Offseason Assessment: Offense

Offseason Assessment

Before I begin my offseason assessment, I want to make one point that NFL fans often seem to forget: In the NFL there is a salary cap. The Eagles are not cheap—they are constrained by the cap. They may not always choose best how to spend their money, but they do choose to spend it, and I think on the tough free agent decisions they’ve made they’ve been right more often than the league average. So keeping that in mind, and recognizing we won’t be able to get everything we want, here are my thoughts.

Here are my top concerns:
1. Offensive Line—We need to think hard about what this line will look like this year, AND what it will look like over the next few—and what that means for Tra and Runyan.
2. Improve the pass rush
3. Add a real fullback
4. Add another running back to help Westbrook—a young guy who could back up now and then become a lead guy (like the Chiefs did with Larry Johnson six years ago and the Steelers and Cowboys are now doing with Rashard Mendenhall and Felix Jones)
5. Keep the secondary together (in other words resign Hanson and Dawkins)
6. Try to add another weapon in the receiving game (but don’t overpay for someone who’s barely better than Jackson, Curtis, or Celek)

If the Eagles can take care of number 1 and four of the others, I think we’ll have a lot to be optimistic about for next year. This is a team that has a young and exciting defense but an aging quaterback and running back, so we need to both be careful not to mortage the future, but also to recognize the need to win now, b/c the best player in our offense (Westbrook) probably has a max of two to three more top end years left, and that's only if he can stay healthy. Below, I look at each offensive position in more depth. Look for a post about the defensive side of the ball by next week.

QB
The quarterback position obviously revolves around McNabb. I think the Eagles will, and should, keep McNabb. He is still probably one of the ten or twelve best quarterbacks in this league and there’s no one else out there even close for a comparable price. The other option is to go with Kolb or another youngster and think about rebuilding. This, I think, would be a mistake. This defense is too talented and Brian Westbrook is at the tail end of his prime—we should be trying to win now. That said, I do not think the Eagles should be giving McNabb a significant contract extension. He owes us, at a minimum, one more great, healthy season, from beginning to end, before we commit to paying him 15 million a year until he’s 37. He has two years left on his contract, 9 million this year, and 10 million the next. If he deserves it after this season, let him come back next offseason and ask for a renegotiation. At this point, I’m not convinced he deserves it with two years left to play on the current contract.

RB
This is one of the most important positions for the off-season. We need another back who can take the load of Westbrook. I like Correll Buckhalter, and I wouldn’t mind seeing him back in Eagle green next year, but I want someone with a brighter future also (or perhaps instead). It would be out of character, but I’d love to see the Eagles use one of their first round draft picks on a running back who can not only spell Westbrook but also have the talent to have a chance to be the number 1 back here in a few years when Westbrook breaks down (I like LeSean McCoy for this offense—he runs bigger than B-West but can still do the things needed in the receiving game to have a chance to stick around in this offense). There’s really nothing worthwile out there in free agency anyway. The Giants will resign Brandon Jacobs and probably Derrick Ward. After that there’s not too much talent at this position. Edgerinn James will be available, but I want some young talent. As far as James, I’d probably rather have Buckhalter for a third of the price. Needless to say, Booker should not make the 53 man roster. I'd be ok with keeping Eckel around, but not as a substitute for a legitimate fullback.

FB
We need a fullback!!! This has bothered me for years. It’s been a problem since the beginning of the 2004 season when John Ritchie went down. Who knows if our run game in the Super Bowl would have looked different with Ritchie in.
With a small back like Westbrook, I think the benefit of a stud fullback cannot be underrated. One less defender to deal with makes it that much easier for Westbrook to get out in space. I’d love to see us go out and spend the money on either Tyrelle Smith of Arizona or Tony Richardson of the Jets. Both are free agents, and both would, I think, be money well spent.

