So, the first 18+ hours of the NFL free agency period have now come and gone, and while the Eagles haven't made any major moves, they've done a little bit of spring cleaning inside the organization.
The most important move that they made today was resigning Leonard Weaver to a three year contract worth between $11 and $12 million, according to CSNPhilly.com. This was a move that I said before had to be done. The Eagles finally found their fullback with Weaver, and to let him go after just a single season would have been insane. Weaver was named to the All-Pro team last year, and even showed that he could spell LeSean McCoy as a starting running back if he had to. Throughout the Andy Reid era, the Eagles have been through more fullbacks than I even want to remember. Jon Ritchie, Tony Hunt, Thomas Tapeh and Cecil Martin are just a few of them, but none came close to having the season that Leonard Weaver had last year. Sure, the deal makes Weaver one of the highest paid fullbacks ever, but he deserves it. This was a necessary and smart move by the Eagles.
The moves continued later in the day, as Andy Schwartz reported the Birds had cut linebacker Will Witherspoon. This move comes as a bit of a surprise to me, not because of who was released, but what position he plays. Cutting Witherspoon is going to save the Eagles about $5 million next season, and the Eagles also believe that their young core of linebackers, headed by a healthy Stewart Bradley and Akeem Jordan, can pull the team out of the muck that last season had at that position. Witherspoon certainly wouldn't have been happy in a backup position, and I don't think the Eagles wanted to pay a backup linebacker $5 million to play special teams. Plus, after a great first game against Washington, Witherspoon's production dropped off, and the Eagles moved him from middle linebacker to weakside, which is where he played for the Rams. The only issue that I have with this move is that the Eagles were so bad at linebacker last season, it couldn't hurt to keep Witherspoon around until training camp and then see if you could get something for him. I mean, the Eagles gave up Brandon Gibson and a fifth round pick to get Witherspoon, and now they just straight cut him after 10 games. It doesn't make much sense to me.
Then comes the move that the Eagles really didn't get a chance to make. As soon as I heard that Julius Peppers was visiting Chicago, I knew that the Bears wouldn't let him leave without signing a contract. That's exactly what happened today, as Peppers signed a six year deal with Chicago. There were rumblings that he would have been coming to Philadelphia for a visit if he couldn't reach a deal with the Bears, but honestly, I think that might have just been posturing on his agent's part. The Eagles did make an offer to Peppers, but once Chicago got him to visit first, it was all over. I can't fault the Eagles for apparently making an attempt, but it wasn't good enough to bring him in. The Bears were desperate for any sort of help, and considering they don't have a first, or second round pick in the draft, they had to do it through free agency. Unfortunately, that leaves the Eagles picking at the scraps of what's left in the free agent pool when it comes to defensive end. I don't think that Aaron Kampman is going to be signed by the Eagles. He's coming off of an ACL injury, and after the Stacey Andrews debacle, there's no way that the Birds go after another player with the same type of injury. Kampman is good, but I don't think it's going to happen, and he's not on the level of a Julius Peppers.
What I want to see the Eagles do now is go after one of the free safeties that is still out there on the market. Darren Sharper may be 34 years old, but everyone saw how well he played for the Saints last season. I'd love to see the Eagles try and make a move for him, but I think his age might seriously be a factor there as well. Remember, Brian Dawkins got to walk last year, and he was 35, so I don't know how much attraction would be there for another older safety. Of course, all anyone working for the Eagles has to do is look at the tape of Macho Harris, Sean Jones and Quintin Demps from last year, and that should be all they need to go after Sharper. If he's not in the cards, then I say they have to go for Ryan Clark, the safety from Pittsburgh. He can tackle and play decent coverage, two things that the Eagles were lacking from their secondary for much of last season. Regardless, something has to be done aside from signing their own players. This team just can't sit back and wait for the draft.
Oh, and I'm not going to touch the Andy Reid blocking a Donovan McNabb trade. No way. I want to hear it from someone actually involved, first.
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