Another Prodigal Son

My brother called me last night about 10:30 pm. “You’ll never believe who the Eagles got,” he asked. “A former player…like Trotter,” he hinted. Now as I tried to answer the question of which prodigal son had returned, a surprisingly long list of names came to mind: John Welbourn, Duce Staley, Bobby Taylor, Troy Vincent, etc.. To be honest, it took me a couple of guesses to get Hugh Douglas. He’s only been away one season, but it seems much longer than that.

Perhaps the bigger shock of the Eagles re-acquiring their former star D-end, is the fact that Jacksonville waived Douglas only one year after signing the big multi-year contract. They will take a cap hit of $3.6 million next year on Douglas’ pro-rated signing bonus. Reports from Jax indicate that the team wanted more speed from the edge rush than Douglas could provide, and it seems clear that coach Jack Del Rio didn’t get along with Douglas and cut him to send a message to the rest of the team about job security and performance. (With a $5 million salary for 2005, Douglas would likely have been cut before next season anyway. Now, Del Rio gets his message across and accelerates the cap hit the team will take while they are still in full rebuilding mode. So really, the only remaining question is why the Jaguars threw so much money at Hugh to begin with.)

Like the Trotter signing, getting Douglas back makes a lot of sense along several fronts. Douglas comes back to a defensive system in which he excelled and knows well. He adds depth to a position that has been depleted by injuries. Douglas and Trotter add a veteran presence and also leadership in the locker room --- a not insubstantial consideration given the departure of defensive leaders with the stature of Taylor and Vincent. Plus, the Douglas signing – like Trotter’s – is cost-effective. Close to the veteran minimum but with incentives that the Eagles would gladly pay for more sacks and big plays.

The Douglas saga also appears to validate the personnel decisions of the Eagles’ front office. The uncomfortable truth was that Douglas had devolved into a situational player in his last year with the Eagles: a pass rushing specialist. Albeit, a successful pass rushing specialist with 12 ½ sacks. Still, the Eagles were willing to re-sign Douglas, but only at a level that was commensurate with his future role on the team. Instead of paying millions for a 3rd down specialist, the Eagles will be paying approximately $700,000 for a pass rushing specialist.

The examples of Trotter and Douglas are evidence of the Eagles’ astute player evaluations and salary computations. It must really put a scare into the teams that signed Staley, Vincent and Taylor who must now begin asking themselves, “why did the Eagles not try to re-sign these guys? What did they see that we haven’t?”