DeSean Gets His Deal

Posted: March 14th, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 102 Comments »

As Teddy KGB famously once said, “Pay that man his money.”     

DeSean Jackson got a reported 5-year, $51M deal from the Eagles.  The reports also say he got $18M guaranteed.  The overall numbers are high.  Gotta see a contract breakdown to figure out how that looks.  The guaranteed money is reasonable.

I’ll write about this at greater length later on.  For now, mixed feelings.  DeSean can be a special player.  You never want to lose those guys if you can help it.  At the same time, he’s immature and can be high maintenance.  Do you want to reward players like that?

The bottom line for me is that this all boils down to how he reacts to getting paid.  DeSean let money problems affect his play the last 2 years.  If he can get back to his 2008 and 2009 form, this is a good deal.  If he plays the way he did in 2011, the Eagles will regret it.

One part of this I do really like – action.  The worst possible outcome would have been for nothing to happen.  The uncertainty would have been awkward for both sides and would have led to some uncomfortable times.  The Eagles needed to make a decision and go all in, one way or the other.  Kudos to them for doing that.

You would think the Eagles lowered DeSean’s 2012 cap figure with this contract so that could free up some funds to get a LB or re-sign G Evan Mathis.

Mathis is on his way to Baltimore to visit with the Ravens.  I don’t think of him as a Ravens type of OL, but he is an Alabama guy and Ozzie Newsome is a Bama man himself.  Ozzie never met a Crimson Tide player that he didn’t have some interest in.  Mathis is an athletic blocker.  The Ravens have seemed to prefer maulers to athletes.  The man Mathis could potentially replace it Ben Grubbs, who is 6’3, 310.  I hope Evan is just trying to feel out his value with other teams and will check back with the Eagles.  I definitely want him to re-sign.

One interesting point in all of this is that DeSean and Mathis have the same agent, some guy named Drew Rosenhaus.  Getting the DeSean deal can only help the Mathis situation.  That doesn’t mean Evan will coming running back to sign right away, but it helps that the Eagles just worked out a really complicated situation with his agent.  Everybody is all happy now.  Let’s hold hands and sing some folk songs together.  Who knows the words to Killed By Death?  Motorhead is folk, right?

I do love the fact the team is so focused on keeping players rather than adding outsiders.  I know many of you don’t fully agree, but I think the team has a really strong core.  There are some areas to address, but the draft is the way to go.  I do expect the team to go get a LB in the next few days, but after that we’re talking strictly backups and/or role players.

The Eagles have been busier than I figured they would be, but so far it is just re-signings.  Crazy.

* * * * *

CB Brandon Carr is a Cowboy at the cost of 5 years, $50.1M.

TE Martellus Bennett is a Giant.

The Skins have yet to add another WR, but the day is young.

102 Comments on “DeSean Gets His Deal”

  1. 1 Matt Plunderbunny said at 5:19 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Contract details here, very team friendly.

    http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/03/14/desean-jackson-agrees-to-five-year-deal-with-eagles/

    Also ugh this commenting system uses my dumb twitter name haha.

  2. 2 Jason Hellmann said at 5:24 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Lol, Plunderbunny. You will always be slap_bet to me (and the unwashed hordes of /r/NFL.)

  3. 3 Kammich said at 5:22 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    I’m glad that we continue to take of our own. I am a little surprised, however. I fully expected the team to have DeSean sign his tender and play out the year before making a long-term commitment. Clearly, the two sides wanted to work this out, so I think that can only be a good thing.

    Fairly sizable contract, but it seems to be structured in a cap-friendly matter. Now DJax needs to go out there and earn that money. Prove that you’re still a player to be feared.

    Next up… Evan Mathis. Hate the fact that he is drawing interest from Baltimore, Indy, and… ugh… the Skins.

  4. 4 aerochrome2 said at 5:25 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Are there any viable backup plans there? I can’t remember us talking about it. I don’t like the idea of yet another rookie on the line with kelce and watkins being second year players…

  5. 5 PK_NZ said at 5:45 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    On a quick look it seemed Eagles can cut him after two season if he doesn’t play up to the value of the contract…

  6. 6 D3FB said at 9:04 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Decastro is a filthy, absolute stud of a guard. Downside is he may not be there at 15 and it would be either him or Luke, so we would have to shore up LB prior to the draft.

