Looking at the Eagles roster as it stands now, cornerback sticks out as a position in flux.

There are eight players signed. Three of those — Nnamdi Asomugha, Joselio Hanson, and Asante Samuel — have crossed the 30-year-old mark, so their football clocks are ticking. Samuel, as discussed yesterday, likely won’t be around in a few months anyway. There’s also a quartet of unproven youngsters who Eagles fans have varying degrees of hope for — Brandon Hughes, Curtis Marsh, Trevard Lindley, and DJ Johnson.

Then there’s DRC. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is the soon-to-be 26-year-old cornerback whom the Eagles received as part of the Kevin Kolb trade. A former first round pick and one-time Pro Bowl selection, Rodgers-Cromartie was supposed to pair with Asomugha and Samuel to make a fearsome trio of starting corners. Things didn’t work out as planned, partially because the young newcomer struggled in his new role as nickel corner.

I posted Rodgers-Cromartie’s 2011 outside/slot split before, but it’s worth another look:

Once again, Rodgers-Cromartie was one of the worst cornerbacks in the NFL when playing in the slot, and one of the best when playing his natural position outside. That was part of the problem in 2011, but with Samuel headed out the door, DRC has the potential to be one of the best players on the Eagles defense. That’s only potential, of course, and his inconsistent play was one of the major reasons the Cardinals were willing to part with him a year ago.

More important, however, are two factors: his age and contract status. Rodgers-Cromartie is the only proven cornerback on the Eagles roster who still has at least half a decade of NFL playing time ahead of him. If he can maintain a high level of play as a starter, he could be not only an answer for 2012, but also a long term solution to pick up the slack when Asomugha begins to fade.

The problem is, Rodgers-Cromartie isn’t signed past this upcoming season. If the Eagles let him play out his contract and he does well, they will have to franchise tag him or compete with other teams on the open market. The alternative, of course, is that they could extend him this offseason — and perhaps pick up a discount in the aftermath of DRC’s sub par 2011.

There’s a long list on Howie Roseman’s desk of Eagles players deserving new contracts and Rodgers-Cromartie isn’t at the top. Still, for the sake of the vital cornerback position, extending him this offseason should be a priority.

Photo from Getty.

Les Bowen:

Even though Jenkins is 31 and might not be a long-term starter, his return, along with the return from injury of Antonio Dixon, might mean the Eagles don’t target a defensive tackle with the 15th overall selection in the April entry draft. If they re-sign pending free agent Derek Landri, that will become even less likely.

Disagree. As I briefly mentioned a few weeks ago, the defensive line is in need of young talent. This Cullen Jenkins contract restructuring is nice, but he’s not a long term solution at tackle. Nor is Mike Patterson, Derek Landri, or Trevor Laws. Plus, as Sheil Kapadia noted today, there’s already a robust rotation that would easily integrate a new addition.

All in all, if the Eagles address middle linebacker in free agency and Luke Kuechly remains the only consensus first round 4-3 linebacker, defensive tackle immediately jumps to the front of the line in terms of most likely early pick.

Since yesterday was Presidents Day, it seems like a good time to reflect on the Eagles own self-proclaimed president, Asante Samuel.

Samuel has had an up and down relationship with Philly fans since he arrived in 2008. First he was an overpaid slacker, then an interception machine with a fun and outsized personality, and then a few more missed tackles landed him back on the negative side of the ledger. Through it all, though, Samuel has been a one of the best coverage cornerbacks in the NFL.

Take a look at his stats with the Eagles:

While 2011 was a down year for interceptions, Samuel really hasn’t shown any decline year over year. In some ways he was the best cornerback the Eagles had last season.

Did you know that Samuel has more interceptions before age 31 than any other cornerback in the last 20 years? And many of the guys just below him (Champ Bailey, Aeneas Williams, Ty Law, Deion Sanders) managed to play well through at least a few years of their thirties.

All in all, I’m relatively bullish on Samuel’s potential to remain a high value coverage corner in the next few years. If his game were built on speed and physicality, you might project more of a dropoff. But Asante has always been an interception artist, rather than a complete player.

