Eagles and Pats Winners in Free Agency

The Philadelphia Eagles decided they needed to improve their secondary and they did that.  The Eagles signed free agent corner Nnamdi Asomugah to a five year $60 million contract.  They were going to trade Kevin Kolb to Arizona (regardless) and they ended up getting Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie out of the deal as well.  He scored two touchdowns with three interceptions last season.  Let’s not forget they still have Asante Samuel as well.

The Eagles didn’t stop there.  They actually went out and upgraded an already strong young defensive line.  Philadelphia signed end Jason Babin, who had 12.5 sacks last season in Tennessee, to a 5 year $30 million contract to play opposite Trent Cole.  If that weren’t enough, today Philly signed Cullen Jenkins and traded away tackle Brodrick Bunkley to Cleveland for a 5th round draft pick.  Jenkins had 7 sacks in 11 games compared to Bunkley having none in 14 games.

Anyone who had signed Vince Young as a free agent would be a winner in my book.  The Eagles replaced backup Kevin Kolb with Young who they signed to a 1 year contract.  Philadelphia also signed receiver Johnnie Lee Higgins to add add depth to an already talented young receiving core.   Basically, they loaded up like the New England Patriots.

Let’s start with the draft for New England.  They get arguably the best tackle and possibly one of the best quarterbacks in this draft in Ryan Mallet as a 3rd round pick.  They also loaded up on picks (like they do every year).  They used some of their draft picks (a couple of 5th and 6th rounders) to acquire Chad Ochocinco and Albert Haynesworth.  That’s cheating!

Obviously the reason Ochocinco and Haynesworth were able to be acquired with so little in return was because of their relationships with their respective teams.  Haynesworth was at odds with Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan and his work ethic and conditioning were in question.  Ochocinco, appears on many reality shows and is very vocal with the media.  Even though these two players have doubters, their on field talent is not in question.   Chad caught 67 passes last year in a down season for him.

Two other teams I thought that did well in free agency were Seattle and Chicago.  Chicago signed Marion Barber and receiver Roy Williams, who both played in Dallas last season.  Seattle got guard Robert Gallery, Sidney Rice and replaced Matt Hassellbeck with a younger Tavares Jackson.    Arizona and Minnesota both did well in filling their quarterback needs with Kolb and McNabb.

It’s not over yet.  Players like Plaxico Burress and Braylon Edwards are still available.  There could easily be a couple more teams added to this list.