Kolb's contract; Reid on 4th down

A recent Tweet by Jim Trotter of SI.com has sparked some discussion about Kevin Kolb's contract situation and the effect it could have on his future.

Here's what Trotter said earlier this week:

Keep hearing that teams interested in Kolb are not scared of draft choice compensation. They're scared of the contract Kolb wants.

Kolb's contract hasn't been discussed much when debating where he'll end up next season. While it's something to consider, I would be surprised if it becomes a major obstacle in the Birds dealing him.

Prior to the 2009 season, the Eagles signed Kolb to a reported $12.26M contract extension, all of which was guaranteed. He's due only $1.392M of that in 2011.

All offseason, Kolb has made it clear that he wants to start somewhere (anywhere!) next season. He'll turn 27 in August, has been in the league for four years and had the starting job taken away from him in 2010 after being told he was the future of the franchise.

In other words, it's not as if the guy's been playing on a rookie contract. He got a nice payday, and now he wants to get a shot to prove he can lead a team as its starting quarterback.

Any team that decides to deal for Kolb will have to make sure it can re-sign him since his contract runs out after 2011. But you have to figure that any team willing to give up a first-round pick (and more?) for his services will be committed to him and willing to compensate him accordingly.

The hearing to have the lockout lifted is set to begin on Wednesday so we will once again have some lockout news that will have a direct impact on the Eagles and Kolb's future later this week.

ANDY ON 4TH DOWN

Last week, Football Outsiders released its Aggressiveness Index for NFL coaches.

They looked at which coaches were most likely to "go for it" on fourth down in certain qualifying situations, compared to the league average.

Andy Reid ranked 26th out of 36 head coaches. Bill Belichick, Todd Haley and John Fox were the most aggressive coaches.

They also did a look back at who the most aggressive coaches were from 1992-2010. And guess who's name surfaced? Rich Kotite! According to the numbers, Kotite was the second-most aggressive coach in the NFL on fourth downs between 1992-2010, behind only Belichick.

Reid, meanwhile, was the 10th-least aggressive coach in the NFL during that time period.

This probably goes without saying, but there didn't appear to be a direct correlation between fourth-down aggressiveness and winning. Belichick, George Seifert and Bill Cowher made the most-aggressive list while Mike Tomlin and Mike Holmgren made the least aggressive list.

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