Murphy: Eagles might be wiser to focus on guard than wide receiver in FA

Over the past few months, the wide receiver position has been a focal point of fan and media attention, and understandably so. The Eagles have one of the worst fleets of pass-catchers in the NFL. Watching them isn't often easy on the eyes.

That being said, it doesn't matter whom a team has at wide receiver if the quarterback doesn't have enough time to throw the ball to them, and a lot of us seem to be forgetting that the offensive line was as big of a problem as any on last year's team. Part of that surely has to do with the assumption that Lane Johnson will be around all season, but he'll be starting opposite a 35-year-old. It wouldn't make much sense for the Eagles to spend big money on a wide receiver while again leaving themselves an injury away from disaster, would it?

There's an argument to be made that the Eagles should again look at the market for interior offensive linemen this offseason. There have been some persistent rumblings involving the position, with reports suggesting Allen Barbre is on the way out, and Jason Kelce's status is to be determined. The assumption has been that the Eagles are trying to clear a path for second-year player Isaac Seumalo to join the starting lineup, but doing that by parting with Barbre and/or Kelce would leave the Eagles perilously thin at a position where 2016 free-agent signee Brandon Brooks missed a couple of games last season because of an undiagnosed anxiety disorder.

Barbre's departure would leave the Eagles with Halapoulivaati Vaitai as their top backup at tackle and Josh Andrews or Matt Tobin as their top backup at guard. Again, they'd be one bad break away from disaster.

One of Seumalo's attributes is that he started a game at right tackle last season, playing 100 percent of the snaps at the position against the Ravens in December. Jettisoning Barbre (or Kelce) without adding an equal or better veteran would hardly seem the way to accomplish the Eagles' stated goal of putting Carson Wentz in the best possible position to succeed.

The market at guard has some intriguing names, with the Bengals' Kevin Zeitler, Packers' T.J. Lang, Cowboys' Ronald Leary, and Lions' Larry Warford all set to hit free agency.

Guard isn't a position where teams like to spend a lot of money, so perhaps the Eagles can find some value there. Signing one of the aforementioned players would enable Seumalo to spend another year developing while serving as the top backup at center, guard and tackle. Warford is 25; Zeitler, 26, and Leary, 27. Shoring up the guard position would enable the Eagles to concentrate on finding Peters' replacement at tackle in this and subsequent years' drafts. In an ideal world, Seumalo would be ready to replace Kelce next year, and line up between a couple of in-their-prime veterans over the next three seasons.

If the goal really is to optimize Wentz's chances at success, there's a very strong argument that says spending $8 million to $10 million on a 26-year-old guard will move the Eagles closer to that point than spending $10-12 million on a wide receiver.