Banner: Eagles signings prove team is willing to spend
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Eagles
Banner: Eagles signings prove team is willing to spend
Jonathan Tamari
If you really want to get under the skin of Eagles management, call them cheap.
Joe Banner and Jeffrey Lurie will admit they don’t always make the right calls on their transactions. Sometimes they might draft the wrong guy or sign a dud. But, they’ll argue, their shortcomings are not for a lack of trying. The one accusation that really bothers them is the perception among some that they are too tight-fisted or content to really spend and go big to try to win a Super Bowl.
After this summer's big spending, capped by signing Michael Vick to a massive deal, Banner said those criticisms should be finished.
“I hope that if there’s any question about our commitment to winning, which I think everybody knows we never thought was a fair question, that this kind of puts that to rest,” Banner told reporters Tuesday.
Banner also touched on the risk involving signing Vick – or any major player – to such a significant deal, the question of whether the Eagles have enough money left to hypothetically extend another Pro Bowler (cough, cough, DeSean Jackson) and the odd twists that led to making Vick the face of the team. More on that below. But Banner was most forceful when talking about the Eagles’ spending and intentions of winning.
“Whether we get it right or wrong, time will tell, but I hope that people are clear that this organization is trying to win a Super Bowl – Super Bowls, eventually – and that’s what drove all of these activities,” Banner said.
The team has given out contracts worth more than $200 million since free agency began at the end of July, including deals for Nnamdi Asomugha, Cullen Jenkins, Jason Babin, Vince Young and others, and picked up the contract of Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie by trade.
As with most NFL deals, some of that money will never actually be paid out. The sixth year of Vick’s deal, for example, will almost certainly be voided to bring the contract down to five years, $80 million, not the six year, $100 million headline. But the Vick contract, and the other signings, were still major financial commitments to bring in star power – most of whom were available for other teams to try to grab as well. That they are all Eagles, Banner believes, should count for something.
Here's the team president on other key issues:
Banner would not be drawn into specifics about DeSean Jackson. He said any talks that are or are not happening would be best kept behind closed doors. But we asked him if, after singing all these players and Vick, the team had the flexibility to pay a contract extension for another Pro Bowl player.
“It is possible,” Banner said. “You’re asking me a mathematical question, I say yes.”
Banner had an interesting response when asked about the risk in signing Vick. Despite paying much more this time around, Banner said this deal carries less risk than the first one Vick signed in Philly, because now the team knows him better.
“At that point (when Vick first signed) there was a lot less we knew. There was some knowledge and some leap of faith, to be candid,” he said. “At this point we’ve lived with Michael everyday for a couple of years, we know what kind of person he is today, we know what kind of work ethic, we even have a better sense of his talent on the field … this is probably less risky than when we took the first signing.”
Banner said there is concern whenever a team makes such a large commitment to a player – not because of who Vick is, but because failure or random events can be so damaging.
“You don’t give out contracts this size and have no fear – there are too many things in life … (he mentioned a car accident, for example, as something that can go wrong). Banner continued, “There’s always fear when you give out contracts of this magnitude because the impact of being wrong are so huge. As far as Michael being who he is, I think we’re very confident.”
With Vick, there is particular concern because of his style of play.
“The nature of his play certainly does create an extra few holding of your breaths when he plays, but that’s both the best part of him and the scary part of him,” Banner said. “When we looked at the pluses and minuses for us, this was a clear person that we wanted to commit to that we feel comfortable as the leader of the team and the organization and feel this is someone who wants to be here too.”
When the Eagles first signed Vick, Banner said the team was just hoping to add another good player who could possibly help for a couple years.
“This, standing here today, and having Michael where he’s at as a person as a player, him being the face of the organization, that wasn’t what we were picturing at the time,” Banner said. “To be honest, not until Kevin (Kolb) got hurt and Michael went on the field and you saw what happened,” did the team see Vick as a potential franchise quarterback in Philadelphia.
“From a character perspective we were starting to see that, but from an actual taking charge and handling all the pressure and everything that comes with it and sustaining the performance at that level, I think he had to actually get on the field and handle all the things that come with that,” for the team to see the possibility, Banner said. “If Kevin hadn’t gotten hurt we might not be standing here today.”
The Eagles, Banner said, were “extremely nervous” when news first came out last summer about a shooting at Vick’s birthday party in Virginia, but the incident, and Vick’s handling of it, actually gave the team more faith in the quarterback.
“We fairly quickly were able to zero in on what really happened and actually I think we walked away feeling like Michael handled a very difficult situation well,” Banner said. “We actually walked away kind of re-affirming our sense of his growth and maturation. But when we first got the reports of the incident we were extremely concerned.”
Jeffrey Lurie has SOLD HIS SOUL for Vick...that's all this proves.
