Report: Eagles sign Samuel - $47.2 million over 5 years

According to several sites, the Eagles have reached an agreement with Asante Samuel, pending a physical.

There are concerns amoung the eagles faithful about how Samuel adjusts from Belichek's defensive stragety to Jim Johnson's. Johnson's frequent blitzing tends to isolate the corners in man coverage on their recievers, often without deep safety help.

Also, the Patriot's pass rush was much better than the Eagles last year. Actually, just about everyone's pass rush was better than the Eagles last year. This means that Samuel will have to cover his reciever for a longer amount of time than he's used to, increasing the chances of him getting burned. Additionally, Samuel has a reputation of being a "guesser," or a cornerback who jumps routes hoping for interceptions.

Although I don't believe Samuel is the next coming of Deion Sanders, he's certainly the best corner on the team, if he does in fact sign. The eagles could then move Sheldon Brown to safety, and use Joselio Hanson as their nickel corner.

However, this situation isn't likely to increase Lito's happiness with his contract.

UPDATE: It now appears that the deal with be for six years, just under $60 million.

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?

The Flyers Will Never Love You Back

Only in this city can a Headline read "Flyers win Second in a Row." While in attendance at the Flyers game, I noticed a distinct lack of engergy for the first period and a half.

Sometime in the second period, it was as if a light switch got flipped. The passes were precise, the hits a little more agressive, and we got something resembling an offense.

Upshall looked very good, perhaps finally shaking off his ankle injury. Biron looked good as well, giving up the only Senators goal in the first period. Sustained offensive pressure by the Senators resulted in a shot that was screened by a flyers forward and deflected by Jason Spezza into the goal.

Spezza then got a game misconduct for hitting someone with the butt-end of his stick, resulting in cheers from the crowd. The Flyers then answered with a Jim Dowd wrister from the left circle.

Also in attendance at Holt's was a Punch Robusto. A good selection, it was fairly heavy-bodied for my first cigar in a couple months. An Ashton would have been a better idea. Luckily, I had the whole third period to wait for my head to stop spinning.

Of course, being a philly fan, I'm concerned. The Flyers play an up-tempo style of hockey, but injuries and the playoff push have shortened their bench. Instead of a young team pushing to make a name for themselves, they seem like a tired bunch who desperately need a break.

Team to Beat

One spring training game equals world series victory. You heard it here first.

What, you had concerns about:

a 44 year old starting pitcher?

a starting pitcher being converted from a closer?

a starting pitcher who's only 23 years old but has a significant injury history?

Whether the entire infield can have repeat career years, offensively?

a firstbaseman with *ahem* questionable *ahem* defensive abilities?

The entire bullpen?

Well, if you were concerned about any of these things, you were silly. You see, what the club needed was "life." Now, having shellacked the Reds in the first spring training game, the club has discovered that life. Everything else should just fall into place.

As a Phillies fan, you shouldn't merely be concerned about all of these things, you should be terrified. Has anyone bothered to ask management about right field? I'm sure the Werth/Jenkins combo is striking fear into the hearts of every pitcher in the NL East. You've got a closer, who's already a bit of a head case, now out with a balky knee. The bullpen is full of players with torn tendons and shattered psyches. The starters have either not enough experience (Kendrick) or way too much (Moyer). Myers has said he'd rather be closing-let's make him opening-day starter! Hamels has yet to pitch a full season. Eaton is Eaton.

You've got a manager who's strength is telling great catfishing stories during rain delays-but can't really manage the game too well. You've got a general manager who is completely incapable of reading a medical report, apparently.

Bring on the Nationals!