Banner's Regrets
Eagles president Joe Banner appeared with Howard Eskin on WIP Radio Wednesday evening. He said the Eagles were not given an opportunity to match Denver's offer to Brian Dawkins.
Banner's Regrets
Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
Regrets, Joe Banner has a few.
That might have been the most surprising thing about the Eagles' team president's appearance Wednesday evening with WIP Radio host Howard Eskin.
Heretofore, the assumption was that the Birds took their best shot at keeping Brian Dawkins and fell well short, that they declined to meet what Banner termed an "extremely, extremely aggressive" offer from the Denver Broncos. Banner sketched out a different scenario -- one in which the Eagles weren't immediately aware of how offended their seven-time Pro Bowl safety was coming out of their initial meeting over a new contract, and in which Dawkins and agent Jim Steiner did not come back to the Birds after getting a five-year, $17 million offer in Denver that will pay Dawkins $7.2 million even if he only plays one season.
"(Steiner) indicated Brian was going to take a trip to Denver. That was the last conversation we had," Banner said. "We found out Brian was doing a deal in Denver at the same time everybody else did. We didn't know what the deal was."
Banner said Dawkins and Steiner "were under the impression that we weren't going to change what we'd offered anyway, which may or may not be true."
Asked by Eskin if it was unusual for an agent not to call back in that situation, Banner said: "Trying to be fair ... they did have reason to believe that they had our best offer. It's not totally unreasonable that they didn't call back, though we've been in plenty of situations where somebody thought they had our best offer and in spite of that, just to be absolutely certain that we weren't bluffing or that we hadn't had second thoughts, frequently you still get that kind of one-to-one call.even though you've described something you've presented as your best offer."
Banner indicated that the two-year-total of the Broncos' offer -- a little more than $9 million -- wasn't dramatically different from what the Eagles offered, though the one-year total was.
"The longer the horizon got the smaller the difference there was in the proposals," Banner said.
Banner said he believes the Eagles will still be effective defensively in 2009, but he said they will not be able to really "replace" Dawkins. "None of the possible options are Brian Dawkins. They're never going to be Brian Dawkins. We'll all be very lucky if we ever see another Brian Dawkins," Banner said. "Whether it's his character, his charity, his family, his play on the field, his leadership -- we don't have any illusions, and nobody should, that somebody's going to step in and be the next Brian Dawkins. I don't know if we'll have another Brian Dawkins going forward at any position. As you look around, those are few-and-far-between types of guys. But we do believe we'll have another quality player prepared to step in."
More to come in Thursday's Daily News.
yea, they definitely should have tried a bit harder to get a 2 year deal. But at the same time,talent wise, we can get a better option, for team spirit, thats where we are going to slack. He was literally the spark that got the defense motivated. That will be almost impossible to replace. And, they should retire his # no doubt about it.— Will.i.Am
What regrets? I didn't hear any I only heard the typical three stooges arogance. I heard they didn't call us and give us a final shot. Everybody within 100 miles of Philadelphia heard for 24 hours he was out in Denver close to a deal. WHY DIDN'T BANNER CALL HIM??? Because Dawk became BIGGER THAN the ORGANIZATION and it was an easy way to let him on his way.— Earl J- what a lie! um its so clear, donny made some demands, the "gold standard" met, looked at the upcoming lookout, the economy, and said "well we will sellout all of 2009, so lets blow this thing up, show donny the exit, and try to get back to be a real tease year in and year out, so lurie can make more money." this is outrageous. DONT PAY FOR YOUR SEASON TICKETS, LET EM GO! thats the only way the gold standard will learn!— iloveprimerib!
I have very slowly tired of pro sports I have to admit. Once a rabid sports fan I used to love the Phillies, Flyers, Sixers, and Eagles. Greed has ruined sports. I still watch the eagles faithfully and def enjoyed the Philles run. I have to admit tho the more players that i grew up idolizing move on the less interested I become. The eagles are about to enter a very sharp down period I am afraid and with the disrepect they have shown their older players they are not going to be able to attract the vets with a horrible team. We love you dawk, you will be missed- I hope when Joe Banners contract comes up he is treated the same way our great players, like Dawkins have been treated. I hope he is spitting in the wind.— Joe Vegas
- Ridiculous emotional garbage. Dawkins got a better deal then he should have in Denver. These are the same people who were screaming that Dawk was done mid-season last year. Put on your big-boy pants, it's part of the game. Players aren't loyal why should teams be?— jSchmo
- Typical Eagles, they disrespect a 13 year vet, pro bowl player by giving him a 12th hour best offer -- and then trash him by saying he never came back to see if they would offer more! What kind of tin eared organization is this? Oh, they will reacquire him after his career is over so that he can retire an Eagle to try to salvage the relationship -- get used to it Philly, there is no loyalty. Especially with Big Red.— Pundit
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- NOTHING was stopping them from calling Brian on Friday night to propose something else *IF* there was another offer coming. That they didn't, tells you all you need to know. There was never any intent to offer anything else than a paltry 1 year deal. Meanwhile, Ray Lewis just got $20-25 million for 3 in Baltimore. Look at that. An organization taking care of a 13 year vet that IS the heart and sou of the team. The Eagles could learn some lessons.— kimbafuzz
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- Hey EAGLES if you want to learn how to run a better business just look what the boys in Baltimore just did... "We got better today. Our football team got better. I am very happy," general manager Ozzie Newsome said. "This will allow Ray to finish his career as a Raven."— theDevileMadeMeDoIt
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- Banner has nothing to regret. Dawkins knows there's a good chance he'll play only one more year. The Eagles were willing to pay him $4 to 4.5 million for that year, while the Broncos guaranteed him $7.2 million for one year. Of course Steiner never called Banner back. They were apart at least $3 million in "respect." Dawkins signed with the Broncos before they could pull their foolish offer.— ahab
- I am a huuuge Eagle fan, but I predict Dawkins lasts one year in Denver and begs to come back to Philly. He was my favorite Eagle ever, but he took the best offer.— simplefreedom