  7. 7 Kammich said at 10:09 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    After signing Carr and taking care of the CB position, I’m worried that Dallas is leaning towards DeCastro with their first rounder.

  8. 8 Kammich said at 5:24 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    By the way, gotta give the devil their due in saying that Dallas made a pretty savvy move in signing Carr. Played under the shadow of Brandon Flowers, but Carr has been one of the better CBs in the AFC the last 2 years, despite most teams targeting him instead of Flowers. Should be a legit #1 CB in Dallas.

  9. 9 Arby1 said at 6:04 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Unfortunately, now that they’ve taken care of CB, they could be looking at Luke at 14. Hopefully they sign Dan Conner too.

  10. 10 D3FB said at 9:06 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Doesn’t make sense they already have Bruce Carter ready to step into that role. Will he for sure be the guy? Who knows but they picked him 40th overall last year so they obviously value the kid. I would expect them to bring in a vet to challenge Connor rather than spend pick 14 on an ILB, especially since that team has other holes.

  11. 11 nopain23 said at 9:16 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Sure hope u’re right..would hate to lose luke to Dallas….

  12. 12 Kammich said at 10:10 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Like I said above, I think Dallas has moved to targeting DeCastro at #14. The Carr signing freed them up for a potential BPA pick.

  13. 13 Dave_King said at 5:27 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Good stuff. I think eaglescap.com has the cap unofficially around 21 mil now. If Asante is traded, that goes to around 30 mil. Plenty of room for all of the Eagles’ dealings.

  14. 14 Tyler said at 5:35 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    He hasn’t updated Trent Cole yet, so it’s a little lower, but your overall point still stands.

  15. 15 Anders Jensen said at 5:36 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Coles contract shouldnt affect this year consider its an extension ontop of his current deal

  16. 16 Tyler said at 5:47 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Unless his guaranteed money is a bonus paid this year. I haven’t seen any details on whether the $15 million is signing bonuses or guaranteed salary.

  17. 17 donegalEAGLE said at 5:33 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Did anyone see gearld mccoy post about Lofton being an eagle

  18. 18 Nick said at 5:35 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Dare to dream?? Gerald McCoy just tweeted that despite his efforts to recruit him to the Bucs, Curtis Lofton is now an Eagle (!!!):

    http://bloggingthebeast.com/2012/03/14/bucs-dt-gerald-mccoy-tweets-that-curtis-lofton-is-an-eagle-was-apparently-trying-to-recruit-him/

  19. 19 Alex Karklins said at 5:36 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Spadaro kind of shot it down. No confirmation yet.

  20. 20 Nick said at 5:41 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Yeah so did Tamari on Twitter, sigh:

    “League source: Lofton to #Eagles not true”

  21. 21 GeorgeFleep said at 5:49 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    he will likely still be available this weekend since no 4-3 LB has been franchised or been signed yet. just says what whole league views them as.

  22. 22 Kristopher Cebula said at 11:03 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    let’s not dare to do anything involving that phrase beginning with letter “d”

  23. 23 nopain23 said at 5:39 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    now that dew rose robbed us on the djax contract..can we get a discount on evan…..just saying..the FO did him a solid…now it’s time to return the favor…on another note..the Deadskins REALLY screwed up the market for WR with their garcon signing…..Iggles’ hands were tied i guess….next move overpaying for 2 down LB’s…geeeezzzzz…..

  24. 24 Kristopher Cebula said at 11:05 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    not to mention the 19 million a year that calvin johnson is getting. i know he is on an entirely different level but the fact that he got so much had to effect everyone else

  25. 25 BreakinAnklez said at 5:46 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Hopefully we get the old DeSean back….love that guy. Now re-sign Mathis, Landri and get me a LB.

  26. 26 mcud said at 5:47 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Now lets “lay down a monster” for Mario…

  27. 27 Anders Jensen said at 5:55 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    That would so much be like last year with NA. Two pro bowl DEs? so what we still sign another one. A trio of Mario, Babin and Cole rotating and Jenkins on the inside would be unreal

  28. 28 Mac said at 7:11 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    I wouldn’t mind if Manning went to Tenn, and the Colts traded Dwight Freeney to us for AS22 straight up.

