The Eagles and former Colts defensive back Marlin Jackson have agreed to terms on a two year contract, according to the Eagles website. Jackson enters his 5th year in the league and is looking to recover from an ACL tear he suffered in 2008.

“I would be capable of doing what is needed to as a football player by mid-May, June,” he said. “By training camp, wherever I am, I’ll be ready to go full go.”

The Eagles like the versatility that Jackson provides in the defensive secondary and he is the favorite to win the starting free safety position in competition with second-year pro Macho Harris and third year pro Quintin Demps.

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You’d think that electing to pay Michael Vick’s $1.5 million dollar roster bonus would dispel any of the lingering allegations regarding the “cheapness” of this Eagles Front Office. Why unnecessarily shell out money to keep a third string quarterback when you could easily trade him for a fifth round pick? A little stubbornness and you might be able to squeeze a fourth out of a desperate team like the Rams or Bills. Is a third rounder too much to ask for a former first overall pick and Pro Bowl quarterback?

It makes me wonder: At what point in the year does Vick turn into a second round pick, as the Eagles have allegedly valuated their third string quarterback? The Rams have moved to acquire AJ Feeley, the Browns have cut Derek Anderson (who will likely visit Buffalo this week) and traded for Seneca Wallace. The Cardinals have endorsed Matt Leinart as their starter and the Panthers have felt secure enough with Matt Moore to sever ties with Jake Delhomme. At least two teams will look for the long-term answer at the quarterback position in the first round of April’s NFL Draft. So what are they waiting for? What kind of a team waits to make a decision on their quarterback?

Well, we’re not alone. The only difference between the Eagles and the Vikings is the fact that the Vikings have allowed Brett Favre to dictate the stay on their decision. Is it possible that the Vikings have proposed a contingency plan to the Eagles organization? It’s not unrealistic, if you can envision a phone conversation along the lines of, “Wait it out and if Favre retires, we’ll give you our second rounder (the 62nd overall) for Michael Vick.” It would take quite a leap of faith for the Eagles to invest their trust in a rival organization, but given the history between Andy Reid and Brad Childress, I believe that kind of trust might exist. The only question remains, what kind of recourse would they have if Favre does return?

Quintin Mikell was selected to the Pro Bowl for the first time in his career this past year. It kind of reminded me of when Scorsese won the Oscar for The Departed. It was a good effort but you just felt like the Academy was compensating for the fact that they had snubbed him for his greater accomplishments in the past. Mikell is a very talented player. At times, he struggled in coverage and I'm sure there were moments when his side of the defense was challenged by the image of Asante Samuel making vain attempts at tackling. This wasn't Mikell's year, but he should feel pretty secure at his position. The Eagles won't be replacing him anytime soon.

The defensive secondary has usually been the Eagles strong-suit. What seemed to really shock the Eagles this year was how integral an element Brian Dawkins had been in his tenure here. Apparently, it's easy to take a seven-time pro-bowler for granted. (A fact that may be of unsettling note to Donovan McNabb.) I guess they thought the talented trio of Sheldon Brown, Asante Samuel and Quintin Mikell should be able to cover for the disabilities of anyone the Eagles plug into the fourth defensive back slot. It took them the better part of the season to learn that Quintin Demps, Macho Harris and Sean Jones were more inept than they could have imagined.

Actually, that might not be fair to Harris, who is said to be adding weight for next season. There is the possibility that, regardless of whether the Eagles address the Free Safety position, Harris will return as the starter for the second year in a row. It's fair to give him an opportunity to improve on his rookie year. After all, the Eagles had enough faith to hand him the starting role at the beginning of 2009 before supplanting him with Sean Jones. Jones recorded 61 tackles and two interceptions, but is not expected to return to Philadelphia for 2010 and could land a sizable contract as one of the few unrestricted free agents in this year's weak crop. The future of the position remains a question mark.

Let's review some of the ways the Eagles could fill the hole at Free Safety.

FREE AGENCY

With Jones as one of the best prospects at the safety position, it's pretty safe to say that the Eagles won't be addressing the position through free agency. Oakland's Hiram Eugene is probably the only other starting safety who could be switching teams in the coming weeks. Hiram played center-field a lot in Oakland, but the Raiders also brought him off the field on passing downs, which likely means they didn't trust him to run with receivers when they sent in the blitz.

