Omar Gaither via Jeff McLane:
"I didn't know Juan knew defense."
Asante Samuel, also via Jeff McLane:
"The offensive line coach?"
Darryl Tapp via Jonathan Tamari:
"That's shocking."
oh boy.
Jauron is sounding better and better
if you're gonna get rid of mcdermott, i just kind of thought they'd go with someone more established...or someone who's coached defense in the last 22 years, at a level higher than high school maybe? i dunno, call me crazy.
i hear what jp is saying about washburn being the experienced voice in his ear and all. love the washburn hire---but that dynamic is kind of exactly what was supposed to work with jauron and mcdermott last year. it's like the same thing with two new people now. castillo may end up working out but this doesn't seem like a move a team with super bowl expectations next year should be making.
and i keep coming back to talent level and injuries. stay healthy, fill the couple obvious holes and the defense will be better no matter who coordinator is. i'm just not sure a super bowl contender should have a guy who's essentially learning on the job running their defense. if anything, why not make washburn the coordinator? :?
this means nothing obviously, but it echoes some of the things we've been talking about. other than the sense of urgency thing for reid, the last paragraph is what concerns me about the move yesterday
Steelers coach: Reid's job on the line
FORT WORTH, Tex. -- News travels fast in the NFL and when one head coach makes a bold, stunning, some may say crazy decision to promote his offensive line coach to defensive coordinator, it ricochets to the game's biggest stage.
In case you woke up thinking that Andy Reid's decision to name Juan Castillo as his new defensive coordinator was a bad dream, it was not. It was as real as the assessment Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians made about the potential fallout from such a decision.
"Andy's job is probably on the line," Arians said Thursday. "But I know this -- he replaced [Castillo] with a good offensive line. Howard Mudd is the absolute best. The quality of the staff is there. Now it's just a matter of game day and how they're going to handle it."
Arians has to gotten know Castillo through coaching channels and is familiar with his legendary work ethic.
"Nobody's going to work harder because Juan is one of the hardest-working coaches that I know," Arians said. "When you block as many things as Juan has blocked you kind of know what's sound on defense and what's not."
Still, there are very legitimate questions about how Castillo will handle some of the chores of the job he is not accustomed to.
"Now matching wits with an offensive coordinator -- the scheme's going to be sound. He knows what's sound," Arians said. "It's having the gut calls, when to blitz, when not to blitz, when to play this, when to play that. That would be the only question I would have."
guess desean's not the punk most people outside of philly thinks of him as. that was awesome. i even saw an interview with him at the car show later yesterday on sportsnight and you could tell the kid really had an effect on him.
Packers win the Super Bowl throwing 39 passes and only running 11 times with a running back. interesting isn't it? where is the balance, you gotta run the ball...
Packers win the Super Bowl throwing 39 passes and only running 11 times with a running back. interesting isn't it? where is the balance, you gotta run the ball...
only a matter time before you chirped up about that. like i've said a bunch of times, it's all about match ups. steelers were the best in the league against the run. 63 yards per game or so. that is crazy good. the pats provided the blue print for beating them back in november. green bay followed it to perfection yesterday.
but during the run through the playoffs, including the super bowl where they barely ran it, pack still averaged 24 non qb rushes per game....with james starks as their rb!
....guess i should rename this the 2011 thread now, eh?
Packers win the Super Bowl throwing 39 passes and only running 11 times with a running back. interesting isn't it? where is the balance, you gotta run the ball...
only a matter time before you chirped up about that. like i've said a bunch of times, it's all about match ups. steelers were the best in the league against the run. 63 yards per game or so. that is crazy good. the pats provided the blue print for beating them back in november. green bay followed it to perfection yesterday.
but during the run through the playoffs, including the super bowl where they barely ran it, pack still averaged 24 non qb rushes per game....with james starks as their rb!
