Ex-Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon eager to compete for Eagles job

DENNIS DIXON said Monday that new Eagles coach Chip Kelly "can tailor his offense to whoever is presented" at quarterback.

But Dixon is the only Eagles quarterback who has been presented with the opportunity to run a Kelly attack, at Oregon in 2007, and he's hoping that will be a big factor in his favor when he steps onto the field with Michael Vick, Nick Foles and Trent Edwards.

If Vick makes it through the offseason healthy, it seems pretty likely he will be the 2013 starter, given that Vick will make at least $7.5 million this season under the terms of his reworked contract. Foles threw 265 passes as a rookie, more than four times as many as the 59 Dixon has thrown in parts of five NFL seasons, and unlike Dixon, Foles doesn't have a couple of knee injuries on his resumé.

But Dixon, 28, came here from the Ravens' practice squad to try to forge a chance to play, he told a conference call with reporters Monday.

"From my understanding, the job is open," he said. "So there will be a very competitive nature around here [and] may the best man win . . .

"As a competitor, I like, and anybody in their right mind would like, competition, and that's what we have. And I'm quite sure Mike Vick and Nick Foles would say the same thing, as well. We're just excited to work and let the chips fall where they may."

Dixon, drafted by the Steelers in the fifth round in 2008, doesn't know any more than Vick, Foles or Edwards about the offense Kelly will run in the NFL. The rules of the recent collective bargaining agreement keep Kelly from going into detail about playbook stuff with players during this part of the offseason. But Dixon said he knows it will be important to be able to process and function at a fast pace.

Monday was the first day teams could use the franchise tag this year. The Eagles did not apply it, and a source close to the situation said they "probably won't" use the tag. This more or less confirms a report by Geoff Mosher, of CSNPhilly.com, that the Birds won't use it on corner Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.

Tagging DRC would give him a 1-year contract for around $10.7 million (exact tag numbers haven't been set yet). That's more money than the key figure in the 2011 Kevin Kolb trade with Arizona has proved he is worth, and probably more than he will get per year on the free-agent market.

DRC turns 27 in April. His 2009 Pro Bowl berth is no longer so recent. Last season, he started out as the best player on the defense - big, fast, sharp, confident. As the defense devolved, so did Rodgers-Cromartie, to the extent that former coach Andy Reid sat him down for a "pull yourself together and play" chat toward the end of the season.

Rodgers-Cromartie's obvious talent aside, that's not the kind of personality you build a defense around, the kind of guy you can depend on when the going gets tough, which might be why Arizona made him available only 3 years after drafting him 16th overall. (Things that seem too good to be true often are, the Daily News has learned.)

The problem with not tagging DRC is that the Eagles are expected to part with their other 2012 corner starter, the even more disappointing Nnamdi Asomugha, and they have to play somebody back there in 2013. Given that the safety position is even more of a disaster area, getting rid of DRC could mean a lot of draft and free-agency resources expended on the secondary, when there are other needs to be filled, especially with the Eagles expected to transition to a 3-4 defense.

Of course, not tagging Rodgers-Cromartie doesn't mean he's gone. The Eagles still can work out a deal with agent Eugene Parker, they just can't be as sure of locking DRC up as they could be if they used the tag. Hard to say what the market will be; other teams watch video as well. They have 2 years of him as an Eagle, in 2011 as a miscast slot corner and in 2012 as a flustered mess.

It's interesting that the Arizona defensive coordinator in 2009, Billy Davis, now runs the Eagles' defense. Even more interesting that Davis was noncommital last week when reporters pressed him on whether he would like to coach DRC again.

The 2013 NFL Scouting Combine officially gets under way Thursday, with players and team personnel arriving in Indianapolis Wednesday. The NFL Network made analyst Mike Mayock available Monday for a marathon 2-hour, 35-minute conference call, in which Mayock laid out what seems to be the consensus of draft experts - this is a deep draft, but not one in which it is particularly advantageous to have the Eagles' fourth overall pick.

The skill positions look particularly uninspiring. Mayock said his top 10 players are all offensive or defensive linemen, though he didn't seem to think Alabama corner Dee Milliner - the only corner Mayock has rated as a first-rounder - would be a bad choice for the Birds at No. 4.

The good news would seem to be that there is a strong crop of safeties, and the Eagles ought to be able to find help there in the second or third round.