THE DRAFT

Tennessee's Eric Berry is one of the better Safety prospects to come out in recent years. Most mocks have him projected to go in the top five, but some have him slipping to Cleveland at #7 overall. The only way that I can envision the Eagles having a shot at Berry is if they manage to trade McNabb to Cleveland, and that's a tall order, in my opinion. Of course with former Eagles GM Tom Heckert and West Coast Offense enthusiast Mike Holmgren holding so much sway in their front office, a big trade with Cleveland isn't entirely outside of the realm of possibility.

USC's Taylor Mays and Longhorn Earl Thomas round out what many believe is the only first round talent at the safety position. Mays had an outstanding junior year and would have been the top safety prospect had he not returned for his senior year at USC. He struggled at times but a lot of analysts believe his failure to meet expectations hurt him more than his performance on the field did. At 6'3", 230 lbs with 4.45 speed, his measurables are outstanding and some teams will be seduced by them. They might not be wrong. If they can work Mays into a pro discipline, he could be a steal in the second half of the first round and if he drops as far as #24, I do expect the Eagles to pull the trigger on him.

The Longhorns have consistently produced talented professional defensive backs over the years, so Earl Thomas comes from an intriguing pedigree. A surefooted player who can cover ground quickly, Thomas looks to excel as a center-field prospect who can diagnose a play quickly and will always end up around the ball. He looks lighter than the 197 lbs he's listed at, and that concerns me as a target for the undersized Eagles. But he has been a sound tackler and that should appeal to them above everything else.

TRADE OPTIONS

With the Eagles ready to move Michael Vick and possibly Donovan McNabb, I'm curious about their ability to talk their way into acquiring a veteran safety in the deal. It just so happens that the Rams, Raiders and Jaguars may be open to the idea of trading their defensive backs for a quarterback and some names that have been mentioned are St. Louis's O.J. Atogwe, Jacksonville's Reggie Nelson and Oakland's Michael Huff. Another former Longhorn, Huff in particular is of interest to me. The top rated safety prospect in 2006, Huff was taken 7th overall in the draft. After two reasonably successful seasons, he was relegated to back-up in 2008. With so much coaching chaos in Oakland, it's not hard to imagine that Lane Kiffen and Tom Cable never really found the way to maximize his potential. Huff came on the field on passing downs to relieve Hiram Eugene in blitz packages, so they obviously had faith in his man coverage. He pulled down three interceptions in limited action last year and could just need to find the right team for his talents.

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The Philadelphia Eagles have a very talented offense in place and even with the status of veteran fixtures Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook in question, youth has been served on the offensive side of the ball in the past few years. Desean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, Brent Celek, Todd Herremans, Jason Peters, LeSean McCoy, Shawn Andrews, Stacy Andrews and Leonard Weaver add up to a spry 25.2 year old average for this unit and Cornelius Ingram, Kevin Kolb and a number of draft picks would drop that average even further.

Set to turn 30 in May, Jamaal Jackson is hardly a wily old veteran. In fact, he would only be entering his fifth year as a starter. If he was healthy, of course. Unfortunately, there is a very slim chance that Jackson will be coming back to the line in 2010. On December 27th, 2009 Jamaal Jackson tore a knee ligament facing the Denver Broncos in the Eagles final victory of their season. A knee injury that late in the season often signals a year long hiatus from the game. Just ask Stacy Andrews.

Is it a coincidence that the Eagles failed to win a game after losing Jackson? I don't think so. Although Nick Cole provided adequate exchange and blocking for McNabb in both Dallas games (for the most part), it was evident that the quarterback simply did not have the same confidence in the middle of his line. All credit to Dallas, who outplayed the Eagles in almost every facet of those games, but these were not the 11-4 Eagles we'd watched for most of 2009. It's not even about Jackson so much as Donovan McNabb's faith in the middle of his line. McNabb was never able to settle into the pocket and seemed to be dropping his eyes at those times when he should have been finding open receivers down field.

Maybe the Eagles give Jackson the time to recover and bide their time with Nick Cole, who has performed admirably in his duties at left guard and has the ability to play center, despite his limited height (6'0"). It might only be an issue of allowing our starting quarterback (whoever that may be) to invest some trust in Cole. Or they could find a more permanent solution. I feel like there were times that Jackson underperformed after his contract extension in 2006 and the Eagles were intent on replacing him. With his front-loaded, incentive-based $20 million contract, it wouldn't be difficult to cut Jackson loose. Adding more fuel to the fire, there were rumors circling in last year's off-season that the Eagles would be bringing in former Ravens' Center Jason Brown, but he signed with the St. Louis Rams early in free agency.