....guess i should rename this the 2011 thread now, eh?
don't you find it interesting at all though jaegs? it is a very conveneient excuse for the reid haters whenever the eagles lose yet you dismiss it so easily when someone else wins without it. as you know i find it an easy and convenient complaint that the media and fans make when the eagles lose but to me it's hogwash. you can win without having to have balance as the past few years have shown. as for your matchups argument that is the argument i make for the passing game. it is a passing league and all the rules are setup in favor of the passing game. other than getting a pash rush it is impossible to stop a great passing team because of the rules. i am not trying to be on a 'high horse' as you so like to label me just making the argument and backing it up that balancing the running game and passing game is so highly overrated and just a convenient complaint that lazy media and fans like to use. it wasn't lack of balance that cost the eagles the packers playoff game but a lousy pass by vick at the end of the game. if he makes one more play in the passing game that day....
only a matter time before you chirped up about that. like i've said a bunch of times, it's all about match ups. steelers were the best in the league against the run. 63 yards per game or so. that is crazy good. the pats provided the blue print for beating them back in november. green bay followed it to perfection yesterday.
but during the run through the playoffs, including the super bowl where they barely ran it, pack still averaged 24 non qb rushes per game....with james starks as their rb!
....guess i should rename this the 2011 thread now, eh?
don't you find it interesting at all though jaegs? it is a very conveneient excuse for the reid haters whenever the eagles lose yet you dismiss it so easily when someone else wins without it. as you know i find it an easy and convenient complaint that the media and fans make when the eagles lose but to me it's hogwash. you can win without having to have balance as the past few years have shown. as for your matchups argument that is the argument i make for the passing game. it is a passing league and all the rules are setup in favor of the passing game. other than getting a pash rush it is impossible to stop a great passing team because of the rules. i am not trying to be on a 'high horse' as you so like to label me just making the argument and backing it up that balancing the running game and passing game is so highly overrated and just a convenient complaint that lazy media and fans like to use. it wasn't lack of balance that cost the eagles the packers playoff game but a lousy pass by vick at the end of the game. if he makes one more play in the passing game that day....
to put it simply: match ups---the steelers only give up 63 yards per game on the ground. their secondary is the weakest part of their defense. everyone knew going in exactly what the packers were going to do. did you? :? i'd have no problem with the birds coming in with the same approach against the steelers.
obviously this does not work every game. the packers have played 4 playoff games including yesterday. in 3 out of 4 they ran the ball more than 25 times. yesterday they barely ran it because they were up against the stingiest rush defense in all of football. they won the game...particularly because the steelers turned it over 3 times, not because the packers threw the ball 39 times. :roll: it is all about match ups.
not sure why we have to rehash this again. not rocket science here.
we have more important things to worry about. like our offensive line coach being promoted to defensive coordinator
to put it simply: match ups---the steelers only give up 63 yards per game on the ground. their secondary is the weakest part of their defense. everyone knew going in exactly what the packers were going to do. did you? :? i'd have no problem with the birds coming in with the same approach against the steelers.
obviously this does not work every game. the packers have played 4 playoff games including yesterday. in 3 out of 4 they ran the ball more than 25 times. yesterday they barely ran it because they were up against the stingiest rush defense in all of football. they won the game...particularly because the steelers turned it over 3 times, not because the packers threw the ball 39 times. :roll: it is all about match ups.
not sure why we have to rehash this again. not rocket science here.
we have more important things to worry about. like our offensive line coach being promoted to defensive coordinator
matchups is my point exactly and Reid's i believe. if you have a great passing game and good offensive line 99% of the time the pass is a better option. all the rules favor the pass along with big play capabilites. for some reason no one in philly can admit that that is where the game is in 2011.
and jaegs just trying to have a discussion/argument. nothing wrong with a legitimate non-personal argument now is there? or are you too concerned with emoticonts to care?
to put it simply: match ups---the steelers only give up 63 yards per game on the ground. their secondary is the weakest part of their defense. everyone knew going in exactly what the packers were going to do. did you? :? i'd have no problem with the birds coming in with the same approach against the steelers.
obviously this does not work every game. the packers have played 4 playoff games including yesterday. in 3 out of 4 they ran the ball more than 25 times. yesterday they barely ran it because they were up against the stingiest rush defense in all of football. they won the game...particularly because the steelers turned it over 3 times, not because the packers threw the ball 39 times. :roll: it is all about match ups.