However, it’s a near certainty that Samuel will get to play out the remainder of his career in a different jersey. The Eagles explored trade possibilities for him last year, but never pulled the trigger (even turning down a second round pick from Detroit). After a year of turmoil in the secondary, Howie Roseman has little choice but to ship Samuel out this time, probably for no more than a third round pick.

When that happens, Asante’s play and his personality will both be missed.

Photo from Getty.

Josh Barnett and John Quinn, sports editors for the Daily News and Inquirer, respectively (to The 700 Level):

We will have a group of writers whose work will exclusively appear in the Daily News, a group of writers whose work will exclusively appear in the Inquirer and a group of writers whose work will appear in both papers. Everything in the print editions — and much more — will appear on philly.com along with new content that is being finalized.

What we have identified as “beat writer” information — game stories, transactions, injury updates, etc. — will be shared between the papers and handled by one writer per beat although we will supplement that one writer with other staffers to add depth and perspective to that information in both print and online.

On a macro level, this kind of change definitely makes sense. The basic game recap or minor news story doesn’t need to be written up by a reporter at each paper. Giving guys like Les Bowen more time to write analysis rather than chase quotes is a positive development.

Still, I wonder about the long term ramifications of combining the two newspaper staffs. Eventually, if you get on well enough with one shared beat reporter, you start to wonder if you can combine the other roles too. By the time the next budget cuts come down, it’s the two groups of columnists/analysts who become redundant. Hopefully the readership will continue to demand more content and sports coverage won’t suffer.

Soon-to-be free agent guard Evan Mathis did an AMA (ask me anything) post on Reddit. Fun questions and answers abound.

I’m not sure what happened to the Eagles vaunted quick-strike passing attack of 2010. And after combing through some of the stats from last year, I still don’t have a good read on it.

Let’s just take a minute to compare Michael Vick’s passes of 20 yards or more over the last two years, courtesy of Pro Football Focus:

The numbers show a complicated picture. By some measures, Vick’s deep passes were as good as they were a year prior. Yards per target and per reception were almost identical. The interception rate was similar, and completion percentage actually bumped up to 50 percent.

On the other hand, Vick’s touchdown rate dropped precipitously from 12.3 percent of all deep passes to just 6.3 percent. There were also seemingly fewer opportunities downfield — Vick’s percentage of throws 20 yards or greater fell by more than a third.

What about for DeSean Jackson, Vick’s frequent target on deep passes?

DeSean received a higher percentage of deep targets (54.2 percent vs. 44.6 percent in 2010), but his reception rate went in the opposite direction. A few drops here, a few bad passes there caused his yards per target figure to drop as well.

The odd thing about Jackson’s numbers is the interceptions column. Notice anything? Yes, all four of Vick’s interceptions throwing deep were targeted at Jackson. I’m not sure what to make of that. Was Jackson not putting in the effort to go get the ball? Was Vick forcing the ball to his top target? Whatever the problem, is it fixable?

It may be time to go back to the tape.

Photo from Getty.

Mike Armstrong, for the Inquirer:

Under the plan, some elements of sports coverage, arts and other features stories, city and suburban reporting, and various editing functions would be coordinated and shared, Wischnowski said.

The same story might appear in both newspapers.

For example, the papers’ sports departments intend to have one editor in charge of reporters from both staffs covering the Philadelphia Phillies, another for those covering the Philadelphia Eagles, and so on. Two reporters may still cover a Phillies game. However, one may be “digitally focused,” Wischnowski said, posting news and video interviews to the Web, while the other may concentrate on a story for print.

Make no mistake, this is going to be a sad offseason for journalism, and especially sports journalism, in Philadelphia. With four beat reporters, a bunch of columnists, and the Philly.com mavens covering the Eagles right now, “redundancy” is a scary word.

Update: A source tells The 700 Level that “there is only going to be one ‘beat writer’ per team going forward and that existing beats will either be reassigned or eliminated.”

