Dawking The Dawk
Philadelphia Inquirer Sports Columnist Bob Ford writes about the Eagles, the Phillies, the Sixers and the Flyers.
Dawking The Dawk
Bob Ford, Inquirer Sports Columnist
From early indications, EagleWorld is a fractured, unhappy place after the confirmation on Saturday that one of the most beloved members of the team will be moving on.
Never knew you felt quite that strongly about Lito.
The Eagles made a very good deal for disgruntled cornerback Lito Sheppard, getting a 5th-round pick and a conditional pick the following season from the Jets that could be as high as a second-round pick. The market for unhappy cornerbacks isn't what it used to be.
As for the other outgoing transaction news, that Brian Dawkins had signed a deal with the Denver Broncos that nearly assures he won't be finishing his career in an Eagles uniform, that one is the one that stung fans.
According to a source within the negotiations, the Eagles offered Dawkins a two-year deal for pretty decent money, but the Broncos blew that one away with a five-year, $19 million offer.
The deal should really be viewed as a two-year deal, for a total of approximately $9.5 million, with $7.5 million guaranteed, according to the same source. That $7.5 million is guaranteed even if Dawkins plays just one season.
For Denver, which is trying to rebuild things, bringing in Dawkins as a conscience of the defense, a veteran who will be an example in the locker room, there are benefits to offering this very generous contract that extend off the field. The Broncos are overpaying, but they are counting on receiving more than just a football player.
It won't go down well among most fans, but this is probably more about what the Broncos did -- and what Dawkins decided for himself -- than what the Eagles did not do. I try to make that point, and a few random others, in a column in Sunday's Inquirer. I'm hardly a company man for the Eagles, but you can't kill them for this one.
Well, you can, because all is fair in EagleWorld, but this time it would be wrong.
Comments (52)
it wasn't a 5 year deal they had to match, it was 2 years for 9 million. 4.5 a season for a safety that made it to the Pro Bowl in 08 and was the best player on defense during the season. Allsprtsfan . . . "granted they haven't won a super bowl" is a big caveot when you start throwing around the phrase "an organization that just wins and wins." Does 4 championship game losses and 1 Super Bowl defeat constitute a winner? Ask the Bills and their fans how they feel about their "winning" in the 90's.— PhrustratedPhan- If the Eagles made a decent offer, he wouldn't have been a free agent and Denver couldn't have blown him away. Dawk and his agent are smart enough to realize that his deal is 2 years 9.5 million with 7.5 guaranteed. If the Eagles couldn't do something similar then it wasn't a decent offer. Someone should urinate on Andy and Joe, because that's what they did to us and Dawk.— mikeyhigs
- A few weeks ago I read an article that talked in depth about the Eagles this off season. The gist of the column was that we will know one thing for darn sure this year about the Eagles. Are they more interested in making lots of money or do they really want to try and win at least one Superbowl for the players, city and the fans? I don't think the real issue here is just letting Dawk go. This team has no intention of trying to do whatever it takes to try and win before #5 leaves Philly. We are 2 days into FA and there are glaring needs at many positions that could have been filled and relatively cheap being so far under the cap. Any chance the Eagles do not trade back with one of their #1 picks? I can already hear the stupid excuse of we had to trade back since we had so many needs....that they created on their own!!!! Fans really need to boycott this team if they are ever going to get this cheap Bramen/Lurie team to change their attitudes.— kt1516
- Fly Dawkins Fly, thats the tune for these NFL players today. They GO FOR THE DOUGH, plain and simple. So if you want to fault anyone fault the player not the team.— Bubba
- I'm sorry, did I miss something? Have the Eagles earned the benefit of the doubt in the afterglow of all those Super Bowl trophies? What's that, you say? They've never one? Only team in the NFC East without a title? Hmmmm... Maybe now we know why.— farside37
- In a perfect world Dawk & the Eagles would have worked out a deal that would have kept him in Philly for another year or two as a player, and then maybe beyond that as a coach, but this is not a perfect world and Dawk accepted a contract that will pay him alot more money than would have sensible for the Birds to pay him. He will go down as a legendary player in Philly, but business is business. Reggie White moved on, Wilt Chamberlain moved on, life goes on, the Eagles will go on, and so will Philly. We will miss you Dawk, good luck in Denver. Go EAGLES— ScottL