not sure why we have to rehash this again. not rocket science here.
we have more important things to worry about. like our offensive line coach being promoted to defensive coordinator
matchups is my point exactly and Reid's i believe. if you have a great passing game and good offensive line 99% of the time the pass is a better option. all the rules favor the pass along with big play capabilites. for some reason no one in philly can admit that that is where the game is in 2011.
and jaegs just trying to have a discussion/argument. nothing wrong with a legitimate non-personal argument now is there? or are you too concerned with emoticonts to care?
dude. you are agreeing with me. it is all about match ups and personnel. there's not one magic formula that is going to work against every team. going into the packers game (the one you brought up) vick had been struggling for a few weeks. our running back, one of the best in the league, was rested and averaging 5 yards per carry. the packers defense was better against the pass than the run. to compound that, they utilized a 2 deep zone the entire game that is designed to stop our passing game. conventional wisdom says to utilize the ground game a bit more there.
our passing game wasn't "great" at that point. and i don't think anyone would characterize our o line as "good" at that point. again--with the super bowl the packers had the best qb in the league at the time, a running back who came out of nowhere but had had a few unexpectedly good games in the playoffs, and were going up against a defense that was absolutely great against the run but had secondary issues the whole season. that dictates them to pass a lot more than in their other 3 playoff games. so to compare yesterday with the eagles playoff game just doesn't compute.
you can bring this up all you want. it's the same old argument though. kind of old and won't change...at least for another year or two
nope. this was something the kyle eckel, a backup fullback for the eagles a couple years ago, posted on his facebook page while drunk and watching the super bowl......then with the magic of the world wide web
poof! it's everywhere. :roll:
so we've got a guy with a lifetime of experience coaching the line, and hardly any experience coaching the rest of the defense.
ha...i think both guys could turn out to be decent coaches. castillo too actually...just don't know if now is the time to load up on inexperienced coaches when you're one of the teams favored to get to the super bowl next year. we shall see...
Eagles expected to sign CFL’s leading pass rusher
Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on February 11, 2011, 1:43 PM EST
P. Hunt
The Eagles hope they have found their own version of Cameron Wake.
Two years after the Dolphins signed Wake out of the CFL after a sack binge north of the border, Adam Caplan of FoxSports.com reports the Eagles are set to sign defensive end Phillip Hunt.
Hunt, who went undrafted out of Houston, had 16 sacks for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2010. He worked out for multiple teams, with the Texans and Vikings reportedly showing the most interest other than Philly.
Some teams saw Hunt as an outside linebacker, but the Eagles will use Hunt as defensive end. And they have just the coach to get the most out of Hunt possible.
i'm assuming whoever sent this email from the eagles marketing department was high on something....
Eagles Xtra
Are The Eagles Already A Better Team?
The Eagles have been hard at work putting together an all-star coaching staff to develop the young talent on the roster. The Eagles named longtime offensive line coach Juan Castillo as their new defensive coordinator. The Eagles lured Howard Mudd, regarded by Andy Reid as a Hall of Fame caliber coach, out of retirement to work the offensive line. Jim Washburn, who had been in Tennessee for 12 years, was brought up north to whip the defensive line into shape. The Eagles promoted two young, on-the-rise coaches in Michael Zordick and Mike Caldwell on defense and also added longtime veteran assistant Johnnie Lynn, who was once the defensive coordinator for the Giants. There may be a lot of uncertainty in the NFL right now, but the Eagles are making one thing certain - this Eagles team will be well-coached in 2011.
other than the two line coaches (and mudd for castillo is not that much of an improvement. juan was one of the best in the business too) this is an all star staff? we've got two guys who have never coached anything before running the lb's and secondary. an offensive line coach running the defense. and johnny lynn? most people probably have never heard of him. but he's the guy the giants fired in favor of steve spagnola. spags then got waaay more out of that team than lynn ever did and won a super bowl a couple years later.
the ackers/koy detmer situation is interesting. apparently they both got swindled big time in some investment gone bad. akers is hard up for cash:
Akers, Vick Tagged; Akers' Agent 'Disappointed'
The Eagles today announced they have placed the franchise tag on QB Michael Vick and the transition tag on K David Akers.