Howie Roseman on Asante Samuel’s situation:

“Whenever you have a surplus at a particular position there are talks around the league. People call and your phone does ring and that’s happened in the past couple years by our quarterback situation and so I think there are particular position on our team that maybe we had a surplus at and I expect the phone calls to be active. In terms of talking about a specific player or position obviously I stay away from that. But we’re always open to phone calls and to seeing if something works and really if there are win-win situations for particular teams and particular players we’ll look at that.”

It was nice knowing you, Pres.

Les Bowen, reporting on NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock’s comments:

“(Kuechly’s) playmaking and instincts are so good, think about Sean Lee. I think that’s the best comparison for him. Sean Lee went in the second round to Dallas (from Penn State, two years ago), but has become a Pro Bowl inside linebacker, and I think this kid is very similar. He doesn’t have the knee issues Sean had, and I think he’s a slightly better athlete,” Mayock said.

“If he’s not there, I think you’ve got a little bit of a problem inside,” Mayock said. “I don’t think Don’ta Hightower, from Alabama, is worthy of the 15th pick in the draft, and I don’t think there’s any other inside linebackers worthy of that pick.”

Especially with the hard fall of Vontaze Burfict, the drumbeat for Kuechly to the Eagles gets louder by the day.

Tommy Lawlor:

Football has become more and more of a passing league. The emphasis on size has gone away. Teams need a SAM to be someone that can hold his ground on run plays that come at him, but that can be done by a 6’1, 240 LB. The key now is for him to be able to hang with TEs, based more on athleticism that just size. Teams are now moving TEs around so if that happens with the SAM on the field, he must be able to play more in space.

This is just the introduction to a great breakdown Tommy has over on Scouts Notebook of the best SAM linebackers in the draft. Check it out. It makes a lot of sense to address middle linebacker in free agency, perhaps with a player like Stephen Tulloch, then shore up the outside spot with an early pick of Zach Brown or Keenan Robinson.

With Jeff McLane’s latest report suggesting that the Eagles plan to place the franchise tag on DeSean Jackson, and sources close to the wide receiver in the same report saying that Jackson “would not balk at signing the Eagles’ one-year tender,” I’m starting to wonder if this whole ugly situation might be resolved with less drama than we thought.

At its most basic, every negotiation is a game of chicken, and the Eagles-Jackson contract mini-feud is no exception. It’s all about who flinches first to prevent the worse possible outcome — a season in which the Eagles keep DeSean but he refuses to sign the franchise tender and play the 2012 season without a new long term deal.

Jackson folding first means he would just sign the franchise tag and play out the year with a guaranteed $9.5 million. The Eagles, on the other hand, could give up and trade Jackson for minimal return. Neither side wants the worst outcome, so someone has to break.

Looking at the prospects again, it seems like Jackson is in the weaker position, largely because the Eagles can legitimately pre-commit to their course of action. One of the ways to win a game of chicken — typically illustrated by two cars driving right at each other — is to pre-commit by signaling to the other driver that you have locked your steering wheel into place and cannot deviate from the collision path. Thus, if the other driver doesn’t want to end up crashing, he must flinch first.

The Eagles can’t lock their proverbial steering wheel, but their history of negotiation shows enough evidence that they won’t budge. In fact, the Eagles over the years have almost never traded a player or given him a contract extension just because he demanded it. They would rather let Terrell Owens ruin a season or let Lito Sheppard ruin his trade value than capitulate. They also have refused to accept below-market value for trades, even when a player’s public comments gave other teams leverage negotiations.

DeSean knows these things, and can’t be anxious to end up as the next Vincent Jackson circa 2010.

Plus, speaking of the Chargers wideout, this free agent wide receiver class is very good. Dwayne Bowe, Marques Colston, Stevie Johnson, and others can claim similar or higher value than DeSean.

Meanwhile, Jackson’s performance in his original walk year of 2011 left a lot to be desired. He regressed on the field and showed immaturity off it.

Given Jackson’s contract demands, high trade cost, and underachieving performance, the market for his services may not be nearly as fruitful as he might have hoped a year ago. While he may try to play out the game, perhaps even into training camp, there’s not much downside to signing a one year, $9.5 million guaranteed deal. If he can improve in 2012, there will be even more opportunities to hit it big in free agency next time around.

