Brown Out

Too funny that Paul Domowitch writes about an issue that should have been covered two weeks ago during the, "will Reggie Brown make the team or will he be cut in favor of Hank Baskett" navel gazing. Now it comes out, that of course Brown wasn't cut because of the huge salary cap hit the team would take. http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/columnists/20090918_Paul_Domowitch__Making_cents_of_Brown_situation.html

But cut through all of Domo's dense reporting and here's the bottomline. The Eagles will take a cap hit for releasing Brown but it won't be as bad as he portrays it and will certainly leave the team with plenty of room left to make any acquisitions they need over the course of the rest of the season.

Were the Eags to cut Brown, his cap hit would be $6.5 million ($7.3 prorated bonus minus his $884k base salary). As Domo reports, the Eagles present cap room is about $9 million, meaning that letting go of Brown will give them $2.5 million left to sign Jon Runyan and any other players they might need to fill subsequent injury voids.

Get Well Shawn

"We wish Shawn all the best as he recovers..." is the operative and less than subtle wording in Andy Reid's statement about Shawn Andrews being placed on IR. A total kiss off, almost like he was being released, rather than having his season curtailed by a season-ending injury.

Of course, Andrews may have the last laugh...all the way to the bank. If he isn't really that hurt, his scheme is genius to keep your bonus money but never having to play again. On the flip side, backs are funny and he's had trouble with it in his past. maybe he really is hurt. Either way, the Eagles pulled the trigger on this move awfully fast. Maybe too fast given how thin their offensive line is.

Runyan Back with Eagles?

Runyan worked out for the Eagles today. Reportedly, 3 other teams are also interested in Runyan.

 

This is what drives me crazy about the front office, they’re penny wise and pound foolishness.

 

Presumably they are waiting to sign him after the first game when his full year contract is not guaranteed. Of course, he’s not likely to play in the first game 3 days from now, but why wait?

 

You’ve got a championship contending team, you’ve got problems on your offensive line, you’ve got a proven nfl tackle that wants to play, and a team leader to boot. You put all this money into other upgrades, why not just sign Runyan now for $1million and be done with it. heck, maybe you could even suit him up for Sunday so he doesn’t end his consecutive games streak. Your millions under the cap and Runyan is good insurance for Shawn Andrews.

 

Plus he’s earned a little management gesture of good will. I would think it would be good for the locker room and the other players if they saw that management wasn’t playing hard ball with him.

 

The Eagles thinking on this makes no sense to me.

The Kiss of Death

According to this website, the Phillies have a 95.7% chance of making the playoffs.

 

The Yankees and Cardinals are near locks (99.9%), while the Dodgers are at 97.1%, the Tigers 89.2% and the Angels 88.3% (among all division leaders).

Lewis Cut

The Patriots cut WR Greg Lewis. Guess the Eagles made out in that trade, getting the Pats' 5th rounder this year (who turned out to be Fenuki Tupou) in exchange for Lewis and an undisclosed pick next year (6/7).

Kolb plummeting

Finally! an article that at least touches on the real implications for the QB depth chart of the Michael Vick signing. To wit, Kevin Kolb is essentially being demoted.

Yes, yes, Kolb is technically still the "#2" QB - by default right now since Vick is suspended for the first two games of the season. But when Vick comes back, Kolb will be the only #2 QB in the league known as the "disaster QB."

The Eagles actually have done this in recent years where the game day back up is not the same as the long-term back up depending on whether the starter is out for only part of a game or several games. Wasn't Detmer the active #2 QB for a while just so he could hold for Akers but if McNabb was out for several games Garcia would leapfrog from #3 to #1?

One other interesting aspect to all this. Just like Kolb might technically be #2 on the depth chart, what if Vick, while technically a QB, is actually designated at another position (WR?) on game days? Might the 6th WR be the "disaster QB" with the thought that it gives Reid the flexibility to use all three QBs as he sees fit and that if something did happen to McNabb, the team could muddle along for a quarter or two with Kolb and Vick and then in the fourth quarter replace McNabb's empty roster spot with the extra WR? An added twist,Vick at WR has fantasy football implications.

Cut downs

My uninformed guess is that the final WR spot will come down to Hank Baskett or Reggie Brown. Will the preference be for a "bigger" receiver (whose size and leaping ability have yet to utilized in 4 years) who brings a little glamour to the team as the husband of a former Hef plaything, or do the Eagles lean towards not giving up on their former #2 pick? It will be interesting.