  29. 29 GeorgeFleep said at 5:47 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    for every taunting penalty he gets eagles should get to keep 5mil of that contract

  30. 30 the guy said at 5:48 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Brandon Carr signed for 5 years and $50.1 million. DeSean Jackson signed for 5 years and $51 million.

    DeSean is therefore better and will win all the matchups.

  31. 31 Anders Jensen said at 5:59 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    In a 1 vs 1 down the sideline and Vick time to throw, Jackson wins every time. I think the only CB there can keep up with Jackson is DRC and he is on our team.

  32. 32 Kammich said at 6:29 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    I think Joe Haden might be able to hang with DJax. When is the next time we play the Browns? That would be a fun matchup to watch.

  33. 33 sonofdman said at 6:48 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Wasn’t the main criticism of Haden when he was drafted that he ran a slow 40 time? Not that the 40 time is definitive, but I doubt he can run with DeSean.

  34. 34 Kammich said at 7:26 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    I think he ran in the 4.6s at the Combine. Then he turned around and ran in the high 4.3s at his Pro Day. But when watching him, I’m not sure there is a receiver in the AFC that can best Haden in a foot race.

  35. 35 D3FB said at 9:09 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Has Wallace ever torched him? They play twice a year that should be a good indicator.

  36. 36 austinfan said at 6:09 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    It was a good deal for the Eagles.

    Essentially 2 years for $18M, a little more than Garcon, a lot less than VJ ($13M his first two years)
    The Eagles shift $6M in cap from 2012 to 2014 when the cap will be approximately $18 higher.
    $6M cap GAIN if they cut DeSean in 2014.

    Cost of last three years is $29M, $33M if he hits all his incentives – in which case Lurie would be overjoyed to sign those checks.

    Gives DeSean his money, but also a strong incentive to go all out the next two years, play like 2011 he’ll never see 2014, play like 2009 and he’ll play out his contract.

  37. 37 Arby1 said at 6:10 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    I’m glad this deal got done. I was hoping he’d “only” get 8 million per year but the low gaurenteed money is their way of getting out early if he doesn’t revert to his old, insanely talented, self. Ya gotta give your most exciting WR ever the benefit of the doubt here, IMHO, and they have.

  38. 38 GermanEagle said at 6:38 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    PFW exclusive: #Seahawks OL Mike Gibson agrees to terms with #Eagles, two-year contract. Details still coming on on this.

  39. 39 Liam Garrett said at 6:45 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    ESPN breakdown of Desean’s deal: http://espn.go.com/blog/nfceast/post/_/id/37059/breaking-down-desean-jacksons-deal

    And Gerald McCoy retracted that Tweet about Lofton.

  40. 40 nopain23 said at 7:23 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    what?…. did mathis sign somewhere?…not good!!!

  41. 41 Liam Garrett said at 8:18 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    I didn’t mention Mathis. From what I know, though, he’s just testing the market.

  42. 42 Cvd52 said at 7:04 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Get dan conner, draft an LB early and resign Mathis. And extend Shady if we have the room.That will be a fine offseason to me.

    Or try to get a decent deal on Tulloch. Or Lofton if he comes somewhat cheap

  43. 43 Kammich said at 7:28 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Laurent Robinson just got $14 million guaranteed from Jacksonville, in addition to Washington giving Pierre Garcon $13 million in guaranteed money. Makes the $15 million guaranteed to DJax seem much more reasonable.

  44. 44 nopain23 said at 7:33 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Hmm who caught more TD’s last year Robinson or Djax?……

  45. 45 Kammich said at 7:49 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Robinson has missed 27 games in the last 4 years. And except for last season, when he caught a whopping 54 passes, he had never registered more than 37 receptions in a season. One year wonder going from a good offense to a god awful one. I’ll pass on that.

    We’ll see who catches more TDs in 2012. Laurent Robinson, from Blaine Gabbert… or DeSean Jackson from Michael Vick. Spoiler alert: DeSean will.