Photo from Getty.

Jason Kelce reports, with photo and video evidence, that fellow Eagles offensive linemen Danny Watkins has purchased a fire truck, apparently for personal use.

On one hand, this could easily be a prank. On the other, it does seem like the rather inevitable conclusion of this and this.

Jason Cole, Yahoo Sports:

In addition, according to a source close to Moss, the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Jets are at least curious and the San Francisco 49ers could look to fill a hole if they let go of Josh Morgan in free agency. A source with one of those teams conveyed via text it would be “intriguing” to see what Moss has left in the tank after a year away from the game.

Agent rumor-mongering at its best. Still, Randy Moss has long been on the Andy Reid wish list, and we know Howie Roseman is a big texter. Time to double-down on mercurial, contact-fearing wide receivers!

(via Sam Lynch)

LeSean McCoy had an All-World rushing season last year, racking up 1300 yards and 17 touchdowns, good enough for best in the NFL in DYAR, by far. McCoy is also a more complete player than most other backs. His pass blocking has, by all accounts, improved significantly since he entered the league. And out of the backfield, McCoy has caught 166 balls over the last three seasons — third-most among all running backs.

Despite all those catches, however, there still seems to be room for improvement in the receiving department. While McCoy has already met or surpassed his mentor’s rushing ability, Brian Westbrook was a much more natural receiver. In fact, he was probably the best wideout the Eagles had for a number of years there.

At a basic level, Westbrook averaged 8.9 yards per catch over his entire career. McCoy has only managed 7.3 yards. That’s a large difference, although it’s hard to tell exactly why McCoy is deficient in that area.

One way to get a second-level look at McCoy’s receiving stats is to look at his receptions by distance. Pro Football Focus tracks passes thrown by direction, including whether those passes were thrown behind or in front of the line of scrimmage. Here is McCoy’s receiving production by year, delineated by passes thrown behind the line of scrimmage and past it:

For starters, McCoy has always been targeted more in the backfield. Most of those are swing passes, screen passes, and shovels. However, at least until this year, he was also turning those passes into bigger gains. There’s an interesting trend, which may or may not be significant, where McCoy’s screens have become less effective each season while his receptions on pass routes past the line of scrimmage resulted in bigger gains.

(Note that YAC, yards after catch, include yards gained behind the line of scrimmage.)

So that’s interesting. But in order to get any context for those numbers, we have to compare them to other running backs. I averaged the 2011 reception figures for five comparable backs: Darren Sproles, Ray Rice, Chris Johnson, Arian Foster, and Matt Forte.

In many ways, these backs had the opposite production of McCoy. Most of their receptions came from routes past the line of scrimmage, not screens and swing passes. They were also more effective running those real pass routes than McCoy, with an average of 10.8 yards per catch beyond the line of scrimmage.

Granted, the reason McCoy runs few wide receiver-type routes is because he’s so valuable in the backfield — even as a decoy. But that’s true about these other running backs as well.

One way McCoy can take his game to the next level would be to apply himself this offseason to becoming a better route-runner and receiver when put in motion out of the backfield. That extra element made Brian Westbrook a multidimensional threat, and McCoy would be wise to follow in his footsteps.

Photo from Getty.

Jeff McLane:

They will not let their Pro Bowl receiver - whose contract is set to expire - walk without getting something in return, according to NFL sources.

The franchise tag doesn’t come as a surprise, but given McLane’s general stance as mouthpiece for the Eagles front office, we can assume this comes from the top.

The Eagles still hold negotiating rights to Jackson and still have the opportunity to work out a contract extension. But unless Jackson and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, drastically drop their asking price - believed to be in the five-year, $50 million range - that proposition is unlikely as the Eagles have typically been steadfast in negotiating.

I wonder whether McLane got that five-year, $50 million figure from the organization as well, or it’s just a guess based on Santonio Holmes’s contract.

Jonathan Tamari:

Bowles, the only new addition to the coaching staff, took the Eagles job over offers to become the defensive coordinator in Oakland, to remain the assistant head coach/secondary coach in Miami, or take the same position in Cincinnati.