WR
I like our WR corp. I don’t love it, but I really do think it could work. Jackson is only going to get better, and Curtis also is among the top half of starting receivers in the league. Avant came along as a real nice role player, and I still think they can get more out of restricted free agent Hank Baskett, whom they should tender at the middle or high level. That said, I think if there’s a chance to go out and get a stud, especially a guy with some more size than Curtis or Jackson, I’m all for it of course. I only think it’s worth spending big time money on players that are complete game changers, not minor upgrades. Look at the free agent wide receivers that the Eagles have wisely avoided when fans demanded an upgrade: Deion Branch, Donte Stallworth, Ashley Lelie, Peerless Price—Does anyone still wish the Eagles had signed these guys? Of course not. The truth is that there are about fifteen or twenty wide receivers that are so obviously better than Jackson and Curtis that they might be worth serious free agent money. The only ones who is a free agent is Houshmanzadeh, although a trade for Anquan Boldin remains a very intriguing possibility. Antonio Bryant could also be intriguing, but I doubt Andy wouldn’t want a guy with his reputation for disruptiveness and laziness. With all that said, if Baskett walks, they’ll need to add another 3rd WR type with some size—if so, I might like Penn State product Bryant Johnson, who I think still may have a future in this league after being stuck behind Fitzgerald and Boldin in Arizona and then in that terrible offense in SF last year. I think the Eagles will dump Reggie Brown if they add another wr, but if not, they’ll likely keep him around through August as an injury insurance policy and then dump him if everyone’s healthy. Greg Lewis is a nice special teams player and is fine for a sixth receiver. Andy, however, needs to keep him off the field when everyone else is healthy. There should not be any special packages or plays for Greg Lewis. Let him stick around for now, and we can hope that they find a late round receiver who can do as much as Lewis on special teams and has more potential to contribute to our offense down the line.

TE
The Eagles need another TE, and the pickings at TE are slim. LJ Smith is probably the second or third best unrestricted free agent out there. I don’t see them as willing to give up a ton to get Tony Gonzalez, and I think that’s probably the right move (he’s going to cost more than he’s worth btw draft picks and contract). Look for Celek to remain their starting tight end. They’ll probably then bring in a low-level free agent—Leonard Pope?, Dan Campbell? former Eagles blocking TE Tony Stewart?—and also draft a guy in the mid-rounds. It would be a disappointment if Schoebel makes this team again, but they won’t cut him until they see what else they have. Kris Wilson was supposed to beat him out this year and couldn’t.

Offensive Line
This is the most important position this year and it is where some decisions will have to be made. Complicating all this is the fact that John Runyan just had microfracture surgery on his knee that will keep him shelved until training camp. Here I’m going to pencil Herremans and Jackson in as continuing as starters at left guard and center and then move right to left addressing the other three positions.
At right tackle, I think the Eagles may bring Runyan back, but with his surgery, they’ll wait it out to see if any market develops for him. Another option for RT is Andrews if he can get physically and mentally healthy. A third option that should not be ruled out is that Winston Justice ends up as the starting right tackle next year. There has to be a reason he’s still around. When the Eagles drafted Jsutice, they believed he could start as a blind side tackle b/c he had done so brilliantly in one of college football’s most prolific offenses at USC. The problem, though, is that Matt Leinart is a lefty, so when Justice protected Leinart’s blind side, Justice lined up on the right side of the line. Most NFL lineman are capable of switching sides, but there have been some who are markedly better on one side than the other, and Justice may be just that. Playing the right side also requires less foot speed than is necessary on the left side against most NFL defenses. I’m not sure Justice will be the answer at RT—we’ve barely seen him—but don’t be surprised if the Eagles go with Justice and don’t be surprised if it ends up working out. If they’re not sure about Justice yet, then expect them to try to bring in Runyan at a bargain price while he’s hurt.
At right guard, the Eagles would love to start Andrews. They drafted him to play tackle originally, but he’s just been so good at Guard when healthy that I think the best bet is to try to keep him there. If they have to slide him out, I think both Jean-Gilles and Nick Cole (a free agent, but one I think the Eagles are likely to resign fairly cheaply) were adequate enough to start for a season, but both have enough flaws in their game that it would be better for them to be backups.
Now LT is the tough position. Tra Thomas has definitely lost a step, but he’s still probably in the top third of LTs in the league. The problem is, as the second best tackle on the market (after Jordan Gross of Carolina), Thomas will get a big contract that pays him too much for his age. It would be cool to see them make a run at Gross, and a lot of Philly radio guys are talking this up, but I don’t see it. I think they’ll want to groom an LT in their system. What I would do, although there’s not a ton of buzz about this, is franchise Thomas and draft an LT in the first round. You give Thomas one more year to protect McNabb and you draft a guy who can hopefully be the LT of the future (Michael Oher has top 10 talent but some question marks about his consistency may make him available at 21, if we want to gamble on a guy like that). Plus, there is still an OUTSIDE chance that King Dunlap could develop into something—he certainly has the body type. I'd rather overpay Thomas for one year than for the next four, and I really do want a veteran at the LT position next year.
Bench: Look for them to try to bring back Cole and expect Max Jean-Gilles and last year’s 4th rounder Mike McGlynn to definitely make the team. After that, I expect the Eagles to pick a couple offensive linemen on the second day to compete for a roster spot. Also, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Eagles look for another big center to push Jamaal Jackson. Jackson is a big man with a lot of strength but he makes mistakes in blitz pickup sometimes, and he has never been able to match his performance and ability to get down field that he displayed during his breakout season when the Eagles went to the playoffs with Jeff Garcia.