  46. 46 Kammich said at 7:31 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Peyton Hillis only got 1 year, $3 mil to sign with the Chiefs. Shows you how far you can fall when you deliver an injury plagued, malcontent-attitude season. Insert “Madden Curse” reference here.

    With Hillis going to KC and Leron McClain going to SD, I’m still hoping we might be able to snag Mike Tolbert. He has been on my under-the-radar FA wishlist for a little while now.

  47. 47 Liam Garrett said at 8:04 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Do you think Tolbert would settle for so few touches, though?

  48. 48 metaReign said at 9:19 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Not sure, I think for a year deal, he’s a backup to Tolbert or a change up to certain schemes. Tolbert is definitely their starter, I believe.

  49. 49 Mac said at 9:46 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    That Hillis cat is messed up in the head. He will bring a plague to KC.

  50. 50 Kammich said at 10:13 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    I think he’s posturing to be the star of the next “Bourne” film. Agent Hillis at your service.

  51. 51 Mac said at 10:30 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Well… Randy Quaid had a fairly successful acting career… maybe Hillis can pull it off.

  52. 52 D3Keith said at 11:09 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Sounds like Ronnie Brown’s contract.

  53. 53 laeagle said at 1:04 AM on March 15th, 2012:

    I feel like Vick caught the Madden curse just by being in the final showdown with Hillis for the “honor” of being on the cover. That shit is powerful.

  54. 54 TommyLawlor said at 7:37 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Love the addition of Mike Gibson. He was awkward in the Castillo system, but is a natural fit in Mudd’s system. Should be good backup at C/G. Here to replace JamJax.

    Now go get me Evan Mathis! And some Funyuns!!!

  55. 55 Yuri said at 8:03 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Mike Gibson reference:
    http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/education&id=8572902

  56. 56 Alex Karklins said at 8:44 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    A day without Funyuns is like a bowling ball without a liquid center.

  57. 57 TommyLawlor said at 10:55 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Exactly. I think.

  58. 58 Alex Karklins said at 8:44 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    A day without Funyuns is like a bowling ball without a liquid center.

  59. 59 Noah_Drau said at 9:32 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    I sincerely hope Gibson signed for the vet minimum, because when I read the news that they signed him it reeked of the kind of excuse they’d use as to why they let Mathis walk.

  60. 60 Nick said at 8:45 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    PFW says Gibson signed for veteran minimum (they also identify him as an OT, maybe he’s here as a backup to replace Justice?):

    http://www.profootballweekly.com/2012/03/14/eagles-sign-former-seahawks-ol-gibson

  61. 61 TommyLawlor said at 10:13 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    NFL.com lists him as an OT. He is a G/C. Here to replace JamJax.

  62. 62 ian_no_2 said at 10:37 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    he played T in college, Eagles drafted him as a guard, started out as a guard for Seahawks but don’t know where he ended up. Hawks have been short of OL at times

  63. 63 Nick said at 8:45 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    PFW says Gibson signed for veteran minimum (they also identify him as an OT, maybe he’s here as a backup to replace Justice?):

    http://www.profootballweekly.com/2012/03/14/eagles-sign-former-seahawks-ol-gibson

  64. 64 Liam Garrett said at 9:23 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Is anyone else bummed that Kyle Orton, Chad Henne, and Jason Campbell were all signed as backup QB’s, and the Eagles didn’t get in on this? I would kill for Campbell to be our backup.

  65. 65 GeorgeFleep said at 9:29 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Brady Quinn and Matt Leinart are still available i believe the eagles would consider Matt Leinart if he is around towards draft time and he is desperate. Could you imagine the competition for the 2nd QB spot.

  66. 66 Noah_Drau said at 9:31 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Have you considered the possibility that they like Kafka? He’s been given time to grow and hasn’t shown anything bad when given a chance.

  67. 67 TommyLawlor said at 10:55 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Eagles do like Kafka. Huge offseason for him.

  68. 68 Kammich said at 10:14 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    I don’t think Orton would’ve been content as the back-up here. Campbell, I could’ve gotten behind that. And I don’t think I’d really have a ton of interest in Chad Henne.

    I’m hoping that if Tennessee lands Peyton, they’ll cut Hasselbeck loose. I’d love to have him backing up Vick.

