With Reid, connect the dots
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With Reid, connect the dots
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of LeSean McCoy's contract extension had nothing to do with the running back himself.
But rather, what it revealed about Andy Reid.
Scrolling through this morning's coverage, the nuggets about Reid are what stood out to me. Per Jeff McLane of the Inquirer, Reid took an "atypical central role" in negotiations.
And Drew Rosenhaus told Les Bowen of the Daily News that the Eagles thinking this offseason has seemed different:
Your Eagletarian asked Rosenhaus if he thinks the Eagles' thinking about the handling of such negotiations with key players has changed over the past several years.
"Yeah, there's no question," Rosenhaus said. "To me, the Eagles are one of the more aggressive ballclubs when it comes to retaining their players. Guys want to stay here. There's great stability here [with Reid]."
It's been assumed for awhile now that Reid has final say on all personnel decisions. Yet, we've seen players time and again point to contentious relationships with the front office, while hailing Reid as a coach whom they're willing to run through a brick wall for. All along, it seemed the Eagles were comfortable handling things that way - whether the player was Brian Westbrook, Sheldon Brown, DeSean Jackson or Asante Samuel.
But now? It seems, in McCoy's case at least, that Reid is at the table. And that ended up being a positive, as the Eagles made a deal with the 23-year-old running back prior to full-team OTAs.
Looking back at last offseason, the franchise made a lot of aggressive moves, but most of them involved paying outsiders (Nnamdi Asomugha, Jason Babin, Cullen Jenkins, Vince Young, Steve Smith, Ronnie Brown), who were new to the organization. Clearly, that didn't play well with some of the guys in the locker room, like Jackson.
And perhaps it didn't play well with other veterans too, who chose to just play and stay quiet.
But in the past several months, the Eagles have extended productive veterans like Trent Cole and Todd Herremans. They re-signed Evan Mathis and made their splashiest acquisition via trade, acquiring respected veteran linebacker DeMeco Ryans from the Texans.
The most interesting case study might just be Jackson. When on his game, he's one of the most explosive playmakers in the game, beating defensive backs for 50-yard bombs and giving special teams coaches fits as a return man. When he's at his worst, he's a distracted receiver with shaky hands, who lets his teammates down (like when he was suspended for the Cardinals game).
I've written about Jackson at length in the past four seasons, and the posts always attract a wide variety of strong opinions.
Back in March, several NFL sources told Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com that there was "a debate within the Eagles hierarchy" about whether or not the team could trust Jackson. A couple weeks later, the two sides were able to get a deal done. Perhaps that means Reid won the debate. Or maybe it just means Jackson brought his price down to a point where everyone felt comfortable. Either way, given what we know about Reid's relationship with Jackson, it seems unlikely that the head coach was the one expressing the most doubt in the room about keeping the speedy wide receiver.
One more item from the past to call your attention to. Remember when highly-respected NFL writer Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times dropped a couple Eagles-related bombs back in March? One related to Peyton Manning. But the other was about Reid:
Two NFL insiders, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic, said that Philadelphia Coach Andy Reid was ready to walk away from the Eagles if he didn't get more personnel control, and now he has it.
Any perception that Reid is going to mortgage the future to win now because he knows he could lose his job after next season seems silly at this point. Other than the moves mentioned above, we know the Eagles were rumored to have some level of interest in trading up to land Robert Griffin III. And we know that eventually, they spent a third-round pick on a quarterback, Nick Foles, who will likely have no impact on how the team performs in 2012.
The bottom line is Reid has not made decisions like a guy worried about his long-term job security. For one, that would be completely out of his nature, given what we've learned about him in the last 13 years. Instead, Reid is operating under the belief that the Eagles will improve in 2012 and contend for a Super Bowl with this roster. Right or wrong, that is his approach.
And secondly, Reid has no reason to worry about his job. Jeff Fisher just got a five-year, $35M deal from the Rams. He has a .542 career winning percentage and has led teams to the playoffs six times in 16 seasons with one Super Bowl berth. Reid has a .609 career winning percentage, nine playoff berths in 13 years and one Super Bowl appearance.
