Eagles taking it easy at NFL meetings

In Monday's print edition of the Daily News, offensive lineman Jake Long was listed as one of the marquee names available for the Eagles to sign. Long signed with the St. Louis Rams on Monday. This article has been updated to reflect that news.

PHOENIX - The Eagles didn't come to the NFL meetings, which began to stir to life Sunday, with any urgent business to transact.

They signed eight free agents in a flurry last week. They're monitoring the market now, but aren't waiting by the phone for any destiny-altering decisions. They're interested in the rules changes on the docket, such as the outlawing of helmet-lowering outside the tackle box by either the offensive or defensive player. But there is nothing planned here that affects them more than anyone else, no leaguewide crisis that demands close attention.

What does general manager Howie Roseman most want to accomplish by the time he heads home Thursday? "About 9 months ago, we started this in training camp. We've had a lot of stuff happen to us. It was a long season, we had a coaching search. I'd like to spend a couple hours with my kids."

As Roseman spoke at the entrance to the Biltmore pool, his wife, Mindy, wheeled two of the three Roseman offspring away in a stroller, in search of a snack.

For fans, this might be the middle of the offseason. For Roseman, occupied since the end of the Eagles' 4-12 debacle with finding a new coach, hiring the new coach's staff and then signing some players the new coach felt he needed, it is the beginning of whatever brief respite he'll get before draft preparation becomes all-consuming.

Roseman said his conversations with his peers so far involve "kind of decompressing from free agency and having those conversations about free agency and the free-agent market, and then, as we transition to the draft, making sure we explore all options."

Several weeks ago, Roseman noted that these meetings would come less than a week into free agency. He wondered if that wouldn't produce a lot of wild, frenzied, on-site dealmaking. But because the market opened nearly 2 weeks later than usual, and maybe because of the new 3-day negotiating period before signings were allowed, events unfolded quickly.

"Normally, when there's a glut at certain positions, there's a run on those positions, and you don't see a lot of value signings" early in the process, Roseman said. "The market kind of stabilized and there was an opportunity for us to be in it, where maybe before free agency we thought there wouldn't be an opportunity . . . even lower-market deals got done quickly, where usually you wouldn't see those the first or second day. Agents were willing to take the right deal for their player."

Maybe the biggest remaining names are at offensive tackle, where Andre Smith and Sebastian Vollmer all are represented by agents Ben Dogra and Tom Condon of CAA.

One marquee CAA client who's now off the board is Jake Long, who signed with the St. Louis Rams Monday morning.

It seems Dogra and Condon were hoping Long would set the market there, but that hasn't happened yet. The Eagles still might be interested in Long or one of the other two at the right price, which obviously isn't the price Long is seeking.

"Whether the value works for us, I think you can't find that out until the dominoes start to fall," Roseman said. "It sure appears" Long will set the market for the other two. "I think because you'll have the agents and teams here again, you'll see a couple of those deals - the last remaining big deals - go. It'll just be right fits for right teams."