  69. 69 Liam Garrett said at 10:25 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Good thought.

  70. 70 Kristopher Cebula said at 11:11 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    yet he’s content as a backup in dallas. mike vick is more injury prone than homo. birds would have been much more attractive

  71. 71 Kammich said at 12:23 PM on March 15th, 2012:

    Good point, Kris. Dallas showed a lot of interest in Orton at the waiver deadline last year, before KC scooped him up. Perhaps he remembered that, and it factored favorably into his decision?

  72. 72 Mac said at 10:56 AM on March 15th, 2012:

    And it makes Indy an ideal landing spot for AS22.

  73. 73 metaReign said at 9:28 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    There’s no disappointment, so far. And yes, Evan, we’re waiting for u to start making that U-turn. FO is doing surprisingly well with the cap, I’m impress with they way they’ve handled things so far.

  74. 74 Baloophi said at 9:41 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    RE: Mathis visiting Ravens

    You are correct to note the Alabama connection between Ozzie Newsome and Mathis, but don’t forget where former Raven FA Ben Grubbs went to school… Auburn. No better way to get his attention then by bringing in a hated ‘Bama player…

  75. 75 Kammich said at 10:19 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Haha, I like the way you think.

  76. 76 TommyLawlor said at 10:54 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Hadn’t thought about that angle.

  77. 77 ian_no_2 said at 10:45 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    I think DeSean will be ok with the money but don’t know for sure. He becomes more secure as a player and he has his guaranteed money, and realizes he has to produce and become a veteran leader or else. His head will be huge tho. He is a special player, it’s a risk you have to take, and the deal appears to be structured right. The Eagles could have used the franchise on him next year but now that’s available for someone else, like McCoy or Maclin..

  78. 78 BreakinAnklez said at 11:27 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Hawthorne on his way to NO….

  79. 79 BreakinAnklez said at 11:28 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Hawthorne on his way to NO….dammit!!

  80. 80 BreakinAnklez said at 11:29 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Sorry for the double post!

  81. 81 Liam Garrett said at 11:56 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    Just for a visit, though.

  82. 82 BreakinAnklez said at 6:03 AM on March 15th, 2012:

    Hopefully it stays just that

  83. 83 iskar36 said at 11:30 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    So this may not be all that important, but I am curious if at the end of the day, we hurt ourselves by not simply signing him last year. Rumors were he was asking for around $10M last year. After a bad season where his contract clearly distracted him, he ended up getting it. I don’t know that we can know for sure, but had we just given that to him when he reported to camp last season, could he have been better last season, possibly even helping us win one of the games we lost (Cardinals game for example) and making the playoffs over the Giants (I don’t know that we would have caught fire like they did in the playoffs, but at least it wouldn’t have been Giants-Pats)?

    Generally speaking, the FO wins contract battles, at least from the financial side. It just seems that this was an example of where Rosenhaus and Jackson clearly won.

  84. 84 austinfan said at 12:21 AM on March 15th, 2012:

    But we didn’t give him a big contract with lots of dead money averaging $10M a year.

    We gave him a 2 year $18M deal with 3 option years at the team’s discretion.

    Big, big difference.

    How a contract is structured is far more important than the average annual potential payout.

  85. 85 iskar36 said at 12:40 AM on March 15th, 2012:

    Do you think the contracts would really have been all that different? That question is not meant to be sarcastic by the way, I am just curious. Coming off of a much better season, I imagine the contract would have been structured to protect DeSean a little bit better. That being said, I think this contract was also affected a lot by the contracts that V. Jackson and Garcon signed. You could even argue that the franchise tag set a baseline for contract talks. I would have guessed that the contract would have been reasonably comparable.

  86. 86 Cvd52 said at 8:08 AM on March 15th, 2012:

    I think we got desean on the cheap. It’s the guarantee money we got a great deal on. If he plays the whole contract out that means he will be playing really well. But if two years he is slacking we dump him and lose nothing. He got almost the same guarantee as L Robinson. Plus we opened up a little cap room. We were giving him close to 10mill this year anyways.