The Vick move was expected -- a source close to the situation had told the Daily News last month that because Vick hit incentives that raised his compensation more than 30 percent from 2009 to 2010, the team cannot negotiate a new agreement with him until it tags him (and presumably, he accepts). The Akers move came as "a surprise and a disappointment," said agent Jerrold Colton.
As Colton noted, the NFLPA is contending the tags are invalid, with the collective bargaining agreement expiring March 4 and the league expected to move into a lockout then. But the Eagles probably want to attend to all procedures the league deems necessary to retain their rights going forward, whether the tags exist in their current form in a new CBA or not.
By franchising Vick, the Eagles guarantee that he will make the average of the top 5 players at his position last season; those figures haven't been releasedi, but $20 million for 2011 might be a good guess, again, assuming there is a tag and that a long-term deal is not reached.
Vick's agent, Joel Segal, has not responded to a request for comment.
Akers, 36, is in a trickier spot than Vick, 30. Akers gave a tearful farewell address following the Birds' 21-16 wild-card round playoff loss to the Packers, in which Akers missed two field goals he normally would make, against the backdrop of his young daughter's ovarian cancer diagnosis. Eagles coach Andy Reid noted after the game that anyone who could count could figure out that the field goals cost six points in a five-point loss.
By transition tagging Akers -- a designation the team has not used since 1998, on defensive tackle Rhett Hall -- the Eagles get the right of first refusal, should he get an offer elsewhere (which, again, is not going to happen until there is a CBA.) If he plays under the tag, Akers will get a minimum offer of the avrerage of the top 10 at his position, or 120 percent of his 2010 salary, whichever is greater. Akers would seem to be in line to make close to $3 million.
Colton acknowledged that talks toward a longer term deal during the 2010 season were not productive. "We were very far apart on financial terms and structure," Colton said.
Akers is known to have lost the bulk of his savings over the past few years in an investment recommended by close friend and former teammate Koy Detmer. Triton Financial of Austin, Tx., the company in question, has been sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for defrauding investors. So a signing bonus, which would only come with a longer-term deal, might be important to him as a way of rebuilding his assets.
Colton said that while Akers appreciates that the tag means the Eagles want him to be their kicker in 2011, he hopes the tag will be the prelude to "an appropriate, longer-term contract" for a man who has been "a great player here for 12 years, a good citizen, loyal, who wants to finish his career here."
Here's what the team said in a release:
"Michael Vick and David Akers were two of our most valuable players last year," said head coach Andy Reid. "They were well deserving of their Pro Bowl berths and we’re happy to take this step to ensure that they’ll be back in Philadelphia next season."
Vick enjoyed his finest season as pro in 2010 with career highs in QB rating (100.2), completion percentage (62.6), and passing yards (3,018) while becoming just the 2nd player in league history to throw for 3,000+ yards, rush for 500+ yards and accrue a 100+ QB rating in one season, joining Steve Young (1992). Along the way, Vick earned a starting spot on the NFC Pro Bowl squad while garnering NFL Comeback player of the year honors.
A five-time Pro Bowl selection and the leading scorer in Eagles history (1,323 points), Akers completed his 12th season in Philadelphia in 2010 by leading the NFL in scoring with 143 points. Since 2000, Akers leads the NFL in points scored (1,312) and field goals (291) and was named to the NFL’s all-decade team of the 2000s. The Eagles all-time leader in games played with 188, Akers also ranks third in league history with 134 career postseason points.
Comments
Jauron is sounding better and better
The ONLY thing better than a glass of beer is tea with Miss McGill
A protuberance of flesh above the waistband of a tight pair of trousers
if you're gonna get rid of mcdermott, i just kind of thought they'd go with someone more established...or someone who's coached defense in the last 22 years, at a level higher than high school maybe? i dunno, call me crazy.
i hear what jp is saying about washburn being the experienced voice in his ear and all. love the washburn hire---but that dynamic is kind of exactly what was supposed to work with jauron and mcdermott last year. it's like the same thing with two new people now. castillo may end up working out but this doesn't seem like a move a team with super bowl expectations next year should be making.
and i keep coming back to talent level and injuries. stay healthy, fill the couple obvious holes and the defense will be better no matter who coordinator is. i'm just not sure a super bowl contender should have a guy who's essentially learning on the job running their defense. if anything, why not make washburn the coordinator? :?
