Eagles Rumors

The Eagles have cut him today.  Surprise to some, not around here.  We’ll have more on this later.  Reid will be issuing a statement.

Of course the Eagles chose the night of our big NCAA Calcutta to make a flurry of moves (selfish, selfish).  Here’s the roundup:

The Birds have gotten Mike Bell to sign their offer sheet.  Now the Saints have 7 days to match it.  Most believe they are unlikely to do so, and Mike Bell will be right below LeSean McCoy on the Eagles running back depth chart.

The Eagles also traded Chris Clemons and their 2010 4th round pick to Seattle for DE Darryl Tapp.  They promptly signed Tapp to a three-year extension.  Tapp had 7 sacks in 2009.  He’s significantly bigger than Clemons (270 lbs versus 240).  Hopefully he’s more productive than Clemons was as an Eagle.

Via Adam Schefter… today the Eagles will host restricted free agent RB Mike Bell.  Bell carried the ball 172 times for the Saints in 2009 for a total of 654 yards (3.8 ypc).  He’s a hard runner but not much of a pass catcher.  It would be a surprise if he signed with the Birds.

RB Justin Fargas and WR Hank Wilkinson Baskett will be stopping by the NovaCare Complex tomorrow.

Fargas, in our opinion, would be an excellent, cheap compliment to LeSean McCoy.

3/10/10 — 3:10 PM:  We are happy to look foolish on this one.  The Birds fool everyone and do sign Jackson.  Thanks to commenter “deadinside”.

3/10/10 — 10:46 AM:  Like we suspected, Jackson isn’t going to sign with the Birds, but will still meet with the media. Birds looking for any “news” to give people.

The Eagles will have Marlin Jackson meet the Philadelphia press corps tomorrow.  Often the announcing of a press conference means the team either already has a come to some sort of agreement with the player or is confident one will be reached soon.

On the other hand, in what has been a not-so-glamorous start to free agency for the Eagles, this could just be a PR move to give the press corps something new to chew on.

Jackson would likely be considered a free safety for the Eagles.

Sal Paolantonio has never been one of our favorites.  When he tries to scoop Eagles football, he tends to drop unverifiable information and blatant speculation.  So take this with a grain of salt.

He reports that Pete Carroll wants to win in Seattle right away, and that to do so he believes he needs to get his hands on one of Donovan McNabb or Kevin Kolb.  He says the Seahawks have been contacting the Eagles “non-stop”.

You can listen to his entire appearance on 97.5 right here.

Something interesting from Mike Lombardi:

I wonder why no teams have made a move on corners Ellis Hobbs or Sheldon Brown of the Eagles. Hobbs has a first-round tender on him but could be had for less. Once Leigh Bodden signs, I expect the trade market for these corners to heat up….

Bodden signed yesterday (Oops).  Sheldon has arguably been the Eagles most consistent player for several years now, but he did finally show some weaknesses towards the end of ‘09.  His contract has him in an Eagles uniform through 2012, but the Eagles also would suffer no financial hit from trading him.

The problem is the Birds have no reliable replacement, of course.  Perhaps Ellis Hobbs could be serviceable, or Macho Harris could move back to corner.  But what could you get in trade for Sheldon Brown that would make the trade worthy of the risk?

It seems unlikely.  But if the Birds start fielding calls from teams as Lombardi expects, anything can happen.

Reggie Brown is finally out of depth chart hell with the Eagles.  He’s been traded to the Bucs for a 2011 sixth round pick.

Brown had fallen out of favor with coach Andy Reid.  After a promising start to his career, Brown has barely seen the field the last two seasons — but the Birds have kept him on board because his long-term deal made cutting him outright nonsense.  He was very, very inexpensive.

The Eagles now have DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, Jason Avant, and Kevin Curtis as the wide receivers on the roster with pro experience.  They also have under contract Jordan Norwood and Dobson Collins.

Impressive that the Eagles were able to get anything for Brown, in our opinion.

As expected, the Eagles are going to pay Mike Vick’s $1.5 million roster bonus, due on Wednesday.  This move was expected, though one wonders about the logic of paying $1.5 million for the opportunity to trade a player for a middle round draft pick.  Is that pick worth it?

Marlin Jackson, cornerback for the Colts, will be visiting the Eagles.  He’s coming off an ACL injury.

Jason Avant and the Eagles have agreed on a new contract.  Details to come.  It makes sense for both teams.  Avant has a niche role in the Eagles offense, and fits perfectly with this team.

Like a few years ago with Takeo Spikes, the Eagles have decided to cut a costly, but effective linebacker.  Akeem Jordan is the presumed starter again at WILL.