BillyV's Blog

3/11/08

The Eagles won’t get Larry Fitzgerald, and it’s starting to look more and more like they won’t get any impact receiver this year.  Fitzgerald was thought to be possibly available for trade because his solid play—100 catches last year and 10 touchdowns—caused incentives in his contract to kick in.  As a result, Arizona would’ve had to pay him 14 ½ million this year and 17 mil next season.  But the Cardinals said all along they wouldn’t trade Fitzgerald, and today they reached agreement on a deal to restructure his contract.  According to what a Cardinals spokesman told Fox 29, Fitzgerald was on his way to vacation in Chile, but signed the paperwork while he was in the airport. 

 

I also don’t see much basis for the rumors that the Eagles will get Roy Williams from Detroit in a trade.  Williams had a lot of games when he was a non-factor this year, but every now and then he flashes his enormous potential—including the game against the Eagles when he had 9 catches for 204 yards.  So why would Detroit trade him?

 

At least the Eagles did make a play for Randy Moss, right? Well, not exactly.  Like most everyone else, I was originally impressed that they made an offer.  But then I learned from a source close to team President Joe Banner that the Eagles offer was really just for show.  They knew he was going to re-sign with the Patriots.  They offered him slightly more than New England did, but really not enough to pry him away from the tremendous tradition the Patriots have.  The Eagles offer helped Moss, in that it gave him more leverage to use in negotiations with the Pats, and it helped the Eagles in that they could now tell their fan base, “Hey, we tried.”

 

Think about it: Do you remember another time when the Eagles publicly commented about an offer to a player that was rejected?  I don’t.

 

Besides, when he did comment, Andy Reid pretty much said that Moss was never going to leave the Patriots.   So the Eagles offer was really more of a P.R. move than anything.  Now they need to find a way to make a real move if they’re going to improve their receiving corps.