Print   Recommend

* Praise is due to CBS for its excellent coverage of the Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament. Cutting away to the end of exciting games makes sense, and seeing it happen has been gratifying and satisfying. Kudos.

* Duce Staley to Pittsburgh is the sort of thing that should make sense, but doesn't. I would've rather seen the Steelers just draft a running back. It's not to late, though, to get Tim Couch -- or maybe Jon Kitna -- to replace Tommy Maddox.

* Keyshawn Johnson will do fine in Dallas as long he realizes he'll never match his production with the Jets in '98 and '99.

* The H-back position typified by Kellen Winslow in the '80s is in vogue again, with Jim Kleinsasser (MIN), Bryan Johnson (WAS), and Brandon Manumaleuna (STL) all slated to line up at both FB and TE in 2004.

* The Titans are losing too many people. They'll be competitive in 2004, but they seem to be aiming for respectability rather than the Lombardi Trophy. Steve McNair only has so many years left.

The NFL offseason is heating up quickly. Terrell Owens and Warren Sapp are on the move. Drew Henson is going to Dallas. Jeff Garcia will be playing for Cleveland. Washington keeps signing people. And the draft is only a month away.

Other than Washington, the biggest mover and shaker this offseason has probably been the Philadelphia Eagles, who landed arguably the two biggest names available in free agency this season, even though one of them never became a free agent. I still don't understand how Owens and his agent won their case, but the important thing, from a football standpoint, is that Owens and Jevon Kearse are now Eagles.

I thought the Eagles were the best team in the NFC last season. They were second in my season-ending power rankings -- behind New England -- and I had them slotted for the Super Bowl before the postseason began. Wide receiver and defensive end were both need positions for the Eagles, and now they've filled both of those spots with premier players. So why do I like Philadelphia less now than I did at the end of the season?

Part of it is Kearse. Great player. But he can't stay healthy, and he's not great against the run. Philadelphia was weak against the run last season, and picking up a pass-rush specialist like Kearse isn't going to change that. Even more importantly, I don't believe that Kearse will stay healthy all season. The Eagles threw money at a problem, and they got the man they wanted, but it's a gamble on their part.

Owens is a stranger case. I don't feel like it really makes the Eagles better or worse. Maybe I'm just not thinking about it rationally yet. In my head, I have Owens as easily one of the 10 best wide receivers in the NFL, maybe top-five. He knocks Todd Pinkston or James Thrash out of the starting lineup, and that's clearly a huge upgrade.

But T.O. to Philadelphia is exactly the kind of move that never works out as well in reality as it does on paper. I'm so skeptical of the impact these signings will have on the Eagles that I've actually started to think of Philly as being a worse team than they were at the beginning of the offseason. Like I said, maybe that will change as we get closer to September.

Another problem is that the famously thrifty Eagles, while throwing money at Kearse and Owens, are waving goodbye to one of their strongest assets: shut-down pass defense. Bobby Taylor and Troy Vincent are both on the wrong side of 30, but they're also excellent defensive backs, and I don't think Lito Sheppard and Sheldon Brown are ready to step up and fill their roles. The Eagles are punching new holes in their ship at the same time they're mending other ones.

The Kearse of Big Money

Philadelphia's signing of Kearse is interesting from another standpoint, too: money. The salary cap. Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie made Kearse the highest-paid defensive lineman in the NFL. Even when he's healthy, is Kearse worth more than Michael Strahan? He's not even the best defensive end in his new division, let alone the best defensive lineman in the world.

Kearse's signing has affected other teams and players, too. Most notable of these is Grant Wistrom. Long regarded as a solid starter, but not much more, Wistrom saw his stock go through the roof in free agency this year, and I'm still a little mystified as to how it happened. Wistrom has never made a Pro Bowl and probably never will. He's definitely a starter-quality defensive end, though, a great No. 2 guy. When Wistrom and his agent saw the contract he signed with Seattle, they probably thought it was a joke.

But Kearse's signing and some weird trends in free agency had Seattle set on getting the big man. Wistrom went from being the second-best DE available in free agency this season to being paid like someone almost as good as Kearse. The problem is, the gap between the best (Kearse) and second-best (Wistrom) this offseason was a big one, and the gap best second-best and the rest of the field was pretty small. Wistrom is not, for instance, $10 million better than Phillip Daniels.

Teams still haven't learned from the Patriots. You sign the right guy at the right price, not the right guy at any price. If someone else wants to overpay Wistrom, you talk to the third guy on the board. Washington never does that, and this year Seattle -- and maybe Philadelphia - aren't doing it, either.

Closing Thoughts

Some guesses about the 2004 season:

1) The Dolphins' offseason reeks of desperation. The coaching staff and front office have so little confidence, I can't see their team going anywhere even though I like the personnel. Maybe they should have passed on David Boston and gone after T.O. just to put some strut in their step.

2) Donovan McNabb is a great quarterback, but his passing skills aren't exceptional. He's a good runner and a great leader. I think Owens is going to get impatient with McNabb's arm. Here's a bet that this season -- McNabb's first one with a really good receiver -- will be his worst as a starter.

3) Daniel Snyder has signed everyone and his mother, as usual. This time will be different, cry some. Joe Gibbs is back! But the man can only do so much. Washington will not finish over .500 in 2004.

4) The Browns are a franchise in disarray. I won't pass judgment on their season until after the draft, at least, but I don't like what I see. This team is moving in the wrong direction.

5) Last season at this time, the Bucs were talking dynasty. Now they're rebuilding. No (Warren) Sapp. No (John) Lynch. No Keyshawn (Johnson). Is this even the same team? And now Brad Johnson is fighting for his starting job. The guy gets it done everywhere he goes, and no one seems to have any confidence in him. Maybe Norv Turner, I guess, but he got fired because of it.

6) Super Bowl XXXIX: Yeah, right. Super Bowl predictions in March? Enjoy the tournaments and the Stanley Cup playoff races. The draft is right around the corner.

Have something to say? Visit the message boards and discuss this article. Comments? Agree? Disagree? Send in your feedback about this article.