One of the names being floated in conversations regarding Jackson's replacement has been veteran center Kevin Mawae. Mawae has been a fixture on several of the best run-blocking offenses in the past decade. He helped Curtis Martin of the New York Jets become one of the most prolific runningbacks of all time and has also done his part in getting Chris Johnson's young career off to an unbelievable start. On top of that, at 39 he could give the Eagles one more year of quality play before packing up what could potentially be a Hall of Fame career. That would be just enough time to let Jamaal Jackson heal up and return for 2011. One of their less exciting alternatives would be allowing current undrafted prospects A.Q.Shipley and Dallas Reynolds to battle it out in training camp. Of course, there is always the draft, where Florida Center Maurkice Pouncey is probably the only standout at what can sometimes be an undervalued position. The Eagles would like to take a Center in the fifth or sixth round, and they might value intelligence and recognition more than size and reach. Knowing how Andy Reid feels about the offensive line, I think it's fair to expect competition at the Center position, if not a big name signing or early draft pick. Otherwise, the Center position could remain one of those all too familiar unanswered questions that ends up tearing the Eagles 2010 season apart, week after week.

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On March 5th, expect the phone to be busy at the Eagles front office. They won’t be pursuing a lot of players in what is not a particularly strong free agent class (due in large part to predetermined restrictions of a lapsed Collective Bargaining Agreement), but the Eagles have been uncharacteristically aggressive (to some) since last year’s offseason. In 2009, they added Stacey Andrews, Leonard Weaver, Eldra Buckley, Sean Jones, Alex Smith, Jason Babin and traded for Will Witherspoon, Jason Peters and Ellis Hobbs. And those are just the players that made the team.

The truth is that the Eagles have the tendency to set their sights on big names very early on in free agent eligibility. Asante Samuel, Jevon Kearse and Stacey Andrews were all secured in the first few days of free agency with little or no hesitation. The Eagles have been plugging the left Defensive End position with short term solutions for years now. Don’t get me wrong. Juqua Parker is a nice player and he’s coming off a career high 8 sacks this year, but in his tenure, the Eagles have signed Darren Howard, Chris Clemons, Jason Babin and drafted Victor Abiamiri and Bryan Smith in an effort to replace him. To his credit, he has been able to fend all of them off with solid, if unspectacular play.

The whole time, they’ve been waiting for a player like Peppers to hit the free agent market and they will act aggressively to tie him up. Peppers has good size, power, quickness and long arms to get to the quarterback and he is a very capable run defender who has a knack for jarring the ball loose (10 forced fumbles in the past two years). He started his professional career on the left side of the line, but was moved back to the right side after a disappointing 2.5 sacks in the Panthers 2007 campaign.

There are concerns with Peppers. Of course, it will be a big ticket free agent signing for a player over 30, which always seems to challenge this Front Office’s commitment. He takes plays off at times and after receiving a huge payday, it’s hard not to be concerned about his devotion to the game. Others have questioned his appreciation to football and the Eagles should be wary of some version of Jevon Kearse 2.0. Undoubtedly, other teams will have to game-plan for Peppers, and he could be a big part in closing the gap between the Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East division. Overall, this could launch the Eagles defense into the most formidable in the division, but the Defensive End position is not the priority that Free Safety is. As long as they can cover both in one off-season, the Eagles will have handled their two highest priorities.

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In a lot of ways, it’s nice to have this kind of speculation swirling around Philadelphia like so much snow. The problem is it’s not always pretty when it hits solid ground. (How’s that for a metaphor? No good? Gimme a break, I was up late last night sledding and falling down in the snow.)

We’ve heard Andy Reid issue statements regarding Donovan McNabb’s status as a starter in 2010. We’ve heard reports regarding the trade possibilities (or lack thereof) for Michael Vick. It would seem that the only quarterback with job security on this Eagles roster might be Kevin Kolb.

Or maybe not.

The National Football Post’s Michael Lombardi is offering the opinion that a trade of Kevin Kolb for the Cleveland Browns’ pro-bowl nose tackle Shaun Rogers would provide a win-win solution for both teams. On the surface, I don’t disagree with him. The Eagles did have some weaknesses on the interior of their defensive line this year. Although they ranked 9th in run defense, the line had trouble collapsing the pocket at times and with Trent Cole posting pro-bowl numbers and Juqua Parker’s career high 8 sacks, this team should be asking more from its’ starting defensive tackles. But Rogers is 30 years old and the Eagles could pin their lack of interior pressure on the injury to middle linebacker Stewart Bradley. 2008 second round draft pick Trevor Laws has been a disappointment, but Antonio Dixon has been a productive addition to their DT rotation and Darren Howard and Victor Abiamiri have been able to round out the pass-rushing from the inside on nickel packages.

