Sheldon gets paid; Asante's tackling
The Philadelphia Daily News - Eagles Blog
Sheldon gets paid; Asante's tackling
The trade of Eagles cornerback Sheldon Brown to Cleveland last month was contingent on Brown agreeing to a restructured contract with the Browns, something the Eagles were unwilling to offer.
Details of that contract have emerged with the key point being a $5 million signing bonus that Brown, 31, received after the trade, according to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. The Browns did not extend the deal beyond its original expiration in 2012, but added the bonus and made some minor adustments.
The contract essentially becomes a 3-year, $15.25 million deal with base salaries of $2.5 million in 2010, $3.5 million in 2011 and $4.25 million in 2012, plus the bonus.
Brown is fighting for a starting spot with first-round pick Joe Haden and Eric Wright.
Brown's expected repacement as the starter opposite Asante Samuel is Ellis Hobbs. The Eagles opted not to use a high draft pick on a cornerback, selecting Kentucky's Trevard Lindley in the fourth round.
As Paul Domowitch wrote after the draft, the Eagles' cornerback situation will be a focus of questions heading into the season:
"A ballhawk who can't tackle and doesn't like to play press coverage (Samuel). An undersized guy coming off a serious neck injury (Hobbs). A rookie with durability issues and without elite speed (Lindley).
"A 'tweener coming off his second ACL tear in as many seasons (Marlin Jackson) and may or may not have lost a step. Another 'tweener with so-so speed who was drafted as a corner, but was moved to safety (Macho Harris).
"On the other side of the line in 2010, a Murderer's Row list of opposing quarterbacks, including seven guys who threw at least 26 touchdown passes last season. Buckle your seat belts. If the pass rush isn't as good as Reid hopes it will be, it could be a bumpy ride."
As you might expect, the subject of Samuel's tackling was brought up during the Media Chalk Talk with the Eagles' coordinators at the NovaCare Complex on Tuesday night.
Defensive coordinator Sean McDermott said Samuel "personally recognizes" that tackling is a weakness and he said the coaches are working with him on it to improve.
Asked how a veteran player could be lacking in a basic area, McDermott said that coaches can never get away from teaching fundamentals.
McDermott said there are three kinds of coaches: guys who teach scheme, guys who teach fundamentals and guys who teach both. He said he hopes to be a guy who teaches both.
That last section describes the Eagles' secondary well, though rookie Nate Allen could be a bright spot in a few years. Looks like Eagles could have kept Sheldon Brown for $5 million, and it's money he already earned in games played. If Samuel is an $8 million player and Brown is a $3 million player (in the Eagles' eyes), I don't know anything about football. A healthy Hobbs couldn't beat out Brown -- it didn't seem to be a close competition. Our best corners might be Patterson and Hanson.— tacklinjoe
It's a Dawk thing. Joe Banner has to get over his ego and put the best team he can on the field within the cap.— Earl J
Comment removed.- The CB situation is not good now and is terrible when someone gets injured. This team's attempts at quantity over quality, at the D-Line and LB has failed in the past. And now, they are doing the same thing with DBs... and they never learn, and we suffer b/c of it.— AllDawk_AllTheTime
- There is alot of optimistic blabber coming out of Eagles HQ this off-season.....Domo it getting it right. Also, let's not forget Mikell had a horibble year last year at SS. Eagles last "smarter than everyone" move is not needing a true Strong Safety....we'll just load up on FS's and plug them in at SS....— Cant Climb
- Good for Sheldon he deserves every penny of it ! He will be sorely missed.— thin slice of life
Truly a rebuilding year. The O will have some bright spots, but the D is going to flat out stink. Samuel is an all flash CB. If he cannot tackle by now, he never will. McDermott will be gone after the upcoming season. I don't believe they ever intended for him to stick. He is the fall guy for the rebuilding.- Time is running out fast on the Eagles as a team that can make a Super Bowl run. There will be so many holes in 3 years they'll never be able to fil them all. Secondary, O-line, D-line.— MikeP
- Comment removed.
- Re: Nate Allen: I predict that, sometime during the season, the papers will use this headline: "McNabb Pick Picks McNabb"
- Samuels won't get better at tackling. Tackling, is a matter of want to and he clearly doesn't want to. Tackling doesn't get you on Sportscenter.— duke56
- Why do we care how much money the Bengals will pay Sheldon be injured for 1/2 the games played for the next 3 seasons?— lostInPhilly
- Domo: You hit the nail on the hand, it's all about pass rush. No pressure trickles back and LB and secondary are that much more ineffective. A good pass rush makes everyone else better. Here's to hoping this year's crop of undersized DE's hybrid LB's pan out. That said, I'm not holding my breath.— DennyP
- u mean it's not #5's fault the defense sucked last year?— palmyra21
- Comment removed.