Steelers coach: Reid's job on the line
FORT WORTH, Tex. -- News travels fast in the NFL and when one head coach makes a bold, stunning, some may say crazy decision to promote his offensive line coach to defensive coordinator, it ricochets to the game's biggest stage.
In case you woke up thinking that Andy Reid's decision to name Juan Castillo as his new defensive coordinator was a bad dream, it was not. It was as real as the assessment Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians made about the potential fallout from such a decision.
"Andy's job is probably on the line," Arians said Thursday. "But I know this -- he replaced [Castillo] with a good offensive line. Howard Mudd is the absolute best. The quality of the staff is there. Now it's just a matter of game day and how they're going to handle it."
Arians has to gotten know Castillo through coaching channels and is familiar with his legendary work ethic.
"Nobody's going to work harder because Juan is one of the hardest-working coaches that I know," Arians said. "When you block as many things as Juan has blocked you kind of know what's sound on defense and what's not."
Still, there are very legitimate questions about how Castillo will handle some of the chores of the job he is not accustomed to.
"Now matching wits with an offensive coordinator -- the scheme's going to be sound. He knows what's sound," Arians said. "It's having the gut calls, when to blitz, when not to blitz, when to play this, when to play that. That would be the only question I would have."
http://www.the700level.com/2011/02/dese ... lying.html
one thing you have to give the Lurie's credit for, off the field this team does a lot of really good things.
That was absolutely awesome, made me cry.
that was cool!
guess desean's not the punk most people outside of philly thinks of him as. that was awesome. i even saw an interview with him at the car show later yesterday on sportsnight and you could tell the kid really had an effect on him.
only a matter time before you chirped up about that. like i've said a bunch of times, it's all about match ups. steelers were the best in the league against the run. 63 yards per game or so. that is crazy good. the pats provided the blue print for beating them back in november. green bay followed it to perfection yesterday.
but during the run through the playoffs, including the super bowl where they barely ran it, pack still averaged 24 non qb rushes per game....with james starks as their rb!
....guess i should rename this the 2011 thread now, eh?
don't you find it interesting at all though jaegs? it is a very conveneient excuse for the reid haters whenever the eagles lose yet you dismiss it so easily when someone else wins without it. as you know i find it an easy and convenient complaint that the media and fans make when the eagles lose but to me it's hogwash. you can win without having to have balance as the past few years have shown. as for your matchups argument that is the argument i make for the passing game. it is a passing league and all the rules are setup in favor of the passing game. other than getting a pash rush it is impossible to stop a great passing team because of the rules. i am not trying to be on a 'high horse' as you so like to label me just making the argument and backing it up that balancing the running game and passing game is so highly overrated and just a convenient complaint that lazy media and fans like to use. it wasn't lack of balance that cost the eagles the packers playoff game but a lousy pass by vick at the end of the game. if he makes one more play in the passing game that day....
to put it simply: match ups---the steelers only give up 63 yards per game on the ground. their secondary is the weakest part of their defense. everyone knew going in exactly what the packers were going to do. did you? :? i'd have no problem with the birds coming in with the same approach against the steelers.
obviously this does not work every game. the packers have played 4 playoff games including yesterday. in 3 out of 4 they ran the ball more than 25 times. yesterday they barely ran it because they were up against the stingiest rush defense in all of football. they won the game...particularly because the steelers turned it over 3 times, not because the packers threw the ball 39 times. :roll: it is all about match ups.
not sure why we have to rehash this again. not rocket science here.
we have more important things to worry about. like our offensive line coach being promoted to defensive coordinator
matchups is my point exactly and Reid's i believe. if you have a great passing game and good offensive line 99% of the time the pass is a better option. all the rules favor the pass along with big play capabilites. for some reason no one in philly can admit that that is where the game is in 2011.
and jaegs just trying to have a discussion/argument. nothing wrong with a legitimate non-personal argument now is there? or are you too concerned with emoticonts to care?