In other words, the guess here is that the Eagles think Reid's future in Philadelphia is brighter than Jeffrey Lurie might have indicated publicly at the end of last season. And if for some reason next year turns out to be a disaster, Reid knows he'll get a fresh start somewhere else, assuming he wants one.
But if the Eagles rebound in 2012, it seems likely that Reid could be coaching McCoy through much of the five-year extension he signed yesterday.
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Have your say: Grade the Eagles' 2012 draft haul
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Disagree. Bowles over Lynn is an upgrade. Saying all they did was bring in Ryans marginalizes the effect he will have with talent and leadership. Just a draft? Again you minimize how well they did. Brought back the same players? Some, they also axed a lot of deadwood like Smith and Vince Young and replaced them with better options. They minimized the loss of Peters, finally gave money to the players who deserve it and who have produced for them before [i.e. Herremanns and now McCoy]. They drafted to fill those gaping holes on the D, added depth, added talent and for the most part didn't reach. They made excellent trades and continue to make excellent use of the salary cap by cutting players at the right time [JJax, Justice]. If you aren't satisfied the FO has turned a corner I'm not sure what else they can do. There is reason for optimism and I don't see any irrational exuberance about it. Just my opinion.— tpizza- lol, ok so Reid "sitting at a table" is the key piece of his Genius we have been missing all this time. Maybe we should have Reid "sit at a table" on the sideline next season...16-0 and A SUPERBOWL GUARANTEED. WHY DID NO ONE THINK OF THAT BEFORE. GET SOME FOOD AND A TABLE AND JIM JOHNSON WILL TAKE CARE OF THE DEFENSE, 2012 IS THE YEAR.— CharlieGarner25
- Yep, Reid's gotten back the power he lost during his family troubles.— Warhound
Nice post tpizza. The team is looking good and core guys are signed, happy and ready to get going. I know there are some people that will never be satisfied.- Tpizza - solid retort but I'm still not buying in with as much fervor as you. First of all, if the "upgrade" to Todd Bowles brings an upgrade so significant that it adds wins then the Eagles were foolish to hire Lynn in the first place.
I like the Ryans trade. How can you not? I just don't think he's going to be Urlacher or Lewis out there. I believe he'll be a solid upgrade.
As for the draft, how do you or anyone else know how thi will turn out. There are scouts and GMs who do this 24/7 that know it's a virtual crapshoot. To just automatically chalk this up as a great draft is ridiculous. If you want to say you are cautiously optimistic and that the Eagles drafted for the right positions then that's another thing.
I don't think Herremans, Cole or McCoy will play any better than last year because they are "paid". You are overrating the value of these contract renewals.
They just have jettisoned D-Jax (my opinion) since he's never been the same player since the Robinson hit and invested in a true #1 receiver that can actually make plays in the red zone. They also need an upper echelon QB although admittedly I'm not sure what they could have done this offseason. They also still need at least one safety that can cover and tackle.
Until the above is accomplished, I think 10-6 is their ceiling yet everyone is crowning the Eagles as paper champions yet again. Some people never learn.— guyguy4 
lol, some of you think Andy has "right the ship", really ? Based on what, putting on a Hawaiian shirt ? He has won NOT ONE GAME since a terrible 8-8 season. NOT ONE, and the kool-aid is alraedy flowing out of a championship trophy. He beat FOUR CRAPPY TEAMS JUST TO GET TO 8-8 and BARELY SAVED HIS JOB. Nothing has been "righted" until they actually win like 12 games and a superbowl. guess what, thats happening next year or any year with this guy in charge. NEVER. PATHETIC. VOYAGE TO THE LOMBARDI WITH ANDY REID AS CAPTAIN...SHIP WILL SINK 500 YARDS IN FRONT OF THE DESTINATION BECAUSE he "goofed". EVERY TIME. PATHETIC PATHETIC PATHETIC PATHETIC. NEVER.- Eagles might have won those games against so-called crappy teams but they beat the SB champions with a backup and should have beaten them if not for the 4th quarter meltdown. I might be losing my memory but a 9-7 team won the SB last season.
