An Idea I had for the Iggles

[BeerBaron]

And I think it's a fairly serious one, thought I'd get some of your comments on it.

If Mcnabb, and this is a big if, really is your QB heading forward for say, the next few years, I think he needs a legit weapon at WR. Time and time again, the Eagles have passed on trying to draft him a bigtime weapon and the one time they traded for one, TO, he ended up setting this franchise back a few years with his meltdown.

I mean, c'mon guys, I'm a Bears fan and even I can tell when a team has rather lousy receivers. Desean Jackson looks good, but ideally, he would be the #2 option to a "go to guy." Reggie Brown has gone downhill extremely fast and might not stick on the team for very much longer. And then you have guys like Kevin Curtis, Hank Baskett and Jason Avant who, on most other NFL teams, probably wouldn't be options #2-#4...icky.

Sure a nice TE like Gresham could help out, but if your picking say, 19th and 29th, he might raise his stock up out of that range with a good series of pre-draft workouts.

But heres my thought. If the team is willing to commit to and stick with McNabb for a few more years, package those first rounders together and get him a guy with stud potential like Michael Crabtree.

I did the math here and if, for example, you are picking 19th and 29th with your first rounders, that adds up to 1515 trade value points which could land you between the 6th and 7th overall pick. Maybe throw in another mid rounder and one of the receivers you don't need on your team, and you could maybe climb your way up to 5th overall. Might still not be high enough for Crabtree, but if he were there, I'd pull the trigger on that in a second.

Yes, I know the Eagles don't value receivers that highly and yes I know that seems like a lot to give up and yes, I know, that receivers are one of the positions that typically take the longest to make an impact in transitioning to the pros, but I think it could make a lot of sense for your football team.

Commit to McNabb because, seriously, he's still amongst the top 10 QBs in the league in terms of ability and you don't want to end up like one of the many teams who just can't find a QB after trading him away or cutting him or anything like that.

So commit to him, get him a top flight weapon and see what you can do then. I know the Eagles have other needs along their aging o-line and in their secondary, but you can still find guys to draft and develop in rounds 2-3 since you do still have guys capable of starting there right now, which doesn't really look like the case at WR.

Just a thought I woke up with this morning. (Dunno why I was even thinking about it really...) So take it as you may, but it would be a pretty extreme route to take but it could pay huge dividends in a year or twos time. Who knows, maybe you'd even get lucky and Crabs could make a Boldin type of leap and give you a stud as a rookie.

[Sniper]

No. There way too many other needs. If the OTs and Dawkins were three younger, I'd be all for it because you can get a TE later. However, both tackles are way too old to consider that move. It's something I considered too, but the other needs are major.

[dan77733]

Eagles HAD their dominant number one playmaking WR in T.O. and they decided NOT to pay him and let him leave and go to DAL. If I was running the Eagles, there's no way in hell that I would have let T.O. leave as him and McNabb could have been one hell of a QB/WR combination for years to come. McNabb had his best season with T.O. and why management wouldnt want to keep McNabb on that pace is beyond me. T.O. had a $7.5m roster bonus due in April 2006 and management knew that trading for T.O. was never ever meant to be more than a two year experiment. The experiment failed but not because of T.O. but because management didnt want to pay him which is sad considering the fact that McNabb has a hundred million dollar contract and isnt even worth half of it especially if he doesnt have a WR like T.O.

Personally, I would have paid T.O. his $7.5m before the 2005 season and kept him and McNabb together. Sure, people will say that they didnt get along or whatever but that didnt affect them on the field for the first seven games of the 2005 season as T.O. had 47 receptions, 763 yards and 6 touchdowns. He was on pace for 106 receptions, 1744 yards and 12 touchdowns. He would have been just over a hundred yards away from breaking Rice's single season record.

If that's how McNabb and T.O. play with each other while McNabb is injured with bruised ribs and that they dont get along, I would have loved to see how they would have played if they did get along and McNabb wasnt injured.

Yeah, im a T.O. fanboy but before and after T.O., even I knew that what McNabb was missing was a number one dominant playmaking WR and if you look before and after T.O., that's pretty obvious. I never wanted Owens to leave Philly but oh well, it is what it is.

Majority of Eagles fans wont agree with me and that's fine as this is just my own personal opinion and what I would have done if I was Eagles management.

[BeerBaron]

No. There way too many other needs. If the OTs and Dawkins were three younger, I'd be all for it because you can get a TE later. However, both tackles are way too old to consider that move. It's something I considered too, but the other needs are major.

Yeah, I thought about it quite a bit, those positions in particular. I think you can find a G in the mid rounds to groom pretty easily and when Runyan's time is up, kick Shawn Andrews outside. Find another tackle by whatever means.....

But yeah, I can understand. I was working on another mock and just thought of all of this. I didn't actually have them trade up or anything, but i thought it a good option if it were at all reasonable. I dunno....

[eaglesalltheway]

I certainly see your logic there, BB, but honestly, I wouldn't hold your breath waiing for it to happen. With arguably the biggest need along our OL, and with how the team values them with Reid here, I expect at least one linemen to be picked for the Eagles in the first two rounds, and probably in the first. You touched on it in the above post. Andrews (and Herremans even) could play RT (Herremans maybe even LT), so we may not just be looking at OTs. Duke Robinson isn't someone to sleep on for the Eagles to go after, and Alex Mack isn't entirely out of the realm of possibilities either, considering he can play either Guard position as well as C. That being said, I am not privy to the way the organization feels about putting either at the Tackle positions, so OT is still very likely, just as likely (if not moreso) as OG. We have plenty of capable linemen to fill caps along the lines as well. The Eagles could go a bunch of possibilities for the draft along the line. Anywhere from two OTs to one OG, with how MJG, and even Cole now, have filled in, there is proof that there are at least two possibilites to replace holes at the OG position. (Lesser so with Cole, but MJG has a future as a starter on the team.)

TE is also a big need, and since most people don't expect LJ to be back next year it is still a likely choice for an early pick. If Jermaine Gresham is available for one fo those picks, I would not be surprised at all to see him be the pick, TE has worked its way into the mix as arguably our biggest need since the future of our TE position is cloudy at best.

S is still a concern for the Eagles, though I would argue less so now than at the beginning of the season, even if Dawk is gone. Mikell has proven to be a Pro-Bowl Calibur SS (got ripped off IMO, hope he makes it as an alternate or something). I don't know if any other Eagles fans have taken notice, but since about half way through the season, Quentin Demps has been getting steadily more and more time on the defense. Though he isn't exactly a force, he has shown that he can be relied on if needed. I personally will not say he has shown enough for me to say he will be a successful starter, but he has shown that he can be. I do have faith in the coaching staff, and he is doing kind of what Styewart Bradley did last year for us. The coaches have taken Considine off the field in Nickel and Dime situations in favor of Demps. Jim Johnson knows his stuff, and if a rookie is getting the time that Demps is getting, Jim has got to like what he sees out of this kid, so in that respect, I do beleive he could be the future at FS, I just haven't seen it for myself yet.

That brings us to WR, which I think is a concern for the team, but it has been fourth in terms of need since basically last April 30th. Don't get me wrong, that true #1 WR like Crabtree would be great, and would do wonders for our passing attack, but it doesn't mean squat if our two tackles positions are occupied by sieves (sp, haha). If Crabtree would be available for our first pick, I say take him, because I do think along the same lines as you BB, the net gain for getting him in the first and another good, though not great, OL prospect in the second or third round would be better than getting that great OL prospect and another useless #2 type WR. But when you consider the needs of the team, the net gain just wouldn't be there if the Eagles would have to trade up to get him.