Perhaps the Eagles feel that Kolb is still too much of an unknown to bank on as their starter, but I don’t believe that. I think they are crushing hard on Kolb and if Denver is really intrigued by the possibility of adding McNabb, the Eagles might have found their best option for a trade destination. They just need to iron out the compensation. Despite Reid’s endorsement, I’m wavering on the idea that McNabb will be on the Eagles roster in 2010. Offers have been made, and the Eagles are considering their options.

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The New Orleans Saints are Super Bowl Champions.

The Saints were the underdogs from early on and the line just kept growing and growing. I always felt like they were the better team, but my knowledge and insight into the game of football is so powerful and prescient that I would almost liken it to a kind of sixth or seventh sense. It’s easy for me to see how those without my kind of powers would think that the Colts were the better team but I’ve grown impatient with their lack of vision and don’t even really pity them anymore.

There are three unbelievable highlights from this game and they are in reverse order:

3. The third quarter screen play to Pierre Thomas was nearly identical in every way to the touchdown he ran in for the Vikings just two weeks earlier. The Saints work together so well in executing the screen-pass. The right side of their offensive line really excels at selling their fakes and getting outside to set up blocks for the receiver. Drew Brees invites the blitz and times his throw perfectly. Pierre Thomas has really been a force for these Saints and he finds the ugliest ways to get extra yards. Hey, you can’t argue with those kind of results. You might hit him, jolt him and wrap him up but until you bring him to the ground he’s going to keep his legs moving. The toughness is unbelievable.

2. Tracy Porter jumps a Reggie Wayne route for a pick six. There’s a really incredible moment in every interception where offensive players go from the hunters to the hunted and they have a terrifying and paralyzing moment of recognition before a defensive player forcibly puts them on the ground. This has to be a great feeling for defensive backs who, by and large, are the most victimized class of football players because of the way NFL rule changes have shaped the game in the past twenty years. (It’s also one of the reasons I think the “defenseless receiver” penalty is so gutless. No one cried for Keith Rivers when Hines Ward broke his jaw.) There’s also something cinematic about the okey-doke signal, directing blocking traffic on the run back. Final nail in the Colts coffin.

1. It’s hard to ignore Lance Moore’s acrobat display of possession on the 2-point conversion. But Sean Payton’s onside kick call was probably the gutsiest coaching decision I’ve ever seen and it simply must be acknowledged as the turning point in this game. From the half onward the Saint simply dominated the Colts by keeping Manning off the field and they seemed to be burning on the emotional fuel that the onside kick, scrum and decision gave them. Thinking about what’s at stake there: the possibility of giving this high-powered Indianapolis offense the ball in Saints territory, down by four points. Payton ran the risk of demoralizing his special teams and defensive units. There was a genuine exhibition of courage and trust and because the Saints have always bought into Sean Payton’s leadership, it paid off.

Congratulations, New Orleans. One of the best games I’ve ever witnessed. This team showed heart.

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I’m going to be honest. I don’t think the Eagles are going to trade McNabb this offseason. I’ll save you my opinions on whether they should or shouldn’t for now. The idea of shipping the 11 year pro off to some other team hasn’t gone away in five years. Why would it stop now? We’ll likely be discussing the plausibility about it into the late hours of the 2010 draft.

Things are always worse than they sound in Philadelphia. The fanbase is passionate, impatient and a little more than half-crazy and if you’re not familiar with the local sports media figures, I can tell you they would list cage-rattling considerably higher than journalistic integrity in their job descriptions. Three losses to Dallas and all sports radio needs to do to get the loyal locals climbing the walls is run off a list of where the Eagles could trade their six time Pro Bowl quarterback.

But wild-eyed speculation has it’s place in all sports writing. So let’s consider one of the lesser consider landing spots for McNabb: the Denver Broncos. Josh McDaniels and Brian Xanders were extremely aggressive in last year’s offseason and their efforts paid off to some extent. They handled the Jay Cutler situation admirably and Brandon Marshall didn’t exactly make things easy for them either. Kyle Orton turned out to be an exceptional game-managing quarterback, and while they lost eight of their last 10 games, Orton can hardly be blamed for their failures.

