Edwards is going to the Falcons.
Is it true that the Iggles have signed Nnamdi? Probably a smart move because Rogers Cromartie is iffy at best, but I didnt think they had the cap room. It seems to.me that the Eagles are in a win now kinda mood, but that’s just a first impression.
Still no solid word on Cullen Jenkins landing spot. Maybe his injury risk is too high and the Pack will be able to keep him. I can hope can’t I?
Eagles sign Asomugha. Because why the fuck not?
The Eagles always have a ton of cap room, which tends not to go to use most years.
Well, with Asomugha with the Eagles, the mouthful-of-a-name, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie gets a new nickname: “Safety Help.”
Ahhhh!!!
Concise and elegant. A perfect combo.
The Browns never even returned Ray Edwards’ calls. Wtf is that? I guess they didn’t want to pay the price, but we’re sitting on a ton of cap space and a shell of a d-line and no moves.
I’m really liking the new rookie salary cap, the nfl needed that desperately. Sam Bradford has a 6 year, 78 million contract with 50 guaranteed, and Cam Newton has 4 years 22 million (all guaranteed). We’re not giving the worst teams in the league cap-crippling contracts. Teams might actually start trading up in the draft again. Good stuff.
5 years, $60 million for Asomugha is actually a pretty reasonable deal - I mean, expensive as hell, but I was expecting someone to give him absurd money.
And the Eagles have just reached an agreement with Vince Young.
Whooo Hoooo! Go BIRDS!!!
News says we just got ANOTHER acquisition! Red Auerbach’s Soul! 
Damn you, Peyton. As much as I despise your team for quitting on a perfect season (and keeping my beloved Steelers out of the playoffs by doing so) a few years ago, I simply can’t find a way to hate you.
Peyton Manning willing to take less cash
I suppose I could say that it’s still a metric buttload of money and let that fuel my ire, but with only one exception I cannot remember a player in any sport actually turning down money voluntarily, and for that I say good on you.
Now, this season, should you be undefeated with two games left (if you even play), tell that chickenshit coach of yours to get fucked if he tries to pull you out.
Dammit, I may never enjoy Manningface ever again. This sucks.
Wow. I did an honest-to-goodness triple take when I saw the ESPN alert text on my phone about the Nnamdi signing. It was Awesomugha.
I love, love, love the Asomugha/Samuel pairing. That is perfection on paper if I’ve ever seen it. Unfortunately the immediate speculation was that Samuel now has to be traded, fueled by his being on a personal leave of absence at the moment. I really hope that’s not the case. Really, really. This has the potential to be historically great if it turns out well, and I’d hate to be deprived of seeing that. The best hope I have is that Samuel’s contract is back loaded and Asomugha’s is front loaded, so they kinda balance in that regard. You can not beat the concept of forcing teams to throw to the best ball hawking corner in the league.
But on a more realistic note, part of what makes Asomugha so special is that teams just give up on throwing at him. And when paired with Samuel, who was legitimately the best corner in the NFL last season, I think that reputation kinda has to go by the wayside. You can’t just ignore your top two receivers. So I’m predicting that days where teams just ignore the right side of the field have to end. I’ll be interested to see what Asomugha can actually do when challenged, because I honestly don’t know if he’s that great or if he’s skating on reputation.
Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is a third corner by the way. A third fucking corner. That just doesn’t seem fair. Luckily, opposing teams will likely be able to run rampant over the Eagles since their entire D-Line will be playing the “Wide Nine” and attacking the QB on every down, and the Eagles don’t have a linebacker to speak of yet. They’ll give up more run yards per game than pass yards I bet.
Wow.
Bengals sign Deuce Lutui from the Cardinals. Cincinnati really needed an upgrade at G over Nate Livings, hopefully this massive Tongan can provide that.
So Cardinal Fan…is he any good?
Pro Football Talk writes that the Bears have signed Vernon Gholston. Not a bad move, I think. Gholston’s been underperforming as a 3-4 LB his whole career, maybe moving him to a 4-3 DE is where he needs to be. If he’s paid around the league minimum, then there’s not a whole lot of risk involved.
Bears also signed their 1st round pick Gabe Carimi, but there still hasn’t been much movement for their O line beyond that. Kreutz is not resigned and is apparently the Bear’s “Plan B” for center.
With all of these signings by the Eagles people are now speculating that they are the odd-on favorites to win the Super Bowl. Yes, I’m serious.
Have they forgotten that these are the Eagles we’re talking about?
I’m just relieved that the Steelers signed their first draft pick. I mean, I knew they would, but he seems like such a good guy and he’s the son of a great, my romantic soul was stirred (not like that).
AND PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE no Plaxico. Never liked the guy. No idea why.