- So... to all the Vick bashers... Which available QB would you all want instead of Vick? Don't say any established QB like Brady, Eli or Payten Manning or someone like that because their teams won't be letting them go.
- thats a tough one. Kevin Kolb, a guy they already had on the roster. Did you know they tried to TRADE VICK AWAY before 2010 for a 3rd or 4th rounder and NO ONE WANTED HIM. No one would give anything more then like a 7th rounder for him, so they kept him. So then Andy has a young inexperienced pocket passer, and instead of developing a guy with potential inserts Vick who plays well for 8 games, surprises teams, and then reverts back to the who is and leads the league in turnovers. That will win teams alot of championships. This team could have easil failed to win a playoff game the last 2 years giving experience to Kolb, isntead they even TRY TO WIN with Vick and end up LOSING PATHETICALLY LIKE USUAL IN THE PLAYOFFS OR SOONER. THIS COACH IN INEPT AND DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP. INSANITY. PATHETIC. NEVER. FIRE HIM NOW AND FIND A REAL WINNER BECAUSEITS ITS NOT THIS GUY. MORE MEDIOCRE GARBAGE COMING UP. PLAYOFF MARIGOLD STANDARD.
- You are too funny CharlieG. I don't like Reid much either as a head coach, but his players love him. Too bad they don't love him enough to play well enough to overcome his game day decisions.
- ah springtime - the only time of year when 32 teams are super bowl contenders.
fly Eagles fly— raoool - @guyguy: There's a clear difference between someone crowning their team paper champions versus being excited with some of the moves they have made. Last year, I will agree, most declared this team paper champions. This year, completely different. I don't see the same statements being made. There's absolutely nothing wrong with being excited about your favorite team's moves. Belittling people for being excited is pretty low.
@CharlieClueless: Your act is very stale. Advocating for Kolb is priceless. The dude probably won't even start for Arizona this year. You still won't answer my questions. What team do you really cheer for? Why do you waste your time on the boards of a team you clearly dislike? You really ruin this site for a lot of people. Obviously, you don't care, but I think it's pretty low of you to come on here every single day and post the same garbage over and over and over again just to get some type of reaction. It really ruins the experience for the true fans. I would hope that you would have some human decency and refrain from posting your garbage. There's a big difference between constructive criticism and outright foolishness. Hopefully, you will have enough respect for yourself, the other posters, and this site and start contributing intelligently to the discussion or refrain from posting at all.— Penfold18 - Penfold, uh I can say the same thing. and I dont answer questions when the answer should be known. I am an Eagles fan and I dont have to answer questions about that from anyone, and niether does anyone else. Just because you happen to like Reid doesnt mean everyone else does too. 51% of fans want the guy gone, and my expereince, and I guess others too is worse when I see kool-aid congradulations for people I feel do not know what they are doing and will never accomplish what they are getting paid 5 million dollars a year to do. So it goes both ways Penfold. This coach is .380 against winning teams and will NEVER win a SB being in charge of everything on this team. The guy had some success, I get that. But in the last 4 or 5 years he has been living off that past success to the tune of over 5 million a year without actually getting this team any closer to a superbowl. in fact the team has gotten WORSE. You have to accept that Reid will be fired at step down at some point, either next year or in a few years, without ever winning a SB. ITS NOT HAPPENING. THE LONGER IT GOES THE MORE PATHETIC IT IS FOR MANY. TERRIBLE.
- ChuckieG, you are a hoot. BTW, where did you get that stat about Reid only winning 38% of his games against winning teams? I'd love to see how the other coaches fair against winning teams over their careers. — raltman
- I'm pleasantly surprised by the offseason moves. The Eagles signed a good young MLB, drafted well and locked up all their key veterans. Reid appears to have stepped up to the plate, and not just the one with the BBQ ribs on it.— dasher
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