Across Eagles Nation, in the media market that put the "hyper'' in "hyperbole,'' fans are waiting impatiently as NFL free agency approaches at midnight tonight. The Eagles are going to sign Asante Samuel, trade Lito Sheppard, replace half their starters and most of their bench.

Or not.

The fact is, most of what figured to be the marquee names disappeared from the free-agency list via the franchise tag over the past few weeks. Forget Jared Allen, Terrell Suggs or Marcus Trufant. The Cardinals' general manager, Rod Graves, was very clear at the NFL Scouting Combine that he has no intention of trading wideout Larry Fitzgerald, the subject of many of the Sheppard trade rumors.

What used to be the second tier of free agents, the guys who signed weeks into the auction before the salary cap expanded so much, is now much closer to the very thin first tier. Eagles president Joe Banner spoke about this when he met with reporters last week.

"My own opinion is, there's going to be a very, very short market this year,'' Banner said. "It's not to say there aren't any opportunities out there, but I think you're going to see the market accelerated . . . the second tier of free agency, where maybe that kicked in 2 weeks into free agency in the past, maybe you're going to see it kicking in 3 to 5 days into free agency this year.''

The Eagles might be able to contend they had a respectable offseason if they, say, sign Tennessee defensive end Antwan Odom and Houston wideout André Davis, before using their 19th overall pick in the April draft on a promising corner, such as Leodis McKelvin, Mike Jenkins or Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, then grabbing somebody like Arkansas running back Felix Jones in the second round.

But that won't pack the stands at Lehigh come late July.

Of course, the Eagles aren't publicizing their targets. The one year everybody knew what the Eagles were going to do, it melted down into a huge embarrassment, as center LeCharles Bentley used the offer the Birds thought was going to forge a deal to instead leverage a return home to Cleveland. Where Bentley promptly suffered a devastating knee injury from which he's still trying to recover, 2 years later.

Fans hate to hear it, but high-priced free agents turn out like Bentley more often than they turn out as well as, say, linebacker Adalius Thomas turned out for New England last year. And Thomas' team, you might recall, did not win the Super Bowl, prompting Eagles coach Andy Reid's observation last week that of the last three Super Bowl winners, kicker Adam Vinatieri is the most significant free-agent signee. (Of course, that's only counting free agents signed the year their team won - Plaxico Burress came to the Giants as a free agent in 2005. He seemed to have a little to do with New York getting to and winning Super Bowl XLII.)

Speaking of the Giants, we know for sure the Eagles want to add pass-rush pressure this offseason. This was the great lesson of the Giants' improbable climb to the title - if you make the quarterback consistently uncomfortable, particularly if you come right up the middle, you can disrupt even the greatest offensive machine ever assembled.

"If you pressure the quarterback, everybody else is better,'' Reid said last week. "If you protect the quarterback on the other side, you can take an average quarterback, he's going to be all right. Most of them can throw seven-on-sevens in this league.

"[The pressure] doesn't have to be sacks. The thing we did the latter half of the season, I thought from the Patriots [game] on, we made the quarterback move or we got late hits. We got pressure there. So, if you can get the quarterback to move his feet, most quarterbacks in this league struggle, and then if you add a little hit to them, even if they get the ball off, if you're in his face and hitting him, that's a good thing.''

Of the pass rushers available, defensive end Odom had eight sacks last season, teammate Travis LaBoy had six, playing as a sub. Justin Smith had a two-sack season for the Bengals, after being franchised. Any of those guys probably would help, but neither Odom, LaBoy nor Smith would give that inside push the Giants got from Justin Tuck, the push that helps free the ends from double teams. It's hard to see a guy of that stature on the free-agent horizon, but there have been reports that the Lions would trade Shaun Rogers. He's a defensive tackle who had seven sacks last season, even if he was inconsistent.

We also know the Eagles want to add a corner. If they don't get Samuel - there was a rumor yesterday that he will sign with the Saints; who knows if there's anything to it? - then they probably won't get anybody in free agency who will make a big splash. That corner might have to come in the draft. And by the way, signing Samuel for what presumably would have to be more than $10 million a year, then jettisoning Sheppard, a similar player when healthy who makes a fraction of that, would make little sense. (It might be typical of the Eagles, though, who don't seem to quite grasp the concept of adding to your talent base.)

Many fans want to see a wideout added to the arsenal. Here again, unless something unforeseen happens with Randy Moss, potential acquisitions are more along the lines of supporting cast than headliners. André Davis, D.J. Hackett, Bernard Berrian - none of them is Terrell Owens, in the good or bad senses. Javon Walker apparently is available via trade from Denver; like Davis, he is represented by the agent group that represents Donovan McNabb, and Walker has worked out with McNabb in previous offseasons. They presumably would have good chemistry. But Walker is coming off knee trouble.

There is talk of Eagles interest in Giants safety Gibril Wilson, a fine player who will make a lot of money in free agency, and doesn't play a position where the Eagles have a great need, assuming they really do expect Brian Dawkins to come back and play well. If they signed Wilson and kept Dawkins, they'd have an awful lot of money tied up in safeties.

One other thing we know: Will James, Thomas Tapeh, Reno Mahe and Kimo von Oelhoffen are departing as unrestricted free agents, unlikely to return. If any of them does end up in Eagles training camp, we'll know the team wasn't able to accomplish everything it sat out to do in the offseason.

Birdseed