Obviously, we’re taking new secondary coach Todd Bowles at his word here, but it’s surprising to say the least. Perhaps Bowles thought that his input would actually have a bigger impact working “under” Juan Castillo rather than defensive-minded Raiders head coach Dennis Allen.

Sheil Kapadia:

Essentially, Kuechly runs through a mini-combine on a daily basis. And he’s not alone. While there are currently 30 prospects training at IMG Academy, there are 300-plus training around the country. The combine presents a series of predictable tests. It’s the job of agents, trainers, coaches and advisers to make sure there are no surprises, that the prospects know exactly what they’re being asked to do when the spotlight’s on them.

Great breakdown of a combine trainee’s daily schedule. Boston College’s Luke Kuechly makes almost too much sense for the Eagles in the middle of the first round.

One of the most worrisome characteristics of Eagles front office in the last couple of years has been its seeming reluctance to hand out early contract extensions to their young players.

Now, there have been extenuating circumstances. For starters, the drafting has been poor overall, so there haven’t been many players since 2008 that have been worth extending. Additionally, the collective bargaining agreement drama delayed some contract talks.

However, the Eagles now have three young offensive stars who are/should have been prime candidates for extensions. DeSean Jackson, obviously, is the most urgent name. He’s scheduled to be a free agent in just a few weeks and the team is reportedly far apart in negotiations. Perhaps Jackson has been asking for a salary that’s too high, but in any case this could be a failure the Eagles front office hasn’t seen since Jeremiah Trotter left after the 2001 season.

On the flip side, Jeremy Maclin still has two years on his deal, so it’s not quite an emergency for him. If the Eagles are still operating with the same principles they did a few years back, though, he would be a prime candidate for a below-market value extension this offseason.

The middle case is LeSean McCoy, the Eagles All-Pro running back, who is about to enter the final year of his rookie contract. An extension with McCoy has to happen as soon as possible, lest the Eagles risk another DeSean situation. If an extension is worked out, we may be able to write off that problem as one special to, if not created by, Jackson.

Besides, McCoy has said publicly that he doesn’t want to end up like DeSean:

“Let me be honest with you, I never want to be in that situation,” McCoy said. “Everybody’s situation is different. [An extension] would be a blessing if that happened because I don’t want to go anywhere else or play anywhere else. I love it here. I’m a Pennsylvania guy – from high school to college to here.”

(Read what you will into McCoy twice firing and and re-hiring Drew Rosenhaus during the season.)

Still, the Eagles have already hurt themselves by failing to lock up McCoy a year ago. Back in October, I wrote about what that potential contract could look like. Here, again, are the most recent running back deals:

2011- Chris Johnson (25): 6 years, $55 million, $30 million guaranteed
2011- Adrian Peterson (26): 7 years, $96 million, $36 million guaranteed
2011- Frank Gore (28): 4 years, $26 million, $14 million guaranteed
2011- DeAngelo Williams (28): 5 years, $43 million, $21 million guaranteed
2010- Jamaal Charles (24): 6 years, $28 million, $10 million guaranteed
2009- Maurice Jones-Drew (24): 5 years, $31 million, $18 million guaranteed
2008- Steven Jackson (25): 6 years, $45 million, $21 million guaranteed
2008- Michael Turner (26): 6 years, $35 million, $15 million guaranteed

At the time I suggested McCoy’s production put him in line for a similar deal to the one signed by Jamaal Charles, who had comparable stats through his first three seasons. However, McCoy’s monster 2011 dwarfs Charles’s top production so far. That one year still doesn’t get him up to Peterson-Johnson stratosphere, but I’d be surprised if isn’t looking more at the Jones-Drew range.

A complicating factor is the pending free agency status of Ray Rice and Matt Forte. Both young, complete running backs are likely candidates for long term extensions in the coming weeks. The Eagles and McCoy may choose to wait until the running back market is set by those players before getting serious about negotiations.

It’s not ideal, given the opportunity the Eagles had to lock him up at a lower rate, but as long as a contract extension happens this offseason I don’t think any fans will complain.

Photo from Getty.

