Eagles Sign Mediocre Player to Long Term Deal Which He Will Complain About Later

Now that free agency is upon us, it's time to look back and remember all those first-rate free agents that the Eagles have signed since the Andy Reid/Joe Banner team has been in place. T.O. doesn't count, since he was technically acquired from the 49ers in a trade.

Therefore, the biggest free agent aquisition has been...Jeavon Kearse! Jeavon Kearse, once heralded in Tennessee as a "freak"-ish athlete who had difficulty staying on the field because of his injuries. Four years later, he's released from the Eagles because those injuries have slowly eroded his amazing athletic gifts, and now he's just a skinny defensive end who's not that fast anymore.

After Jeavon Kearse, the biggest free agent would have to be...Kevin Curtis? Antonio Freeman? Runyan? LeVon Kirkland? Runyan has anchored an offensive line that has been steady for years, despite turnover at the guard and center positions. Although he's at the end of his career now, I think we can go ahead and call that signing a success.

LeVon Kirkland is one of my favorite Eagles, despite the fact that his career here was short. Listed at anywhere between 275-295, LeVon Kirkland was easily north of 310 for his eagles tenure. He was signed to play middle lineback after Trotter left for the Redskins, and no one ever ran on the eagles inside the tackles again. Kirkland was a BEAST early in his career with the steelers, was somewhat beasty with the seahawks, but by the time he got to the eagles he was more of "may contain beast-like substance." That being said, the image of him tracking down running backs in the flat reminded me of a bear going after a wounded deer. Beautiful and tragic, all at the same time.

Kevin Curtis was no doubt signed because he was white and scrappy. As a bonus, he runs great routes and allows the Eagles to meet their self imposed Mormon quota, now that Reno Mahe has gone back to Chickie & Pete's full time. As a minus, he dives to the ground after every play and disappears inside the red zone.

So this is what we're looking at, Birds fans. The eagles will sign some free agents at some point. Will they be a Kearse, a Kirkland, or a Curtis?