Priority: Lock Up Rodgers-Cromartie Long Term

Looking at the Eagles roster as it stands now, cornerback sticks out as a position in flux.

There are eight players signed. Three of those — Nnamdi Asomugha, Joselio Hanson, and Asante Samuel — have crossed the 30-year-old mark, so their football clocks are ticking. Samuel, as discussed yesterday, likely won’t be around in a few months anyway. There’s also a quartet of unproven youngsters who Eagles fans have varying degrees of hope for — Brandon Hughes, Curtis Marsh, Trevard Lindley, and DJ Johnson.

Then there’s DRC. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is the soon-to-be 26-year-old cornerback whom the Eagles received as part of the Kevin Kolb trade. A former first round pick and one-time Pro Bowl selection, Rodgers-Cromartie was supposed to pair with Asomugha and Samuel to make a fearsome trio of starting corners. Things didn’t work out as planned, partially because the young newcomer struggled in his new role as nickel corner.

I posted Rodgers-Cromartie’s 2011 outside/slot split before, but it’s worth another look:

Once again, Rodgers-Cromartie was one of the worst cornerbacks in the NFL when playing in the slot, and one of the best when playing his natural position outside. That was part of the problem in 2011, but with Samuel headed out the door, DRC has the potential to be one of the best players on the Eagles defense. That’s only potential, of course, and his inconsistent play was one of the major reasons the Cardinals were willing to part with him a year ago.

More important, however, are two factors: his age and contract status. Rodgers-Cromartie is the only proven cornerback on the Eagles roster who still has at least half a decade of NFL playing time ahead of him. If he can maintain a high level of play as a starter, he could be not only an answer for 2012, but also a long term solution to pick up the slack when Asomugha begins to fade.

The problem is, Rodgers-Cromartie isn’t signed past this upcoming season. If the Eagles let him play out his contract and he does well, they will have to franchise tag him or compete with other teams on the open market. The alternative, of course, is that they could extend him this offseason — and perhaps pick up a discount in the aftermath of DRC’s sub par 2011.

There’s a long list on Howie Roseman’s desk of Eagles players deserving new contracts and Rodgers-Cromartie isn’t at the top. Still, for the sake of the vital cornerback position, extending him this offseason should be a priority.

Photo from Getty.

Despite Jenkins' Return, DT is a Top Draft Priority

Les Bowen:

Even though Jenkins is 31 and might not be a long-term starter, his return, along with the return from injury of Antonio Dixon, might mean the Eagles don’t target a defensive tackle with the 15th overall selection in the April entry draft. If they re-sign pending free agent Derek Landri, that will become even less likely.

Disagree. As I briefly mentioned a few weeks ago, the defensive line is in need of young talent. This Cullen Jenkins contract restructuring is nice, but he’s not a long term solution at tackle. Nor is Mike Patterson, Derek Landri, or Trevor Laws. Plus, as Sheil Kapadia noted today, there’s already a robust rotation that would easily integrate a new addition.

All in all, if the Eagles address middle linebacker in free agency and Luke Kuechly remains the only consensus first round 4-3 linebacker, defensive tackle immediately jumps to the front of the line in terms of most likely early pick.

Looking Backward, Forward for Asante Samuel

Since yesterday was Presidents Day, it seems like a good time to reflect on the Eagles own self-proclaimed president, Asante Samuel.

Samuel has had an up and down relationship with Philly fans since he arrived in 2008. First he was an overpaid slacker, then an interception machine with a fun and outsized personality, and then a few more missed tackles landed him back on the negative side of the ledger. Through it all, though, Samuel has been a one of the best coverage cornerbacks in the NFL.

Take a look at his stats with the Eagles:

While 2011 was a down year for interceptions, Samuel really hasn’t shown any decline year over year. In some ways he was the best cornerback the Eagles had last season.

Did you know that Samuel has more interceptions before age 31 than any other cornerback in the last 20 years? And many of the guys just below him (Champ Bailey, Aeneas Williams, Ty Law, Deion Sanders) managed to play well through at least a few years of their thirties.

All in all, I’m relatively bullish on Samuel’s potential to remain a high value coverage corner in the next few years. If his game were built on speed and physicality, you might project more of a dropoff. But Asante has always been an interception artist, rather than a complete player.

However, it’s a near certainty that Samuel will get to play out the remainder of his career in a different jersey. The Eagles explored trade possibilities for him last year, but never pulled the trigger (even turning down a second round pick from Detroit). After a year of turmoil in the secondary, Howie Roseman has little choice but to ship Samuel out this time, probably for no more than a third round pick.

