The end of the NFL lockout has lead to a free agent frenzy that has seen a spending spree of Paris Hilton proportions. The Carolina Panthers have been throwing money around from their ridiculous $72 million deal for DE Charles Johnson to the lucrative contract they gave RB DeAngelo Williams.
Another team that has done a lot of moving and shaking has been the Philadelphia Eagles and their aggressive approach in bringing in guys like DE Cullen Jenkins and CB Nnamdi Asomugha has people in the City of Brotherly Love already locking down the avenue for the ticker tape parade. The 5-year, $60 million given to Asomugha, arguably the best corner in the game, came just days after Philly turned backup QB Kevin Kolb into another CB, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and a second-round pick. The acquisition of DRC and Asomugha combined with the presence of another high-priced cover guy in Asante Samuel gives the Eagles their most formidable secondary in years and with new hires in Jenkins and pass-rushing dynamo Jason Babin, the Eagles might have the best pass defense in the NFL.
However, it seems people have become so blinded by the dollars that they've lost all their sense. Lest we forget, we've seen this movie before. Every year, there's that one team that makes it rain in free agency and prognosticators start losing their minds. We saw it last year with the Jets. It's happened in years past with the Redskins and Cowboys. Everyone loves a "dream team", as new Eagle Vince Young has christened this year's Philly flock.
I guess this means I have to rain on the parade. I hate to break it to you, Philadelphians, but there are chinks in the armor. Football isn't baseball. You can't throw a bunch of money at big names and get a championship ring. Here are some reasons why I'm not ready to concede the 2011 season to the Philadelphia Eagles.
1. Chemistry: As I mentioned earlier, you can't just bring in a bunch of new, big named, faces and have a Super Bowl champion. This isn't fantasy football. The Jets thought they were the team to beat last year because they threw big dollars at guys like Jason Taylor and LaDainian Tomlinson and made some savvy trades for Santonio Holmes and Antonio Cromartie. The result was the same as the year before: An L in the AFC Championship. With the lockout robbing most of the summer away from NFL teams, it's going to be much more difficult for new guys to come in and build rapport with their new teammates. The Steelers have went to three Super Bowls in seven years because they are a close-knit group who all came up together. The same can be said for the two past Super Bowl champions in Green Bay and New Orleans. They aren't All-Star teams built with a bunch of mercenaries looking for a ring like the Jets and Bengals were last year. It seems misguided to think the Eagles will revamp their defense with a bunch of new parts and become the '85 Bears. These things take time and that's something that the city of Philadelphia is never willing to give. Ask Donovan McNabb.
2. The Nnamdi Factor: The Asomugha signing is a huge coup for the Eagles, a team that was in desperate need for another corner. However, the Asante Sameul signing a couple years ago was supposed to be a huge coup. The acquisition of a guy like Ellis Hobbs last year was supposed to get the Eagles over the hump. Let's be clear here: The Eagles have ALWAYS had a great cornerback duo from Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor throughout the 90's and early part of the 2000's to Lito Sheppard and Sheldon Brown after that all the way to the Sameul Era today. The Asomugha signing, plus the trade for Rodgers-Cromartie, definitely gives Philadelphia the best secondary in the NFL on paper, but if this team couldn't win with a secondary of guys like Vincent, Taylor, Brian Dawkins, Sheppard, Brown, Sameul.....all guys who were perennial Pro Bowlers, mind you.....why should I believe that things are going to be different this time around(there's also reports that Sameul is once again on the block, which means the Asomugha signing is pretty much a trade off for Samuel, making it an upgrade but not a HUGE upgrade)?
On top of that, Super Bowl wins haven't been contingent on having an elite corner. The Packers won it all last year with Charles Woodson sitting out the second half of the Super Bowl, making due with an unheralded rookie like Sam Shields. The Steelers have had success with guys like DeShea Townsend and Ike Taylor. The Ravens had one of the best defenses in the league last year with names like LaDarius Webb and Josh Wilson in the defensive backfield(Yes, having Ed Reed at safety helped, but he also missed the first half of the season). The Jets are still waiting to make the Super Bowl with Darrelle Revis, even going so far as to pair with another solid corner in Antonio Cromartie last year. It helps to have a shutdown corner. It's not a necessity, mainly because the success of the corner shutting down his man is contingent on a good pass rush. Jason Babin was brought in to take pressure off fellow DE Trent Cole and bolster the Eagles' pass rush, but Babin had one season with double-digit sacks(last season, a contract year, when he had 13.5 for the Titans.....his previous high was 5 sacks back in 2006. You see where I'm going with this?). Jenkins is a fine interior lineman, but he's played a full 16 games once in the last three seasons and he's never had more than the seven sacks he notched for the Packers last year and that came in a different scheme than the one he'll be playing in Philly. Now, obviously, the presence of the big three out in the secondary will give guys like Jenkins and Babin and Cole more time to make plays but they can't keep those receivers out on an island forever. If Babin and Jenkins can't replicate their career years last season, then it doesn't matter if the Eagles have Dominique Cromartie or Dominique Swain back there, they'll eventually get beat.