- A thought: Could this be the beginning of serious re-building? Where is it written that #5 will be here next year? this team, but for an unworldly convergence of the fates would not have made it to the playoffs...during much of the season they see-sawed between really good games and horror shows...i love Dawk, but even the most ardent fans will have to admit there were a lot of times when he was out of position and looked like he had just come from the i-hop toast counter...this may be a message, that McNabb is next and the KK era is about to begin...i did not say it's a done deal...just think about it...there has been an awful lot of un-loading of playing parts...Dawk, Lito, Sean C., LJ Smith (where are the tears for LJ??)Runyon, and who knows who is next?...could it be that old but faithful left tackle, t.thomas?? another observation...have you ever heard banner of the radio...what a bloodless, calculating smartass...he missed his calling, he could have played ken lay in the enron movie..."it's ok guys your retirement is safe...the sky is not falling"...Aristotle said that the ultimate objective of every human being is to look back on life to determine whether you are a good man, a person of virtue...survey says....Banner, nope...Dawkins, hell yeah!!!...nuf said...the eagles need to know that WHEN YOU ONLY MEASURE WHAT A MAN DOES AND NOT WHAT HE REALLY IS...YOU INVARIABLY FAIL...AFTER 10 YEARS NEED I SAY MORE???— jachanin
- why is it that journalists opine on things that they are clueless about? yes, you get paid to write articles or report information, but what makes you think your opinion is even semi-valid concerning what the Eagles choose to do or not? do you buy the tickets for everyone sitting in the stadium? do you hit the concession stand and offer unlimited hot dogs and beer for everyone? probably not, so, please dispense with your idiotic notion that people don't have the right to be upset at the Eagles for Dawkins' departure. you even admitted in your article that the Broncos overpaid because of the intangibles they expect to receive from a class act like Brian Dawkins, which begs this mother of all questions: how is it that an organization that has no ties or involvement with a player choose to "overpay" said player, because there is more to it than the business aspect of it, while the organization that the aforementioned player gave everything to chooses to view this purely as a dollars and cents deal? for 13 years that man has done everything the Eagles asked him to do, and held himself accountable for the fans to see when he failed. he CHOSE to sign with the Broncos because the Eagles' brass clearly had a disconnect between his value as a player and his value as a leader. Dawkins didn't just suit up in an Eagles uniform every Sunday, he WAS the Eagles every Sunday. and it's just sad that people like you sterilize a situation like this, become dispassionate about something like this, when the game they play is all about passion. please, start writing about the environment and green jobs. you have no BUSINESS writing about sports.— dzd&amused
Comment removed.- Chances are BDawk will come back for the "one day contract" retirement gig...til then...we truely enjoyed the best days of #20 to the max...stay healthy Brain and don't be a stranger to us... GS— garyshaffer
- Bob, you've lost me again. You claim that the Broncos are looking to get "more than just a football player" by signing Dawkins. So that is the justification for their decision, but that same logic isn't enough to justify our desire to have him stay? Why does that make sense for one team but not the other?— Ltown215
- Dear MOFJR, If that's all it took for you to find the door, you never were an Eagles fan, to begin with.— defeNEstrati
- I'm trying to figure out why everything is the Eagles fault. He got a better deal, a better, overpaid, insane deal for guaranteed money. Everyone loves Brian Dawkins, but he was the same guy who was basically a linebacker at the end of the season. Leadership only counts when you can still make the plays at safety, not just blitzing. I missed him in the NFC Championship game. Sometimes you have to let guys go. How many times have they let guys go when they had a ton left in the tank?— G
- You'd think after seeing guys like Vincent and Douglas be let go and then proving they have nothing left in the tank would tell you that on veteran players, the Eagles are always right. Name one player over 30 who the Eagles let walk who made them look stupid. ******** Dawkins will be 36 at the end of 2009-10 season. One of my all-time favorites but it was time for him to go. You don't lock up a roster spot for a locker-room guy who can't play his position at a high level anymore. Move on people. This is simply a Denver team seriously over-paying to make a splash after letting Coach Shanahan go. If it was based purely on what Dawk will bring to the Broncos, they never would have overpaid for him. This is a management move by Denver to acquire a headline that reads they signed a Pro Bowler. Nothing more. I don't care how much money I have in the bank, I don't go buy a car off the lot with cash and not try to get the best deal I can. So why do we kill the Eagles for cap space? Last year they signed the best free agent on the market. This year, outside of perhaps Ray Lewis, who is an impact player?— Koulet
- Comment removed.
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About this blog
Bob Ford has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 1981, and is still trying to figure it all out. A former beat writer covering the Phillies and the 76ers, Ford became a general sports columnist for the Inquirer in 2003, following in and occasionally falling in the deep footsteps of Bill Lyon, Frank Dolson and many distinguished others. He comes to the Philly.com blogosphere after award-winning success as designer/editor of the fabulous Pen & Pencil Club softball blog. Likes: Palestra, inside-the-park home runs, sunny days. Dislikes: phony people, cloudy days, rewrites.
Reach Bob at bford@phillynews.com.
Bob Ford
Inquirer Sports Columnist
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