When that happens, Asante’s play and his personality will both be missed.

Photo from Getty.

Inqy & DN Sports Editors: Papers Won't Miss a Beat

Josh Barnett and John Quinn, sports editors for the Daily News and Inquirer, respectively (to The 700 Level):

We will have a group of writers whose work will exclusively appear in the Daily News, a group of writers whose work will exclusively appear in the Inquirer and a group of writers whose work will appear in both papers. Everything in the print editions — and much more — will appear on philly.com along with new content that is being finalized.

What we have identified as “beat writer” information — game stories, transactions, injury updates, etc. — will be shared between the papers and handled by one writer per beat although we will supplement that one writer with other staffers to add depth and perspective to that information in both print and online.

On a macro level, this kind of change definitely makes sense. The basic game recap or minor news story doesn’t need to be written up by a reporter at each paper. Giving guys like Les Bowen more time to write analysis rather than chase quotes is a positive development.

Still, I wonder about the long term ramifications of combining the two newspaper staffs. Eventually, if you get on well enough with one shared beat reporter, you start to wonder if you can combine the other roles too. By the time the next budget cuts come down, it’s the two groups of columnists/analysts who become redundant. Hopefully the readership will continue to demand more content and sports coverage won’t suffer.

Evan Mathis, Man of the Internet

Soon-to-be free agent guard Evan Mathis did an AMA (ask me anything) post on Reddit. Fun questions and answers abound.

Where Did the High-Flying Pass Attack Go?

I’m not sure what happened to the Eagles vaunted quick-strike passing attack of 2010. And after combing through some of the stats from last year, I still don’t have a good read on it.

Let’s just take a minute to compare Michael Vick’s passes of 20 yards or more over the last two years, courtesy of Pro Football Focus:

The numbers show a complicated picture. By some measures, Vick’s deep passes were as good as they were a year prior. Yards per target and per reception were almost identical. The interception rate was similar, and completion percentage actually bumped up to 50 percent.

On the other hand, Vick’s touchdown rate dropped precipitously from 12.3 percent of all deep passes to just 6.3 percent. There were also seemingly fewer opportunities downfield — Vick’s percentage of throws 20 yards or greater fell by more than a third.

What about for DeSean Jackson, Vick’s frequent target on deep passes?

DeSean received a higher percentage of deep targets (54.2 percent vs. 44.6 percent in 2010), but his reception rate went in the opposite direction. A few drops here, a few bad passes there caused his yards per target figure to drop as well.

The odd thing about Jackson’s numbers is the interceptions column. Notice anything? Yes, all four of Vick’s interceptions throwing deep were targeted at Jackson. I’m not sure what to make of that. Was Jackson not putting in the effort to go get the ball? Was Vick forcing the ball to his top target? Whatever the problem, is it fixable?

It may be time to go back to the tape.

Photo from Getty.

Inquirer and Daily News Set to Merge Coverage

Mike Armstrong, for the Inquirer:

Under the plan, some elements of sports coverage, arts and other features stories, city and suburban reporting, and various editing functions would be coordinated and shared, Wischnowski said.

The same story might appear in both newspapers.

For example, the papers’ sports departments intend to have one editor in charge of reporters from both staffs covering the Philadelphia Phillies, another for those covering the Philadelphia Eagles, and so on. Two reporters may still cover a Phillies game. However, one may be “digitally focused,” Wischnowski said, posting news and video interviews to the Web, while the other may concentrate on a story for print.

Make no mistake, this is going to be a sad offseason for journalism, and especially sports journalism, in Philadelphia. With four beat reporters, a bunch of columnists, and the Philly.com mavens covering the Eagles right now, “redundancy” is a scary word.

Update: A source tells The 700 Level that “there is only going to be one ‘beat writer’ per team going forward and that existing beats will either be reassigned or eliminated.”

Roseman: 'People Call and Your Phone Does Ring'

Howie Roseman on Asante Samuel’s situation:

“Whenever you have a surplus at a particular position there are talks around the league. People call and your phone does ring and that’s happened in the past couple years by our quarterback situation and so I think there are particular position on our team that maybe we had a surplus at and I expect the phone calls to be active. In terms of talking about a specific player or position obviously I stay away from that. But we’re always open to phone calls and to seeing if something works and really if there are win-win situations for particular teams and particular players we’ll look at that.”

It was nice knowing you, Pres.