on water and was their fair-haired man, and they wanted to make sure that
they could keep him. So, they decided to give him full control.
With regard to the Eagles’ future, right now they have an excellent, young talent
base, quality people on the team and a quarterback that can be a great one in Donovan
McNabb. There is no questioning Andy Reid’s skills as a coach. However, the Eagles
may not realize how much they are going to miss Modrak’s shrewd, outstanding eye for
personnel and his ability to smooth things out around the organization because of his
people skills. Everyone agrees on this: Modrak was a totally honest, upfront person, and
he was basically what-you-saw-was-what-you-got, and you could look him straight in the eye
and know you were getting an honest answer every time you spoke to him. He was a class
act, and he deserved much better. By the same token, everyone agrees now that everyone who
is hired by the Eagles will be looking over their shoulder, realizing that even if they
are terrific in the football end of the operation and in dealing with people, if their
office politics are not as good, they too could be in trouble, as Modrak found out the
hard way. It’s obvious Modrak deserves another job as head of a football team, and
right now the team with a wide-open situation that could really use him is the Chicago
Bears.
Going back to the Eagles’ situation, rumor has it that Reid may attempt to hire
John Dorsey, whom he worked with in Green Bay and has the utmost respect for. But the
general feeling is the Packers will attempt to keep Dorsey and Reggie McKenzie in the
organization to run the college and pro ends of their scouting and regard them as two of
the finest in the business. On the other hand, Ken Herock is definitely out and should be
a leading candidate in Washington since he fits what Marty Schottenheimer wants, which is
basically a superscout who will allow Marty to make the calls. That would be a good fit
there if Herock wants to continue to work. Another rumor regarding the Eagles has Mike
Lombardi getting back into the picture. Lombardi, who had a brief stint in Philadelphia
earlier in his career under Lurie and Banner, obviously would like more power than he
currently has with the Raiders.
Bengals sign FB Lorenzo Neal
The Bengals reached agreement on a two-year contract with FB Lorenzo Neal, one day
after they lost FB Nick Williams to a torn knee ligament. The Bengals needed a fullback
because Williams is expected to miss at least half of the season.
Buchsbaum: Neal gives them an excellent run-blocking fullback and should make staying
in Cincinnati even more appealing to Corey Dillon. Basically the (reason) a number of
other teams have let him go is while he is an exceptional run blocker, in other areas he
is far from being the complete back. He can catch the ball but has a tendency to fall down
after the catch. He’s not an especially gifted or fast runner. And at times he will
still miss a few blitz pickups. Overall, he’s a good football player in the right
situation, and the Bengals, with a featured tailback who’s going to be the focal
point of their game, are the right situation for him. It was a very good pickup, and
it’s a probable upgrade at the FB position, especially so since they’d lost
Williams, the projected starter at fullback, for probably six months with a major knee
injury suffered in minicamp. |