Still, the Broncos are in a weak division and Orton has limitations. For many teams, he would simply be an above average stopgap. With the 10th pick in the first round, it’s unlikely that the Broncos will be able to secure Sam Bradford or Jimmy Clausen, but they do have two second rounders and Brandon Marshall as ammunition to move up. (Marshall recently issued a few statements regarding his deference to Denver’s decision making, but I think a big part of that is his agent trying to smooth over his attitude for trade appeal.) Marshall isn’t an attractive option for the Eagles, but Orton might be. If the Eagles ship McNabb and Vick (one of those is a certainty, two isn’t impossible), their only real option as a backup will be someone in the vein of second-year Temple grad Adam DiMichele.

If the Eagles decide to turn the page on McNabb, they can’t very well ship him to Arizona or Minnesota, two teams that are simply a Pro Bowl quarterback away from being NFC Championship contenders. It’s hard to gauge whether McNabb would be receptive to the idea of leaving for perennial losers like Oakland or Cleveland. Denver seems to have an eye for Eagles players, with Buckhalter and Dawkins and they certainly have a history of winning. Trading McNabb to the AFC would certainly make the deal sweeter for the Philadelphia.

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I picked up the recent issue of Time Magazine to flip through their article on everything that’s wrong with football and was pleasantly surprised to learn that the only thing standing between the sport and perfection was the thin layer of cerebrospinal fluid that floats between the brain and the skull.

Well, not quite.

The dangerous game of football has been under review for some time now. The earliest conclusive studies linking repeated head trauma to dementia, depression and an early death date back to well before 2002 and the logic should have preceded them. In 2006, Andre Waters committed suicide in his home in Tampa, Florida. Shortly thereafter, the NFL initiated a study on the correlations between concussions and depression. One year later, The United States Congress launched their first inquest into the disability program of NFL pensioners and decided that the league would have to improve their coverage.

The NFL has been slow to action on the subject of concussions and I wouldn’t doubt the topic has graced almost all of the CBA arbitrations between management and the Players Union. This will be a point of order in any new pension program and the pension program is at the top of the page at any of these discussions. What happens to the sport though? The banner of player protection seems to be carried higher by sports writers than fans. The Let-Them-Play mentality undoubtedly permeates the purist approach and it’s not unusual to see even the most compassionate fans speak protectively of their sport. I would expect that almost everyone’s livelihood comes with some kind of occupational hazard and a lot of people get paid less than a special teams gunner. Coal miners in Kentucky don’t have any misconceptions of what they’re walking into every morning.

Still, where is the silver bullet for this problem? Football is a violent sport and fans are going to protect their entertainment. There isn’t any one kind of helmet that can stop a concussion, although some do a better job than others. Studies show that even routine football hits can lead to a kind of aggregate trauma and everyone reacts differently to these types of physical stress. The issue is going to be hit hard in research and development, formal disclosures, attributed liability and post career treatment. I expect it to change the shape of the game as much as the shape of the helmets.

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With the departure of Brian Stewart to the University of Houston, the Eagles have continued to make interesting coaching decisions in this offseason by hiring Dick Jauron. I personally had expected them to promote from within their current coaching staff, but I like Jauron’s pedigree and I’m pleased with this appointment. A former defensive back, Jauron played safety in the league from 1973 to 1977 and earned himself a pro bowl nod as a punt returner.

As a coach, Jauron started in Buffalo and crossed paths with Andy Reid in his tenure with the Green Bay Packers. Later, he would work with Tom Coughlin in Jacksonville, and while those teams never posted outstanding numbers in their pass defenses, it will be nice to have a little more insight into the way Coughlin operates from someone who has worked closely with him. Jauron also earned himself the AP Coach of the Year title in 2001 as the head coach for the 13-3 Chicago Bears. In his tenure as a head coach in Buffalo, he has worked with some interesting young defensive backs: Leodis McKelvin, Jairus Byrd and Nate Clements.

Jauron will be an interesting addition to a defensive backfield that has struggled to find its identity since the departure of Brian Dawkins and the death of Defensive Coordinator Jim Johnson. Despite turning out Pro Bowl caliber years from Sheldon Brown and Asante Samuel*, there have been times when these defensive backs have simply looked lost in coverage and their idea of tackling leaves something to be desired. Johnson’s death was obviously the real tragedy, but it’s hard to pinpoint exactly which of those events made a more severe impact on what had long been this team’s strong suit.

*Yes and Quintin Mikell. Although I don’t feel like 2009 was his Pro Bowl year, he is without question a Pro Bowl talent, in my opinion.

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