4 Things The Eagles Should Do This Offseason
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Chip Kelly is gone, but his players aren't.
Doug Pederson, Howie Roseman, Tom Donahoe, and the new "player personnel head" will have plenty of "collaborative" decisions to make this offseason, none bigger than what to do with Sam Bradford.
Here are four big decisions I would make, if I became the new player personnel head.
4. Release Riley Cooper, Jason Peters, DeMeco Ryans, and Brent Celek
Approximately $17.7 million saved. Boom. (I thoroughly explained their respective contract situations here.)
3. Let Sam Bradford go
Look, I like Bradford. I really do. But he's going to want something -- and deservedly so -- like Alex Smith's (also a former No. 1 overall pick) 2014 contract, which was four years, $68 million and $45 million guaranteed with cap hits varying somewhere in the $15-$20 million range each season.
While I certainly believe this team is talented, especially on defense, I can't trick myself into thinking Bradford and Doug Pederson is a Super Bowl winning combo. Bradford's expected high cap numbers will hinder the Eagles in other areas.
Ultimately, Bradford's ceiling is likely in Smith's range -- with an elite defense, maybe you can win a playoff game. Not good enough.
2. Sign Marvin Jones
Nelson Agholor, Jordan Matthews, and Zach Ertz are not going anywhere (you can probably throw Josh Huff's name in that group as well, although I would be totally fine with cutting him). All are talented, all are young, and all are cheap. But the Eagles' pass catchers were arguably the worst in the league last season and you can't keep drafting wide receivers in the first two rounds. Plus, you need some insurance for Agholor -- in case he doesn't pan out as that dominant outside wide out we once hoped for.
I would go out and sign Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Marvin Jones, who is set to become an unrestricted free-agent this offseason. Jones, 6-2, 200 pounds, is 25-years-old and will likely command a contract similar to the one Cooper signed in 2014 -- four years, $22.5 million ($10 million guaranteed).
Jones has battled ankle and foot injuries throughout his career, missing the entire 2014 season, and that risk will likely be baked into his contract. This past season, Jones caught 65 balls for 816 yards and four touchdowns playing in an offense with A.J. Green, Tyler Eifert, Jeremy Hill, and Gio Bernard.
Jones runs a 4.46 40-yard dash, has a 33-inch vertical, has incredible hands, runs good routes, is young, cheap, and clearly more talented than Cooper. He can certainly be the Eagles' No. 1 outside weapon and that "deep threat" everyone has clamored for since the departure of DeSean Jackson. He's worth the gamble.
1. Draft a QB
And not to be a backup either. Find the QB of the future -- and I don't know the recipe -- I'm just saying. Maybe it's Paxton Lynch or Christian Hackenberg, or someone in between. I don't know.
But what I do know is most of the recent Super Bowl winning teams have drafted elite quaterbacks; Russell Wilson in Seattle, Cam Newton in Carolina, Tom Brady in New England, Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay, Eli Manning in New York, Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh, and Joe Flacco in Baltimore.
The Eagles themselves haven't had sustained success since Donovan McNabb left.
Find your quarterback, draft him now, and build around him.
