It's been two weeks since I called for the Philadelphia Eagles to open their Scrooge McDuck money bin and go on a shopping spree in the free agent market, and much to my surprise, they actually did.
The Eagles made a splash on each of the first two days of free agency, bringing in cornerback Asante Samuel and defensive end Chris Clemons.
So how much better is the Eagles defense with these two additions?
The Samuel signing gives the Eagles two legitimate shutdown cornerbacks, and a boatload of freedom to experiment in the secondary.
Assuming that the Eagles come to their senses and don't trade Lito Sheppard for anyone who is not named Larry Fitzgerald (now Anquan Boldin, because he is probably ticked off about Fitzgerald's new contract) or Roy Williams (the stud Lions wide receiver, not the overrated Cowboys safety), the Eagles suddenly have the best trio of cornerbacks in the NFL and the freedom to move Sheldon Brown to one of the safety positions when lining up in a typical 4-3 defense.
On the surface, adding Clemons, who is just 240 pounds and looks like an undersized linebacker, does not seem to be as big of a signing as his $25 million contract would suggest. Because of his size and obvious deficiency against the run, Clemons will simply be used as a pass rusher on obvious passing downs, but he should be good for double digit sacks if Eagles Defensive Coordinator Jim Johnson still has some tricks up his sleeve.
The beauty of the Clemons signing is that it makes complete sense when analyzed in combination with the Samuel signing.
Jim Johnson's defense has always worked best when he could trust his secondary to play man-to-man coverage, giving him the freedom to send the house after the quarterback.
That was one of the main problems with the Eagles defense in 2007. Sheppard, Brian Dawkins, and Sean Considine all were hurt at various times during the season, and William James turned out to be a bust (Much to my surprise; I thought he was going to be an excellent low risk replacement for Rod Hood.), so the Eagles were forced to drop seven or eight guys into coverage, and couldn't get to the quarterback with just a three-or four-man rush.
So will the Eagles keep Lito in the nest? Probably not! But, they certainly should unless they can steal a Pro Bowl player from another team. If he's just traded away for a draft pick, the defense is essentially the same as last year and the Eagles would be banking on better health to solve their stunning lack of big plays on defense.
Now that most of the big name free agents have been scooped up, the Eagles need to look a little deeper to improve the defense.
The first course of action should be adding a veteran linebacker for depth. Takeo Spikes was released because he was just too expensive to be a role player, but that doesn't mean the Eagles don't need someone who can fill in if one of the Eagles young linebackers goes down with an injury or starts to struggle.
I really like Stewart Bradley taking over as starting middle linebacker, along with Omar Gaither playing weakside linebacker, but I still don't trust Chris Gocong as anything more than a potential edge rusher. A possible pickup would be someone like Victor Hobson, who was solid with the Jets last year, but still hasn't signed with a team. He's 6-0, 252 pounds, can cover tight ends, and could fill in for Gocong if Chris fails to take the next step in his progression.
I'd also like to see the Birds grab another safety in the coming weeks. Even though he's my football hero, Dawkins isn't getting any younger, and Sean Considine seems to be injury prone, so finding a backup plan to play alongside Quintin Mikell would be a good idea.
The Eagles should go after Mike Doss, who played sparingly with the Vikings last year, but was a solid starter with the Colts in previous seasons. He's still young (turns 27 this month), has started for playoff teams, and is looking for a chance to prove he still has what it takes. He might be worth an incentive-laden one-year contract.
As it is right now, the defense should be solid again, but not spectacular. With a few additions, the defense will be set.
I would write about the offense, but the Eagles still haven't gotten around to adding those playmakers on offense that Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook were asking for this offseason.