Spiked

The free agent signing period started off terrific for the Eagles in landing pro bowl CB Asante Samuel and pass rush specialist DE Chris Clemons. The cherry on top was the reports of the Eagles negotiating with standout WR Randy Moss. It was great that the Eagles indicated an interest in upgrading at WR, even better that they didn’t acquire such a polarizing and indifferent player.

 

But now they’ve gone and cut LB Takeo Spikes for the $5 million in 2008 cap savings. This move has all the feel of the Eagles being penny wise and pound foolish. Flashbacks to Jeremy Bloom!

 

Yes, Stewart Bradley’s play at the end of last year was encouraging, as was Akeen Jordan’s. But can they do it over an entire season? We’ll see. Spikes gave the Eagles depth and veteran experience. The way Jim Johnson has shuffled his LBs, an injury to either Gaither, Bradley, Spikes or Gocong meant that one of the others would be able to take his place. Now, with Spikes gone, much of that flexibility to move the LBs around is gone too and the much more untested Jordan is now the plan B if one of the starters gets hurt.

 

Perhaps this is an indication that the Eagles are trying to clear cap room to bring in Larry Fitzgerald, as Bob Brookover hints at today. But otherwise, it looks foolish. Presuming whoever takes Spikes’ place in the LB corps will earn anywhere from $1-2 million/year, the real savings of the Spikes departure is “only” $3-4 million. For that price why not keep Spikes for one more year during this super bowl push?