Add quality to the D secondary and O line, and Eagles will be playing in the SB next season. Guarantee it! They have that much talent
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?secti ... id=7943701
Where there is smoke there is fire?
BOS-9/28/04,9/29/04,6/28/08,6/30/08, 9/5/16, 9/7/16, 9/2/18
MTL-9/15/05, OTT-9/16/05
PHL-5/27/06,5/28/06,10/30/09,10/31/09
CHI-8/2/07,8/5/07,8/23/09,8/24/09
HTFD-6/27/08
ATX-10/4/09, 10/12/14
KC-5/3/2010,STL-5/4/2010
Bridge School-10/23/2010,10/24/2010
PJ20-9/3/2011,9/4/2011
OKC-11/16/13
SEA-12/6/13
TUL-10/8/14
dude. you are agreeing with me. it is all about match ups and personnel. there's not one magic formula that is going to work against every team. going into the packers game (the one you brought up) vick had been struggling for a few weeks. our running back, one of the best in the league, was rested and averaging 5 yards per carry. the packers defense was better against the pass than the run. to compound that, they utilized a 2 deep zone the entire game that is designed to stop our passing game. conventional wisdom says to utilize the ground game a bit more there.
our passing game wasn't "great" at that point. and i don't think anyone would characterize our o line as "good" at that point. again--with the super bowl the packers had the best qb in the league at the time, a running back who came out of nowhere but had had a few unexpectedly good games in the playoffs, and were going up against a defense that was absolutely great against the run but had secondary issues the whole season. that dictates them to pass a lot more than in their other 3 playoff games. so to compare yesterday with the eagles playoff game just doesn't compute.
you can bring this up all you want. it's the same old argument though. kind of old and won't change...at least for another year or two
nope. this was something the kyle eckel, a backup fullback for the eagles a couple years ago, posted on his facebook page while drunk and watching the super bowl......then with the magic of the world wide web
poof! it's everywhere. :roll:
http://www.csnphilly.com/02/07/11/Eagle ... feedID=704
so we've got a guy with a lifetime of experience coaching the line, and hardly any experience coaching the rest of the defense.
The ONLY thing better than a glass of beer is tea with Miss McGill
A protuberance of flesh above the waistband of a tight pair of trousers
ha...i think both guys could turn out to be decent coaches. castillo too actually...just don't know if now is the time to load up on inexperienced coaches when you're one of the teams favored to get to the super bowl next year. we shall see...
Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on February 11, 2011, 1:43 PM EST
P. Hunt
The Eagles hope they have found their own version of Cameron Wake.
Two years after the Dolphins signed Wake out of the CFL after a sack binge north of the border, Adam Caplan of FoxSports.com reports the Eagles are set to sign defensive end Phillip Hunt.
Hunt, who went undrafted out of Houston, had 16 sacks for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2010. He worked out for multiple teams, with the Texans and Vikings reportedly showing the most interest other than Philly.
Some teams saw Hunt as an outside linebacker, but the Eagles will use Hunt as defensive end. And they have just the coach to get the most out of Hunt possible.
http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2011/02/14/albe ... l-assault/
depending on how that turns out, no.
Eagles Xtra
Are The Eagles Already A Better Team?
The Eagles have been hard at work putting together an all-star coaching staff to develop the young talent on the roster. The Eagles named longtime offensive line coach Juan Castillo as their new defensive coordinator. The Eagles lured Howard Mudd, regarded by Andy Reid as a Hall of Fame caliber coach, out of retirement to work the offensive line. Jim Washburn, who had been in Tennessee for 12 years, was brought up north to whip the defensive line into shape. The Eagles promoted two young, on-the-rise coaches in Michael Zordick and Mike Caldwell on defense and also added longtime veteran assistant Johnnie Lynn, who was once the defensive coordinator for the Giants. There may be a lot of uncertainty in the NFL right now, but the Eagles are making one thing certain - this Eagles team will be well-coached in 2011.
other than the two line coaches (and mudd for castillo is not that much of an improvement. juan was one of the best in the business too) this is an all star staff? we've got two guys who have never coached anything before running the lb's and secondary. an offensive line coach running the defense. and johnny lynn? most people probably have never heard of him. but he's the guy the giants fired in favor of steve spagnola. spags then got waaay more out of that team than lynn ever did and won a super bowl a couple years later.
