I was away all weekend in the land of Mikey Mouse so I am catching up on most of the news from the past couple days, but did come across this bit of news on a 49ers blog about Bryant Johnson.  The 49ers beat witter for the Sacramento Bee thinks its likely that Johnson won’t be back in San Fran next year.

I’d say it’s 65-35 that Johnson doesn’t return. The 49ers will not aggressively try to re-sign him before Feb. 27. But if he doesn’t get a lot of attention on the FA market, they’d welcome him back. He’s a big-bodied WR who would be a good fit in a smash-mouth offense.

Johnson isn’t a big name wide receiver and its not the kind of receiver that will take over a game ala Larry Fitzgerald, but lets be honest with ourselves.  There’s a very, very small chance the Eagles FO would ever make a move for such a wide receiver via free agency.  The cost of such a player would be deemed too high for a FA signing and the cost in draft picks to trade for someone like Anquan Boldin would be deemed too costly.

So if we can’t add an elite wide receiver, why not take a chance on a guy like Johnson?  His numbers in 2008 weren’t overly impressive - 45 catches for 546 yards and 3 touchdowns - but he was catching passes from JT O’Sullivan and Shaun Hill all year long.   He is the exact type of receiver that this offense could really use though - a big, strong, receiver who can move the chains and be a target in the red zone.  With the speed Kevin Curtis and DeSean Jackson bring to the wide receiving corps, what this offense really needs in an underneath threat that can keep defenses from dropping the safeties back all game long to prevent the long ball.

The Eagles could have pursued Johnson last year, but choose not to.  Last year though they had Reggie Brown coming off a 61 catch, 780 yard, 4 touchdown  season.

I’m not saying this would be a great move by the FO or that it will solve some of the problems our offense had in 2008, but who would you rather have as a 3rd wide receiver Bryant Johnson or Reggie Brown?  (Note, despite two years more experience in the league, Johnson is still a year young than Brown).  The problem though is what do you do with Brown and his ridiculously long contract?  Cutting Brown this off-season would cost the Eagles $5.8 million against the cap and who is going to give up much for a medicore WR scheduled to make $3.06 million next year?

It seems like this gets said every year for the Eagles, but they are about to head into a very critical off-season.  Is the window still open, is it closing, or is it now closed?  This off-season will likely determine the answer to that question.  I plan on doing a whole series of posts about the off-season this year includng a position by position analysis, but for now, here is a very brief overview and a schedule for the off-season.

• Filling Out the Coaching Staff - Pat Shurmur has left to be the OC in St. Louis and the guy everyone assumed would replace him, Mark Whipple, could be the next go.   The Eagles still have an opening on the coaching staff so that will need to be filled soon.
• Determining What the Needs Are - There are a lot of areas in which the Eagles could use some improvement, but not all of them will be able to be filled this off-season.  The FO will need to determine what the needs of this team are and how to address them.  Luckily for Andy Reid and Tom Heckert, we will be here to offer them guidance.  We’ll have a position by position review of the team and what its needs are over the next few weeks.
• Resigning Free Agents - The Eagles have quite a few critical free agents this off-season.  Brian Dawkins, Jon Runyan, and Tra Thomas has been mainstays for the Eagles over the last decade, but all three are aging starters and the Eagles will face some tough questions in dealing with all three.  Other unrestricted free agents include Sean Consindine, Correl Buckhalter, Joselio Hansen, and LJ Smith.  Nick Cole and Hank Basket will also be restricted free agnets.  Who comes back? Who moves on?
• Will The Eagles be Buyers in Free Agency? - Last year the Eagles shocked a lot of people and signed the jewel of the free agency class, Asante Samuel, on day one and then followed that up by signing Chris Clemons not too long after.  Will the Eagles be buyers again this year or will they be moe conservative as they usually are?  There’s a lot of potential free agents that could help the Eagles but will the FO pony up the bucks?
  • Free Agency begins on February 27
• NFL Draft - The Eagles will need to figure out which of their needs they will address via free agency and which they will address via the draft.  The Eagles FO loves to build through the draft so it’s likely key areas like OT will be addressed via the draft.
  • NFL Scouting Combine is February 18-24 in Indianapolis, IN
  • NFL Draft is April 25-26 in New York City, NY

Brian Dawkins Must Be Resigned

Since this is my first post about Brian Dawkins, I think for the sake of full disclosure I need to divulge that Dawkins is by far, my favorite Eagle of all time.  Now that that is out of the way, on to the point of this post - Brian Dawkins likely returning in 2009 to continue terrorizing the NFC East.

According to Pro Football Weekly, Dawkins will most likely be back with the Eagles in 2009.

Eagles FS Brian Dawkins might be 35 years old, but his strong finish to the season and his desire to return to Philadelphia make it a strong likelihood he’ll be back. The Eagles probably would like to sign the free-agent-to-be to a one-year deal but might be willing to offer Dawkins two years. The team does not believe Quintin Demps, drafted as a possible long-term replacement for Dawkins, is ready to take over in that role.

Resigning Dawkins should be one of the top priorities for the FO this off-season.  Dawkins isn’t going to look to break the bank and is the heart and soul of this defense.  With the relative youth of this defense, its an absolute must that Dawkins comes back next season.  There’s also no way the Eagles can let Dawkins end his career in any way other than wearing Midnight Green.

Anyone who watched the NFC Championship game last weekend doesn’t think that Quintin Demps isn’t ready to start though - they know it.  Demps is a great kick returner right now, but he’s not a starting free safety in the NFL just yet.  I’m actually still wondering why Demps was even on the field in some of those situations while Lito Sheppard collected dust.