Sal Pal, via Matt Mosley’s NFC Beast blog, dissected the Eagles‘ salary cap space today. Paolantonio gets on my nerves often, and today is one of those days. Despite the Birds committing $100 million on two bookend offensive tackles, he’s still attacking their refusal to open up their coffers for every aged veteran and disgruntled star asking for outrageous salary demands.
Here’s how Sal thinks the brain trust should divvy up their surplus of cash:
“A contract extension for their franchise quarterback. Donovan McNabb has two years remaining on his deal – both not guaranteed. He is the only starter with more than 10 years experience in the NFL in such a precarious financial position.”
I covered this topic yesterday, but I agree McNabb should be given a new deal. There is still plenty of time for this to happen.
“Boldin, who remains in Arizona after the Cardinals rejected the Eagles trade offer, reportedly a third-round pick and disgruntled cornerback Sheldon Brown, who wants a new deal.”
Stop. Talking. About. Boldin. He is not worth $10 million a year. Funny how the other 30 teams in the league concur.
“They could have afforded 10-time Pro Bowl tight end Tony Gonzalez, who was instead traded to the Falcons after the Eagles trade offer fell short.”
Sal and I agree on this one. The Falcons gave up a second-round pick in 2010 for Gonzo. The Birds should have made that deal. They still could have drafted Cornelius Ingram for the future.
“An experienced backup running back. Brian Westbrook is coming off surgery and injuries and will be 30 in September — and his only backup is a 20-year-old rookie.”
A veteran third running back would be nice, but not for the backup spot. McCoy needs to learn the offense and get the touches should something happen to B-West. No castoff running back on the market has Shady’s talent, skill-set and upside.
“Making Dawkins a member of the franchise for life. Reid recently said on a Philadelphia area radio show that he could not have matched what the Broncos gave Dawkins ($7 million guaranteed). He suggested it would have busted up his salary cap structure, and he could not sell that to his locker room. Doubtful, on both counts – unless he was talking about McNabb, who would have been sitting there with no guaranteed money while Dawkins would have gotten his.”
Leave it to Sal Pal to keep digging up this rotting corpse. The Broncos overpaid for an aging player. The Eagles do not and should not dole out outlandish contracts based on sentiment. I love Dawk, always will, but I side with the front office on their decision to let him walk.
If the Birds start tossing guaranteed money to every aged veteran because of their dedicated service, they will damage the salary cap structure. They didn’t do it for guys like Vincent, Douglas and Trotter. If they did it for Dawkins it would have set a bad precedent. I wish Dawk success in Denver, but this is a dead issue. Evidently, Sal doesn’t get that.
Spending money for the sake of spending is not prudent. Beating the “Eagles are cheap” drum is tiresome and inaccurate. They have a model and they stick to it. Asante Samuel and Jason Peters are sound investments. Like it or not, an aging Brian Dawkins and a whining Anquan Boldin are not.
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There is always a chance a 30+ veteran won't work out, which is probably why the Birds shy away from bringing them in. As far as Taylor is concerned, I thought he was finished before last season. I still think Gonzo can play at a high level. I guess we'll find out in ATL.
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