Akers, Vick Tagged; Akers' Agent 'Disappointed'
The Eagles today announced they have placed the franchise tag on QB Michael Vick and the transition tag on K David Akers.
The Vick move was expected -- a source close to the situation had told the Daily News last month that because Vick hit incentives that raised his compensation more than 30 percent from 2009 to 2010, the team cannot negotiate a new agreement with him until it tags him (and presumably, he accepts). The Akers move came as "a surprise and a disappointment," said agent Jerrold Colton.
As Colton noted, the NFLPA is contending the tags are invalid, with the collective bargaining agreement expiring March 4 and the league expected to move into a lockout then. But the Eagles probably want to attend to all procedures the league deems necessary to retain their rights going forward, whether the tags exist in their current form in a new CBA or not.
By franchising Vick, the Eagles guarantee that he will make the average of the top 5 players at his position last season; those figures haven't been releasedi, but $20 million for 2011 might be a good guess, again, assuming there is a tag and that a long-term deal is not reached.
Vick's agent, Joel Segal, has not responded to a request for comment.
Akers, 36, is in a trickier spot than Vick, 30. Akers gave a tearful farewell address following the Birds' 21-16 wild-card round playoff loss to the Packers, in which Akers missed two field goals he normally would make, against the backdrop of his young daughter's ovarian cancer diagnosis. Eagles coach Andy Reid noted after the game that anyone who could count could figure out that the field goals cost six points in a five-point loss.
By transition tagging Akers -- a designation the team has not used since 1998, on defensive tackle Rhett Hall -- the Eagles get the right of first refusal, should he get an offer elsewhere (which, again, is not going to happen until there is a CBA.) If he plays under the tag, Akers will get a minimum offer of the avrerage of the top 10 at his position, or 120 percent of his 2010 salary, whichever is greater. Akers would seem to be in line to make close to $3 million.
Colton acknowledged that talks toward a longer term deal during the 2010 season were not productive. "We were very far apart on financial terms and structure," Colton said.
Akers is known to have lost the bulk of his savings over the past few years in an investment recommended by close friend and former teammate Koy Detmer. Triton Financial of Austin, Tx., the company in question, has been sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for defrauding investors. So a signing bonus, which would only come with a longer-term deal, might be important to him as a way of rebuilding his assets.
Colton said that while Akers appreciates that the tag means the Eagles want him to be their kicker in 2011, he hopes the tag will be the prelude to "an appropriate, longer-term contract" for a man who has been "a great player here for 12 years, a good citizen, loyal, who wants to finish his career here."
Here's what the team said in a release:
"Michael Vick and David Akers were two of our most valuable players last year," said head coach Andy Reid. "They were well deserving of their Pro Bowl berths and we’re happy to take this step to ensure that they’ll be back in Philadelphia next season."
Vick enjoyed his finest season as pro in 2010 with career highs in QB rating (100.2), completion percentage (62.6), and passing yards (3,018) while becoming just the 2nd player in league history to throw for 3,000+ yards, rush for 500+ yards and accrue a 100+ QB rating in one season, joining Steve Young (1992). Along the way, Vick earned a starting spot on the NFC Pro Bowl squad while garnering NFL Comeback player of the year honors.
A five-time Pro Bowl selection and the leading scorer in Eagles history (1,323 points), Akers completed his 12th season in Philadelphia in 2010 by leading the NFL in scoring with 143 points. Since 2000, Akers leads the NFL in points scored (1,312) and field goals (291) and was named to the NFL’s all-decade team of the 2000s. The Eagles all-time leader in games played with 188, Akers also ranks third in league history with 134 career postseason points.
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