Posted: Tuesday, March 17, 2009, 5:33 PM | 6 comments |
 

SMITH VISITING RAVENS
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Apparently former Eagles special teams coordinator John Harbaugh might be interested in giving free agent tight end L.J. Smith a new lease on life in Baltimore.

Harbaugh, who took the Ravens to the AFC championship game in his first season as the team's head coach, has invited Smith for a visit and the tight end happily accepted, according to a report by Jaminson Hensley of the Baltimore Sun.

The Ravens' invitation comes one day after the Atlanta Falcons broke off negotiations with Smith, who had spent his first six NFL seasons with the Eagles. Smith has also visited with Detroit, but you have to believe he'd much rather play for Harbaugh and the Ravens than a team that went 0-16 last season.

In other news, Harold Lewis, the agent for free agent fullback Leonard Weaver, finally responded to an e-mail from the Inquirer today, but there was no more evidence that his client was close to signing with the Eagles. Asked if he had any recent conversations with the Eagles about Weaver, Lewis said, "Not with Philly today." A team source said the Eagles have gone a while now without having any conversatioins with Lewis.

 
Posted by Bob Brookover @ 5:33 PM  Permalink | 6 comments
6
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:18 PM, 03/17/2009
    no one wants you l.j.- you suck!
    — justatc1
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:25 PM, 03/17/2009
    congrats baltimore- u have acquired a "tight end" who can't catch, run, block, or take a hit- he is good at collecting money for nothing
    — justatc1
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:29 PM, 03/17/2009
    The guy is terrible maybe UFL?
    — eaglessuperfan
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:27 PM, 03/18/2009
    I don't think it's much of a loss to lose LJ and replace him with Celek (who's not really much of a blocker either) but I think LJ got a raw deal from Philly fans much like Burrell did with the Phils. The fans have to have a favorite whipping boy for each team...Dalembart for the Sixers. LJ had 2 very solid seasons by TE standards in 2005 and 2006 and looked to have a good future ahead of him but he's just been too injury prone the last few years. He missed a lot of games and even when he did play, he was often either limited by injury or got knocked out of those games. However, to say he can't run or catch isn't accurate at all. LJ has dropped passes just like anyone else, hell TO led the league in drops with 33. But LJ has also made a number of shoe string and diving catches over the years. McNabb threw him a lot of low passes or passed behind him and he came up with them a lot of the time. He's also one of the faster TEs in the league. He took several screen passes and turned them into 20-30 yard gains. The guy can certainly run. His blocking wasn't great, but it had improved from his first few years and he was a pass-catching TE, not a blocking TE anyway. Most pass-catching TEs aren't good blockers. The injuries and taking hits went hand-in-hand with LJ. LJ never shied away from contact and often tried to run over guys or bulldoze his way through people. So he did get knocked out a few times but it's because he was sacrificing his body to try to gain some extra yards. So I think it's pretty lame to criticize him for that. LJ is a decent, solid, pass-catching TE...nothing special but I think he's better than some Philly fans want to admit. It's easy to just have some to rip on and say "LJ sucks" or "LJ is terrible" but that's a pretty oversimplified viewpoint that doesn't have much in common with reality.
    — JimG
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:41 PM, 03/19/2009
    From the Local Paper down here in the Was/Balt/Annapolis area. Philadelphia Eagles free agent tight end L.J. Smith is scheduled to take a physical with the Ravens on Thursday and could finalize a one-year, $1.5 million contract in the next few days. He could provide insurance in case starting tight end Todd Heap gets hurt and would complement him in the passing game in double tight end situations.
    — Phillyexp


6 comments
About Jeff McLane and Jonathan Tamari






Jeff McLane (left) began covering the Eagles in April 2009 after covering college sports and Penn State football in particular. Before that he wrote about high school sports and before that he worked in the mailroom (not quite). Find Jeff on Facebook and follow him on Twitter for instant updates on the Eagles.

Jonathan Tamari (right) began covering the Eagles in April 2010. He previously covered New Jersey state government and politics, reporting and writing about elections, policy debates and the many personalities that drive the Garden State, from three recent governors to the many musicians bidding to write the state song. He has been at the Inquirer since June 2008. Follow him on Twitter at @JonathanTamari.

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