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OL STACY ANDREWS PRIVATELY GETS $4.1 roster bonus, essentially guaranteeing himself a job in '10. The cost: $1.8M pay cut. Shawn Andrews might not be so lucky.

Jason Avant turned down an offer to extend his contract during the 2009 season.
Then the uncapped 2010 league year began.
Instead of waiting around for offers, Avant agreed to terms on a 5-year contract with the Eagles that he will address at a news conference Monday afternoon. Clearly he wanted security, not the strange new world of uncapped free agency.
In the capped years of the NFL's Collective Bargaining Agreement, Avant would have been able to shop his reliable receiving and route running skills as an unrestricted free agent. It would be the reward for four seasons of work.
In the uncapped NFL, it takes six years of service to be unrestricted. Avant and 210 others were caught.
Avant still could try to sell his skills. But the Eagles would have the right of first refusal. And if they declined to match the offer, they would receive at least a second round pick as compensation.
The 2006 fourth-round pick out of Michigan caught 41 passes for 587 yards(14.3 average) and three touchdowns last season and 103 grabs and eight TD's in his career.

The Eagles are picking up the $1.5 million option on QB Mike Vick before Tuesday although it still seems more of a formality to trade him.
Vick has spent a chunk of the offseason reiterating what he said last season - he wants to be a starter somewhere.
With head coach Andy Reid sticking by his man, veteran QB Donovan McNabb, that means Vick or Kolb won't be around unless the Eagles like to pay big money to part-time performers.

CB Marlin Jackson scheduled to make a stop in Philly Monday.
The first stop is Baltimore, which will thorougly investigate his knees.
Jackson tore the anterior cruciate ligament tendons in his right and left knees the past two seasons. Last year the former No. 1 pick of the Indianapolis Colts out of Michigan appeared in just four games, producing one interception.
The 6-0 Jackson, 26, also might be able to play safety.

Defensive end Jason Babin, who had 2 1-2 sacks in 12 games with the Eagles last season, is visiting the Tennessee Titans Sunday and Monday.
Though Babin is listed as an unrestricted free agent the Eagles have the right of first refusal under terms of a contract restructuring last September. Basically Babin exhanged the ROFR for a spot on the 53-man roster. The Eagles would receive compensation if they decline to match offers for Babin.
The Titans have an opening for a pass rusher as Kyle Vanden Bosch exited for the Lions in free agency.

Birds should be applauded for not wasting money on another ACL risk like Aaron Kampman. How did Stacy Andrews work out?
Kampman signed with a Jaguars team so desperate for help it took on the risk that is Kampman, who is coming off a torn ACL. You can take this to the bank - players becoming off ACL's need at least a full season before they're close to being what they were. Tom Brady and Donovan McNabb are perfect examples (yeah, it took McNabb two years to play small in big games).

Leonard Weaver said he got a few offers in the roughly 12 hours he spent on the market as a restricted free agent.
Cleveland's new team president, Mike Holmgren, who coached Weaver at Seattle, and the Browns presented a contract proposal worth more than the Eagles' deal.
But Weaver told agent Harold Lewis to do a deal with the Eagles, that the Philly area was his new home and he valued stability. Weaver thinks the 3-year, $11 million deal ($6.5 million guaranteed) he signed Friday was fair.
That means three more years of Weaver helping youths 11-to-15 to read and write. He did that almost every day off this past season for students from the Bonsall School in Camden, N.J.

Bert Bell Award winner Drew Brees was delayed slightly for the Maxwell Football Club presser.
But the Super Bowl MVP busted his hump to step up to the podium and thank the audience at Harrah's-Atlantic City, club executives Ron Jaworski and Ray Didinger, and the other award winners.
Including Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, the Chuck Bednarik Award honoree.
"I'm not even going to try to pronounce his first name," Brees said. "But I am going to be nice to him. He's going to be chasing after me pretty soon."
Jaworski asked the audience to remember the late Tom Brookshier, who always attended the dinner. Jaws applauded the work of Bob Clark, retiring after 35 years of service to the club.

Retaining Pro Bowl fullback Leonard Weaver with a 3-year, $11 million contract is a solid move by the Eagles. Weaver is a versatile tireless worker whose energy rubs off on teammates. With four touchdowns, he's coming off a pretty decent season considering the abundance of playmakers on the roster.

In the old NFL, Eagles fullback Leonard Weaver probably would be signed, sealed and delivered by now instead of sitting on a second-round restricted free agent tender.
Weaver would have been an unrestricted free agent, the threat of a lockout wouldn't be an issue and all involved in the negotiation would be living happily ever after.
Instead Weaver is restricted and like other players intent on signing long-term contracts, must decided what terms to take if there is no football in 2011. NFL coaches also have lockout language in their contracts according to reports.
Weaver and his agent, Harold Lewis, are intent on striking a deal with the Birds. But it won't be the slam-dunk a Pro Bowl player deserves in this, the new beginning of uncapped NFL football.

The Rams have done a pretty good job of denying they've spoken with the Eagles about acquiring veteran quarterback Donovan McNabb.
And for good reason:
If they blow it, the rest of their dwindling base of season ticket holders won't renew.
The Rams would be crazy not to consider bringing McNabb on board.
First and foremost, McNabb has a deep trust in Rams offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, his quarterbacks coach with the Eagles. Shurmur was the guy who told McNabb that Kevin Kolb was starting the second half of the infamous loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
Secondly, McNabb could turn the Rams into a winner. With the two-time defending NFC West champion Cardinals having lost quarterback Kurt Warner, and on the verge of losing elite defenders Karlos Dansby and Antrel Rolle, the NFC West is wide open. For those who missed it the NFL is a worst-to-first league. McNabb could make the Rams the latest team in that category.
The only real question is whether the Rams would be willing to give up the first pick of the second round, as PFT.com has reported, for a veteran QB possibly unwilling to extend his contract with them beyond 2010.