3. Mike Vick: The miraculous comeback of former #1 overall pick Michael Vick from jailhouse inmate to MVP candidate was one of the great stories in this sport's history. That being said, rolling the dice on Vick has always been a risky proposal. Even before he did a two-year bid in the clink for dogfighting charges, Mike Vick always had a trouble staying healthy. He's played ONE full season in his entire career(2006) and, while he's improved as a passer, his game will always be based on making plays with his legs.......which is fine for guys who aren't 6'0, 200 pounds. Head coach Andy Reid is going to want to keep Vick in the pocket and have him focus more on looking down field and beating teams with his cannon arm. That's like asking a Ferrari to drive in a school zone. Vick benefits from being the fastest guy on the field and the ability to throw the ball farther than almost any other QB in the game. He has always been a rare mix of every possible gift you can give a QB. You have to take the bad with the good though. For all of his scrambling prowess, Vick opens him up to some big hits and defenses know they can knock Vick out if they pound him hard enough.
Making matters worse, the Eagles downgraded at their backup QB spot. I was never a huge Kevin Kolb fan but even I know he's a better QB, right now, than newly signed Vince Young. Young's skill set is similar to Vick's, so teams game-planning for Vick don't have to do much differently if Vick gets knocked out and Young comes in. Unlike Kolb though, Young doesn't have familiarity in the offense and it's going to be asking a lot for a man who struggled with the playbook for years in Tennessee to come in and learn the Philly playbook in a little over a month and be prepared when his number gets called. And let's not kid ourselves, Vince Young's number will get called. The odds are not in favor of Vick staying healthy for a whole season. Not with his style of play. Not with that offensive line. Which brings me to.....
4. The offensive line: The Eagles gave up 49 sacks last year(4th worst in the league, which is saying something when the man you're asked to protect is the fastest human being to ever play that position), and the only major improvement they made this offseason was the drafting of Baylor guard Danny Watkins. Winston Justice is coming off knee surgery and he wasn't very good manning the right side to begin with. Jason Peters, whom Philly went all in for on a draft day trade a couple years ago, hasn't lived up to his billing as the game's best tackle since coming over from Buffalo. The team still doesn't know whose a better fit at center between Jamaal Jackson and Mike McGlynn(and neither of those guys are all-world talents themselves).
These are the guys put in charge of protecting the biggest X factor in the Eagles' success. For a huge a coup as signing Nnamdi or Jenkins or Rodgers-Cromartie or whomever the Eagles bring in the rest of this summer, nobody, NOBODY, is more detrimental to this team's success than a healthy Mike Vick and unless Watkins can be Steve Hutchinson from Day 1, Vick's going to be doing more running than he's already accustomed to.
5. DeSean Jackson's holdout: The second most important factor after Vick is DeSean Jackson, who has been demanding a new deal. Really, who can blame him? He's the team's best receiver/return guy. Without him making that walk-off punt return touchdown against New York, the Eagles don't make the playoffs. Now, he's being asked to sit back and wait on a new contract while the team is giving $12 million per to Asomugha and 5 years, $25 million to Jenkins. The Eagles are notorious for not wanting to negotiate with their own midseason. We saw this with Terrell Owens a few years ago. We've seen it with Brian Westbrook. Now, it's D-Jax's turn. The Eagles also have to worry about re-signing Vick after this season as well.
You'd like to think that, after two months working under the threat of no football at all, that Jackson would suck it up and head back to field but that's not a certainty as we head into August. Jackson wants to get paid and seeing other guys who haven't contributed to this team the way he has the last few years get their money is only going to build up his case for a new deal. As good as Jeremy Maclin was last season, this offense needs Jackson's spark on the other side and in the return game and after bringing in all these new faces, it can't afford to haggle with one of its franchise players.
6. Andy Reid: He may be one of the league's longest tenured coaches. He's also one of the game's worst, if not THE worst, clock managers. Many point to Reid's long run in Philadelphia as a reason to put Big Red a top the coaching ranks, but what has come from the Andy Reid era? One Super Bowl appearance, four NFC Championship losses. He's 10-9 in the playoffs(albeit a winning record that complements his 62% winning percentage in the regular season but certainly the case can be made there was a lot of missed opportunities with all the talent he's had). Reid's Eagles have backed into the playoffs the last two years and they've led to first round losses in back-to-back years.
Sure, Mike McCarthy proved that a terrible clock manager can win the big one but lightning doesn't strike the same place twice. This is a make-or-break season for Reid, which is probably why the team has been so aggressive in free agency. The division is weaker than its been in past years so there's no excuse for Reid's boys to not run away with the division. Still, it's Super Bowl or bust now. The team can't afford to hang on to old memories with Reid if he can't get the job done once again this year. Not with guys like Jeff Fisher(a coach whose career mirrors Reid's and still found a way to get kicked out of Tennessee), Bill Cowher, Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden waiting to get back into the coaching ranks. If Reid is everything the "experts" say he is, this is the year he proves it.
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