Tommy Lawlor:

Should Andy Reid embrace Super Bowl talk? I don’t mean go all Rex Ryan and start talking about how we’re the best and definitely will win the SB. I’m talking more about openly using the phrase “Super Bowl” when discussing the season and goals…

Normally I don’t think this would be smart, but since Reid is going to be under big pressure this year…could this actually be smart? Rather than ignore the obvious, embrace it. Reid isn’t on a Super Bowl or bust mandate, but he’s not far off from that if you read between the lines of Jeff Lurie’s PC.

Counter-intuitive, but I like it. Perhaps a slightly better way would be to have Michael Vick and other team leaders spread the “Win one for the Gipper” message, instead of having it come from the top down. The players really seem to genuinely like and respect Reid, so a fiery campaign to prove he’s worth keeping could motivate everyone.

That said, if he pushes win-now mode hard and still finds himself with a losing record down the stretch, Reid could be out before Christmas.

I don’t think anyone (with the possible exception of Andy Reid) was shocked when Juan Castillo didn’t work out on defense. But nearly everyone was surprised at just how far Michael Vick regressed from his star season in 2010.

The big problem Vick had was simply turnovers. After posting zero interceptions through his first eight games the previous season, Vick was picked off 14 times in 13 games in 2011. That’s not nearly good enough if the Eagles want to rebound and make a run into the playoffs next year.

So let’s go a little deeper to try to understand some of Vick’s interception woes, using some stats from Pro Football Focus. Today I want to split Vick’s plays into two categories: regular and under pressure.

Let’s look at his non-pressured stats first. When not threatened by sacks or hits, Vick completed 69 percent of his passes, good enough for 8th-best among the 24 quarterbacks who took at least 50 percent of their team’s offensive snaps. That completion rate jumps to 76 percent and 6th-best when you don’t count drops against him.

As to interceptions, Vick was slightly below average, but not by much. He was 15th out of 24, with an interception rate of 2.5 percent. For reference, Eli Manning was 14th with 2.4 percent, and Drew Brees was 11th with 2.1 percent.

Overall, Vick showed room for improvement, but no big problems when he wasn’t pressured. When he had defenders in his face, however, Vick’s performance was more of a mixed bag.

On one hand, he had the 5th-highest touchdown rate and the 2nd-lowest sack rate among those 24 quarterbacks. With only 11.6 percent of all pressured dropbacks turned into sacks, Vick’s famed elusiveness served him well avoiding a big loss.

However, Vick completed only 42 percent his passes under pressure, which ranks 18th. Worse, 4.9 percent of his passes were intercepted, beating only Matt Hasselbeck, Tarvaris Jackson, Rex Grossman, and Ryan Fitzpatrick. (Matt Ryan scored about average, at 3.5 percent, while Andy Dalton, Aaron Rodgers, and Sam Bradford were blemish-free.)

There are two takeaways from this information. One is relatively straightforward: Vick needs to handle the pressure better, even take a few more sacks rather than expose himself to interceptions. The rookie Dalton, who threw zero interceptions under pressure, also threw the ball away in those situations more than anyone else in the league. Vick could learn something from that example.

But the second takeaway is more nuanced. For the last two seasons, Vick has been under pressure more than nearly any other quarterback. Last year he ranked first overall with pressure in 39.8 percent of his dropbacks. In 2010 he was second, with 41.8 percent.

Given the improvement along the offensive line year-over-year, it’s likely that this has more to do with Vick than his blockers. Football Outsiders sack timing stats show that more than half of his sacks take longer than three seconds, which partially can be attributed to avoiding defenders, but also results from his tendency to hold on to the ball too long.

Vick is a playmaker when he scrambles around — his touchdown rate is actually higher with pressure than without. But avoiding sacks and trying to score big also led him to turn the ball over far too much.

Perhaps Reid and Marty Mornhinweg should focus on teaching Vick to avoid more of those situations by making pre-snap reads and quick decisions about where to go with the football. If DeSean Jackson returns, there will still be plenty of opportunities to create big plays, even without dancing around in backfield. If he doesn’t become more consistent and less turnover-prone, Vick will continue to be a liablity going forward.

Photo from Getty.