WOULD RATHER BE IN CLEARWATER
Nothing like a slow early season Tuesday in Eagles land. Along with Shawn Andrews' move to injured reserve, Michael Vick's addition to the active roster and Hank Baskett's release comes this ...
ESPN.com is reporting that an option in Brian Westbrook's contract has been declined by the team and that the running back can now become a free agent after the 2010 season. An Eagles executive confirmed the report to the Daily News' Paul Domowitch.
Citing sources, the report said Westbrook, who would turn 32 just before the 2011 season, was to be due a $7 million option for 2010, but the option was not excercised, according to a revision of the contract. His deal gave the team the right to extend the deal to 2013.
The executive said both Westbrook and agent Todd France understood that this probably was money he was never going to see, and that he would become a free agent after 2010. France has not returned message from the Daily News.
According to the report, Westbrook's base salary increased from $4 million to $5.85 million this season and goes to $7.25 million next season. His cap numbers increase to $13.25 million in 2009 and $10.59 million in 2010.
Westbrook signed a complicated 5-year, $32 mllion extension last August after protracted negotiations and a change in agent to France. The deal was 52 pages of addendeums, the parties said at the time.
Before the deal, Westbrook was due to make about $9 million over 2008 and 2009 non-guaranteed. The extension guaranteed $13 million in that period, a source close to the situation told the Daily News at the time. He should make about $21 million over the next 3 years, and could make as much as $24 million, the source said. The deal included three extra seasons at prohibitively high numbers, the source said, though Joe Banner had indicated the first extra year might actually be used.
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WHAT ANDY SAID, WHAT ANDY MEANT
This is usually a staple of Monday afternoons here on Eagletarian, but in light of all the news, we have not had a chance to post it.
On whether you’ve had any previous experiences with a quarterback who’s played with a broken rib:
What Andy said: ``I have. But it was later in the year. Rib injuries are all different. They’re hard to compare. This one is displaced a little bit and pretty painful. I know other guys that have played with broken ribs. We’ve just got to see.’’
What Andy meant: ``Well, Favre played with a broken rib once when I was with the Packers. But that was back in his Vicodin days when he was sucking down those babies like they were Tic Tacs. He would’ve played with a gunshot wound to the chest back then.’’
On whether he thought the hit on McNabb by Panthers defensive tackle Damione Lewis was a cheap shot:
What Andy said: ``I can’t say anything on that. You get those big guys with that 300-plus pounds motoring, it’s a little hard to stop. Sometimes they come in a little bit late.’’
What Andy meant: ``I’m gonna give him a pass. As a longtime fat guy, it’s easier getting a cruise liner to make a sudden stop. I almost killed our dog once when he bolted in front of me during a midnight-snack run to the fridge.’’
On how Winston Justice has managed to bounce back from his ``Nightmare At the Meadowlands’’ experience in 2007:
What Andy said: ``I put him in a bad situation that game. We were on the road. He’s going against an All-Pro player. I should’ve given him help. I put him out there on an island by himself. He was playing left tackle. The tight end was on the right side the majority of the game. That was a short corner and I shouldn’t have put him in that situation. And we used a silent count up there and he wasn’t as familiar with that.’’
What Andy meant: ``Clearly not one of my better coaching moments.’’
On the number of missed tackles by the defense vs. Carolina:
What Andy said: ``One thing we need to go back and work on, we had too many missed tackles early and late. We tackled well in second and third (quarters). The first and fourth we missed some tackles we should’ve made.’’
What Andy meant: ``Asante Samuel continues to have trouble with the concept of using his arms as a tackling aid.’’
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To read our report on today's other developements, click here.
Les
Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News
since 2002.
Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les
only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no
penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite
what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News
from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much
lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their
two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey.
E-mail Les at bowenl@phillynews.com
and follow
him on Twitter.
Paul
Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982.
He has spent most of his nearly 3 decades with the paper covering the
Eagles and pro football. For the last 10 years, he’s been a
selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A native of Wilkes-Barre
and a graduate of Wilkes University, Domo started his career in Texas,
working first for the Midland Reporter-Telegram (1976-78), and then for
the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas
Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually was
boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose 2 sports coats to
blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley,
a University of Oklahoma grad who still hasn’t gotten over
that Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State 5 years ago, have 2 terrific
daughters -- Allison, 28, who is an attorney in South Jersey, and Amy,
25, who works in administration for a professional baseball team.
E-mail Domo at PDomo@aol.com and follow
him on Twitter.
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