Great News! Graves/Parker Update

[Duckjake]

McGee--

something I am very curious about on Sheppard--

I beleive he is a top notch corner as well. The issue I have is that the Eagles signed Asante Samuel when (at least to an outside observer) corner wasnt really a need.

So here are the Eagles, who a week ago concluded that they needed to pay a corner $9mm+ a year, but not to the Pro bowl corner on their roster. Then after signing Samuel, they are ready to shop Lito Sheppard. Nobody knows Sheppard better than the Eagles, and they concluded that they needed somebody better.

It raises a red flag to me.

Why would the Eagles do that? Cant be for money-- it would have been cheaper to give Lito a new deal than sign Samuel.

In the "Charting D-Backs 2007" thread a rating system for DBs was discussed. The same ranking that had Rod Hood in the top 5 had Lito Shepard in the bottom ten with a success rate 1% worse than Eric Green. That raises even more suspicion.

 

[earthsci]

In the "Charting D-Backs 2007" thread a rating system for DBs was discussed. The same ranking that had Rod Hood in the top 5 had Lito Shepard in the bottom ten with a success rate 1% worse than Eric Green. That raises even more suspicion.

That's why we need more than a second rounder to go along with that trade because IMO. Essentially it would be a second rounder for Fitz.

 

[NoPants McGee]

McGee--

something I am very curious about on Sheppard--

I beleive he is a top notch corner as well. The issue I have is that the Eagles signed Asante Samuel when (at least to an outside observer) corner wasnt really a need.

So here are the Eagles, who a week ago concluded that they needed to pay a corner $9mm+ a year, but not to the Pro bowl corner on their roster. Then after signing Samuel, they are ready to shop Lito Sheppard. Nobody knows Sheppard better than the Eagles, and they concluded that they needed somebody better.

It raises a red flag to me.

Why would the Eagles do that? Cant be for money-- it would have been cheaper to give Lito a new deal than sign Samuel.

Very good question. I think it is mostly about the money. The Eagles like to lock young guys up long term. Then when a guy like Lito, who was all smiles when he signed that deal, makes the prowl bowl a few times he wants to renegotiate. The Eagles have taken a firm stand against renegotiating existing deals in the past, dealing guys when they aren't happy with their contracts. You all probably remember the Eagles refusing to touch Owen's existing deal and it has happened several other times with lesser known players during Andy Reid's tenure. So while it seems counter-intuitive, they would definitely rather pay a free agent than set a precedent by renegotiating with a player that is not happy about his deal.

The other major issue is his injury history. He has missed 14 games over the last 3 years.

Also, I don't really think that the Eagles went into free agency with the goal of getting a cornerback. They had money to spend and went in with the desire to get the best defensive player available. This year, in their opinion, that guy happened to be a cornerback. He probably could have played any other position other than linebacker and the Eagles would have been interested. We could really use safeties and linemen.

I have my own pet theory too that I haven't seen anyone else talk about yet: Last year the Eagles picked up Lito's cousin, Jabbar Gaffney, then cut him during training camp. Gaffney went on to sign with New England and had a pretty good year. I wonder if this helped fuel Sheppard's discontent with the Eagles management and his current deal.

As an Eagles' fan, I'd love to see this deal happen. Getting a guy with Fitzgerald's talent who is only 24 would be a dream to Eagles fans. But it looks like the Cardinals might be treating this as a situation where all things are equal and they didn't get in way over their heads by making a very bad contract that they are going to have trouble paying. At the very least, it doesn't seem like the Cardinals are in any hurry to make something happen. So, I'm not very optimistic. The Eagles have other needs and they love draft picks. I don't think they will wait until draft day to pull the trigger if other teams are putting good offers on the table.