Eagles Rumors

The Eagles’ strongly worded pre-emptive strike against Sheldon Brown looks like it may have served to escalate the situation, as now Brown is talking to several media sources — and the Eagles can’t like what he’s saying.

“Without a doubt there are going to be more problems,” Brown said this morning. “I’m not the first guy and I’m not going to be the last guy. What’s the incentive for guys like Trent Cole and Mike Patterson to play above their heads?”

Brown is referring to the long-term deals young players signed that the Eagles will want them to honor.  No matter which side you may take in this argument, it is clear the gulf between Brown and the organization is growing now.  Sowing discontent in this manner has got to have Joe Banner and Andy Reid grinding their teeth.

The situation is getting worse.

In what has truly been a surprising and whirlwind afternoon, we are left feeling that Sheldon Brown is never going to play again for the Eagles.  We’d love to be wrong, but consider the statements being made.

After the public statement today, there is no way the Birds are going to give Brown a new contract.  That is a giant line in the sand, and the Eagles clearly mean business.

Likewise, Brown sure seems like a guy who’s in a position to dig in:

Brown said he reached the boiling point when, after a year of trying to get the Eagles to address his deal, he heard that team president Joe Banner had gone on WIP and said Brown’s dissatisfaction had not been brought to his attention. Subsequently, Brown said, agent Jason Chayut’s attempts to negotiate were shuffled off to recently hired Eagles consultant Andrew Brandt, who kept postponing planned meetings.

“My agent has been trying to do it in a respectful fashion,” he said.

Brown said he made the public trade request in the spirit of “how do we get people to understand that this has been brought to your attention?”

Seems like the Eagles could have treated him a bit better, even if some of his “whoa is me” emotional statements are overboard.

Additionally, consider:

First, he told the Daily News his reasoning when he signed the contract extension in 2004 was “they came to me early to do a deal” and if he continued to play well, that would happen again. As to other 2002 drafted corners’ “concerns about health or performance,” Brown said: “Most of the corners drafted in 2002 are out of the league now.” As for diminishing his trade value by speaking out, Brown said the Eagles just traded for Buffalo tackle Jason Peters, who held out last summer, with three years left on a contract. “They just traded for a guy who diminished his trade value last year,” Brown said.

…..

Brown said the trade of fellow disgruntled corner Lito Sheppard to the Jets made him think the team might be open to dealing him.

“If you traded your Pro Bowl player for a fifth-round pick, well, I’m pretty sure I can go out and get you that right now,” he said.

With the statements Brown is making, it is clear this is a guy who feels disrespected and underpaid — and he’s not going to take it anymore. It also seems like he tried as hard as he could to handle the situation in a professional manner. This wasn’t a Drew Rosenhaus situation.

He’s gone public now, and Sheldon may be too proud to come back to the locker room without a new deal.

It’s sad to say, but we’ve probably seen the last of Sheldon in Eagle green.  The path of least resistance is for the Eagles to trade him (or cut him).  The dead money for cutting him is minimal (a little over a million).

The last thing the Eagles need is a training camp distraction.

ESPN is reporting that Sheldon Brown has asked the Eagles front office to trade him.

Everything is speculation at this point, but the good money is on Brown not being satisfied with his salary.  This situation continues to be a problem for the Eagles, who like to lock up young talented players to lengthy deals that the player eventually becomes dissatisfied with.

Brown may also fear that with several young defensive backs on the roster, and perhaps more to come in the draft, if he is  supplanted in the near future as a starter in Philly he will never have a chance for a big payday again.

Fascinating stuff in the Inquirer today.  First, Joe Banner says not to rule the Eagles out of more moves this off-season:

“We’re always looking for players that we think can make us better,” Banner said. “I think we’ve proven many times that we’d be willing to do what it takes, whether it be a trade or do something with somebody’s contract in order to get them here.” ……..

“There are teams that start the year with only one first-round draft pick and they’ve traded them,” Banner said. “If we made another trade with a first-round draft pick, we’d just be in the same position as them. I think we’ll do whatever we evaluate to be the best move with any of the available players. . . . Some of the evaluation is about the quality of what we have at certain positions.”

Politics and posturing are always of the utmost importance in the off-season, so as with any comment from the front office — don’t assume what they say is actually what they’re thinking.

Second, we find out that the Eagles do in fact like Knowshon Moreno.

Georgia’s Knowshon Moreno is the running back at the top of the Eagles’ draft board, but they may have to move up from the 21st pick to obtain him.

How the Inquirer knows this particular nugget isn’t revealed.  Too bad.

The deal to bring All-Pro left tackle Jason Peters to Philadelphia has been received positively by most of the fan base, and rightfully so.  He is 27 years old with the ability to be one of the premier players at one of the most important positions in the game.

The Eagles paid a fair amount for him, but no one would argue too much.  The team still has the earliest of its first round picks, and 10 total draft picks.  If the team was looking to draft a tackle anyway, they are making out like bandits by getting a guy who they know can already play at an elite level in the NFL.

What has transpired is a coup for Peters as well.  He now plays for one of the premier franchises in the NFL and gets paid handsomely for it — $60 million over the next six years.

This team now has what can be considered one of the elite offensive lines in the game.  This is a unit that, when healthy, should be able to give the Eagles offense a huge boost in the running game especially.

Via Rotoworld:

FOXSports.com’s Jay Glazer reports the Eagles have acquired LT Jason Peters from the Bills in exchange for the 28th overall pick, a second-day draft pick, and a late-round pick in 2010.

As reports pile up of teams interested in Anquan Boldin the Cardinals position grows stronger.  This is something that Giants’ GM Jerry Reese is apparently not very interested in having to deal with.

“I don’t know if that’s the best thing for us to do, to package up a deal that valuable. We like our draft picks. We like developing players. We won’t force anything.”

Asked if that would be forcing it for Boldin, Reese said “It could be.”

While this is pretty good news for the Eagles, the reports that the Ravens have also contacted the Cardinals is not.  The more AFC teams who desire Boldin the more likely it is the Cardinals will make the smart choice to ship him out of conference.

Both Rod Graves and Ken Whisenhunt are now openly discussing Anquan Boldin leaving the team.  Said Whisenhunt:

“It would be foolish from our standpoint not to listen to those opportunities and see what actually exists. But I want to make the point … our goal is to re-sign him to a long-term deal. That hasn’t changed.”

What would be needed to swing a deal for the soon-to-be 29 year old is an open question.  Presumably the Cardinals would at least ask for a deal similar to the (ridiculous) package the Lions got for Roy Williams — though it’s hard to believe they would find a partner.

According to John Niyo of the Detroit News, the Eagles put in a waiver claim for WR Will Franklin, who is not a Detroit Lion.  Also putting in claims for Franklin were the Colts and the Raiders.

Franklin is 23 years old.  He caught seven passes for the Chiefs in 2008 after the team drafted him in the fourth round.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend.  We’re just settling back into things around here.  One of the big items, not surprisingly, making the rounds at the moment is a report from Mike Lombardi at the National Football Post that the Browns have an offer that includes a first round pick for Braylon Edwards — but they’re waiting for more.

The overwhelming sentiment on Edwards right now is that he won’t play for the Browns in ‘09.

As you may recall, last month we posted the report that the Eagles had inquired with the Browns about Edwards.