Lurie has also sold out the millions of long time Eagles fans in Philly and worldwide who will NOT sell their souls for Vick, and will not support the Eagles until this sick physcho Vick is gone from the team...period.— frank105- Frank, will you please give it a rest already? Have you led a perfect life? Do you have nothing in your past that could come up and bring shame to your name? If we send someone to dig hard enough, what would we find? I am no religious man, but I remember one lesson I learned back in CCD that always stuck with me, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." While I may not believe in Christianity, I still think those are good words to live by. So please, if you cannot find it in your heart to be a fan of our beloved Birds because Vick is out there trying to win games, then just be quiet and go away and stop reading about him until he is no longer an Eagle and let the rest of us imperfect Eagles fans to cheer for the man he has apparently become and hop he can finally give us the chance to see this team win a Super Bowl. — eaglesphreak23
- Frank, speaking of souls, isn't it hard to live with so much hatred and vitrol in yours? If the Lord returned to the Earth today, do you think your soul would be among those sitting on His right side? I think He would have a long, long talk with you. While we both agree that Vick's actions (and money) connected to dog fighting are vial and disgusting, every man is given a chance to redeem himself in His eyes. I think Vick has gone a long way toward that goal. It's also not yours or my place to lay that judgement on him (or forgive him for that matter). In our secular world, Vick has paid a heavy price for his transgressions, expressed genuine remorse and is living his life in way that neither glorifies his past, nor forgets it. There are plenty of examples of bad people, with no visible signs of remorse for past transgressions throughout professional sports these days. I think you're ire would be better directed elsewhere.
- they want a super bowl so bad they refuse to sign/draft a legitimate linebacker.— snakeplissken
- Penn State has better LB's than the Eagles. The Mathews kid has a pedigree but, is young and small. Just because they looked better against an anemic team like the Browns, I think the book on the Eagles defense was written by Pittsburg a couple weeks ago and any smart OC will exploit this obvious weakness.
- "...and will not support the Eagles until this sick physcho Vick is gone from the team...period."
Or at least until the self-righteous sheep out there learn to spell the word "psycho".
— JLB - Morons like JLB are the mindless sheep who follow the herd...they would idolize Jack the Ripper if he played for the Eagles.— frank105
- Baaah, Frank...Baaah. Do you have a problem with players who hunt? Who eat meat? Let me be absolutely clear - I don't have to love every single player to root for the football team I grew up watching. I root for the name on the FRONT of the jersey, not the one on the back. I'll be an Eagles fan regardless. Just because I have better things to do with my time than walking around with hate in my heart for somebody WHO I'VE NEVER MET and didn't do a thing to me, don't assume I'm "rooting" for Vick. Get over yourself, drama queen. Go find something worthwhile to do with your time, like getting educated so you don't routinely misspell words.— JLB
- JBL: You have just proven you are a mindless moron by admitting you don't care about how awful and horrendous a person is..if he plays for the Eagles...congratulations idiot.— frank105
- Jack the Ripper may have made a good LB...hmmm.
Gotta love the self righteousness of some of these people. All I hear is some moron saying "I hate Vick and no one else is entitled to any other point of view and I'm going to keep saying it over and over and over until someone thinks what I have to say is important and listens to me so nyah". I wonder if they actually stomp their feet while they type? These daily temper tantrums are rather humorous. Perhaps they need a time out?— tpizza - It also seems to me that JBL doesn't care how awful or horrendous a person WAS.
Atta boy JBL, I keep saying root for the uniform, not the players. Glad you agree with that view.— tpizza - They are not cheap. Just arrogant and stubborn.— dblankj
- i still don't get where the nickles name came from. dumping salary one year to reload the next is smart cap management. the eagles have been at least number 1 in cap managing if nothing else. the flyers wish they had that kind of cap management.— Evilvet
- Amen - people just love to hate the guys that have the dream jobs I guess, but Joe Banner has done a GREAT job for years keeping us competetive, ensuring we ALWAYS have room to sign players and generally making sure that not too much of the Eagles payroll is wasted. Look at the Sixers and see how bad it can be when a good bit of your cash isn't working for you. The job requires some hard and unpopular decisions, but this guy has kept top talent in this city for years now. No SB? In his tenure, can't like 27 other teams say the same thing? Anyone working in the NFL will tell you it takes a lot of good fortune and timing to make that happen as well as talent. Really, I can't believe how many people forget what it was like when we really did have bad owners (Braman, Tose).
- "JBL: You have just proven you are a mindless moron by admitting you don't care about how awful and horrendous a person is..if he plays for the Eagles...congratulations idiot."
Show me where I "admitted" that. What I "admitted" was that I root for a TEAM, because having some ridiculous standard about the players being "good people" is an exercise in stupidity. How many times have the ones that seemed like great guys turned out to be terrible people?
BTW - congratulations yourself! Other than the fact that you clearly didn't comprehend what I wrote, you managed to make it through your entire personal attack on me without misspelling a single word. Mom and Dad must be so proud.— JLB