Super zinger! An ad-team-nominem fallacy! Oh, that smarts!
[QUOTE=Jules Andre]
But on a more realistic note, part of what makes Asomugha so special is that teams just give up on throwing at him. And when paired with Samuel, who was legitimately the best corner in the NFL last season, I think that reputation kinda has to go by the wayside. You can’t just ignore your top two receivers. So I’m predicting that days where teams just ignore the right side of the field have to end. I’ll be interested to see what Asomugha can actually do when challenged, because I honestly don’t know if he’s that great or if he’s skating on reputation.
[/QUOTE]
I do think there’s a better than even chance that they’re working to get rid of Samuel as we speak. I also hope not. I really doubt it’s substantially a reputation thing with Asomugha. Teams threw on Samuel 34 times in 11 games last year, and 19 times in 14 games against Asomugha. Teams threw against Revis 27 times in 13 games. You know that teams were probably planning to take an occasional shot at Samuel because he gambles, but beyond that, it’s still an interesting disparity considering how dangerous Samuel and Revis are. I think the only explanation is that this is just how hard it is to get open against Asomugha, because no matter what the gameplan is, you’d think an NFL quarterback is going to occasionally try to make a throw if it’s available. Admittedly, I’ve only seen him play three or four times, though.
Of course, it’s always been the case that teams have taken advantage of the Eagles up the middle and with screens, and that probably isn’t going to change. Still don’t know who’s going to play linebacker and safety. Maybe opposing tight ends will just get thrown to 350 times this year.
I don’t think this vaults them up into favorite status, though. Their weaknesses are still their weaknesses, even though they got really good at one thing. I would love to see them win a Super Bowl just because nearly everyone in the world could kiss my ass about a team winning with Young and Vick as their quarterbacks, but I find it kind of hard to imagine.
Jesus Christ. Asomugha to the Eagles is almost as insane as the Lions’ 1st-round WR draft run. How the hell can the Eagles afford to have $140 million invested in three cornerbacks?
Samuel just became the most valuable IDP fantasy player in history.
Meanwhile, the Buccaneers have finally found a good use for our league-leading $60 million in cap space: signing free agent punter Michael Koenen for $5 million a year. I am quietly hopeful that we’ll sign Cullen Jenkins to play tackle in the 4-3, or Jared Gaither to play right tackle.
Realistically, though I’ve got no fucking clue what the team is doing. I can only assume that they’re worried about a lot of young players meeting the (large) escalator clauses in their rookie contracts.
Every indication from the team is that they are not actively trading Samuel. All of the Samuel talk is pure speculation because, while carrying both Revis and Asomugha makes perfect sense for a team with no cap room, carrying Samuel and Asomugha for a team with cap room makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER!!
I think I’ve seen exactly one Raider game in the last few years, and I wasn’t watching for Asomugha. So I really have no idea what he can do. But fundamentally, the Eagles were crippled by poor play at RCB at the end of last season, and this completely eliminates that problem. They also suffered at safety, but mainly because Nate Allen hit a rookie wall midway through the season and got hurt late.
Nate Allen was legitimately great to start the season last year. If he comes back to that level and keeps it up, he’s an All Pro. I’m actually not too concerned at safety because I think the Allen/Jarrett/Coleman combo, while very young, is going to work out extremely well.
Linebacker… oof. Cheney showed a lot late last year but is still young and has flaws. But let’s say he’s as good as advertised. Then you only need 1.5 linebackers to play functionally well. I’m fairly certain that between the 26 young linebackers currently with the team, one of them will step up enough for that unit not to be a complete liability.
I think Asomugha solves their biggest weakness. They really need people to step up at linebacker because it seems like this defensive scheme relies on them more than before. This could be seen as a glaring, significant hole on the roster. I’m not sure any others exist honestly.
The O-Line has holes, especially on the right side (Vick’s blind side), but I don’t think it’s an absolute liability. The real elephant in the room is that Vick played only decently down the stretch last year and a repeat of that level of performance would mean this team struggles to even make the playoffs. Oh, and they’re going to start a rookie kicker and punter. Sure, they’re both phenomenal talents, but they’re rookies. Like that isn’t going to screw this team once or twice.
Asomugha got about as much as Johnathan Joseph got, which is a bargain. Samuel only makes about 6 million this season, and DRC makes less than a million. They actually still have more cap room and flexibility if they need to make another move, but it’ll likely be used on Desean Jackson.
I think they’ll keep Samuel this year, and trade him after this season if the team wins a Super Bowl. They’ll keep him two seasons if they don’t win this year. And he’ll certainly be gone after 2012 (when they need to extend DRC).
If he stays healthy, he’ll pick off 12-15. 15 being the record for a single season.