  87. 87 hallcr3 said at 11:47 PM on March 14th, 2012:

    We haven’t been making “splashes” so far this off-season, but this really has been interesting. More than any other off-season I can remember, I feel like the FO is “rewarding” its best players. DeSean and Trent have arguably been two of the most underpaid players in the NFL. Especially Trent. Todd handled all the OL changes without a hiccup and deserved his extension.

  88. 88 Steve H said at 12:11 AM on March 15th, 2012:

    I like that we’re tying up our own loose ends, if we can retain Mathis we’ll really be rolling in the right direction. If we added a solid MLB to the mix I don’t think there would be much more we could ask for.

  89. 89 hallcr3 said at 8:27 AM on March 15th, 2012:

    I like that – “tying up our loose ends.” That’s exactly how this has felt so far.

  90. 90 T_S_O_P said at 10:07 AM on March 15th, 2012:

    I am very pleased and by that I mean ecstatic with the last few days, that said I’d really like for us to offer Eddie Royal a short term deal. Any chance?

  91. 91 GermanEagle said at 10:35 AM on March 15th, 2012:

    I’d prefer Plax as a red-zone threat to Royal as a special teams threat.

  92. 92 Mac said at 10:55 AM on March 15th, 2012:

    +1

  93. 93 TommyLawlor said at 11:52 AM on March 15th, 2012:

    Doubtful. Think we go big WR in FA or add WR/RS in draft.

  94. 94 GermanEagle said at 10:31 AM on March 15th, 2012:

    Tommy

    I don’t wanna rub it in, but did you bow down in front of the GermanEagle shrine yet…with regards to Desean’s new contract?! 😉

  95. 95 Mac said at 10:55 AM on March 15th, 2012:

    He might be saving that as a “wait and see” how DeSean actually performs under this new deal. Hopefully it will be better than the new deal under FDR.

  96. 96 GermanEagle said at 10:38 AM on March 15th, 2012:

    Good news for the Eagles re a possible re-signing of Mathis:

    http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/03/15/saints-grab-grubbs/

    The Saints replaced Nicks with Grubbs, who “only” got 16 Mio gtd, compared to Nick’s 31 million. I think giving Mathis a 4 year contract worth 26 Mio with 13 Mio gtd should get the job done!

  97. 97 iskar36 said at 10:52 AM on March 15th, 2012:

    The more I think about it, the less comfortable I am about the Mathis situation. None of the MLBs have signed yet, but several of the targets we have discussed have made visits and may be off the market soon. The market for OG is also getting pretty thin. If we loose Mathis, we could be stuck looking to fill two starting roles in the draft and the key targets for either role may not last until the 15th pick. I really hope the Ravens don’t give Mathis a deal he can’t refuse.

  98. 98 GermanEagle said at 11:11 AM on March 15th, 2012:

    Keep your hopes up, buddy! However I have to say that I am getting a little bit nervous re the Mathis situation as well. Hopefully the Eagles will match a possible Ravens offer…!

    With regards to LB’s none of the BIG FA’s have signed so far. So I will remain optimistic…

  99. 99 47_Ronin said at 12:06 PM on March 15th, 2012:

    The Mathis situation should work itself out, if not hopefully the Eagles have a Plan B. There are many FA OGs remaining on the market, including a few Colts with experience with Mudd. The one MLB to sign was D. Jackson, and it looks like Cleveland may have jumped the gun in rushing to sign since the MLB market is tepid.

    After I reexamined the FA MLB, I’m not that worried if the “big” names get snatched by other teams. There are less heralded players like RFA Larry Grant who the Eagles could sign at a really reasonable price and be in very good position to draft say Mychal Kendricks out of Cal in the 2nd round next month.

  100. 100 Yuri said at 11:21 AM on March 15th, 2012:

    Off topic, but Dimitri Patterson got paid!
    http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/03/15/browns-re-sign-cornerback-patterson-for-three-years-16-million/

  101. 101 GermanEagle said at 11:27 AM on March 15th, 2012:

    Been about time! lol.

  102. 102 Trevor Turner said at 12:10 PM on March 15th, 2012:

    So a guy acts like a knucklehead for 2 years and we reward that with a $50 million dollar contract… on a team that has chemistry issues. Hate the move.