WOULD RATHER BE IN CLEARWATER
The Daily News' Paul Domowitch was the first to report last week that the Ravens and Jets were keeping tabs on the Eagles' wide receiver situation.
As has been well-documented, the Birds will have to get rid of either rookie Brandon Gibson, Reggie Brown or Hank Baskett. At this point, it would appear that Brown is the most likely to go.
Dave Hutchinson of The Newark Star-Ledger reports that the Jets are not "overly impressed" with Brown. Hutchinson says the price tag for Baskett might be too high.
Teams have to cut down their rosters to 75 players by Tuesday. And the deadline for the next round of cuts is Saturday. That's when teams have to get down to their 53-man rosters. So if a deal is made, it will come this week.
Of course, roster moves can be made at any time. The Redskins trimmed down their roster by five today.
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As reported by Bob Brookover at Birds' Eye View, Omar Gaither is going to get reps with the first team at middle linebacker this week.
The things Gaither has going for him are that he's done it before, and he can stay on the field in nickel situations.
But this concerns me for a couple different reasons.
The Birds open their season two weeks from today, and they obviously have not been thrilled with how some of their reserves have performed so far this preseason. Joe Mays has been the primary man in the middle since Stewart Bradley went down with a torn ACL. But now, after seeing him play with the first team at training camp and three preseason games, the coaching staff is unconvinced that he is the guy.
Sure, Gaither was injured, but if Mays had done enough to show he deserved to be the starter, do you really think they'd be switching things up at this point? Seventh-round pick Moise Fokou has even seen time with the first team. In other words, the coaches are willing to give anyone a chance, but no one has made a strong enough impression.
The same could be said for the safety spot opposite Quintin Mikell. Quintin Demps has been given every opportunity to nail down the starting job, but we saw rookie Macho Harris running with the first team at times against the Jaguars. Did Sean McDermott and Andy Reid want to light a fire under Demps? Was it meant to reward Harris for his performance so far? Or does he legitimately have a chance to win the starting job? We won't know until the real games start.
But it's clear that the "lack of continuity" theme, which we've talked about so much with the offensive line, also applies to the defense.
