Westbrook To Holdout?

Storylines already promising to punctuate the Eagles' offseason are Donovan McNabb's fate in Philadelphia, Andy Reid's ongoing crisis at home and the impending free agency of tight end L.J. Smith.

Brian Westbrook's contract situation could be another side story -- or perhaps even more attention-catching than the other three.

In his weekly press conference, Westbrook hinted Wednesday that his contract might need some reworking, lest the Eagles want another ugly holdout situation come training camp.

Westbrook danced around the question of whether or not the five-year, $25-million pact he signed in 2005 that included a signing bonus of $6 million remains fair market value.

"The contract I signed back then, it made sense for me at that point," Westbrook said. "Right now, I try not to get into contract numbers and contract talk right now. We're focusing on trying to win football games. For this team, we don't want anything to distract us from doing that."

The Eagles play winless Miami on Sunday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field.

Westbrook held out of training camp in 2005 before the Eagles negotiated an extension.

Helping Westbrook is his age (28) and ascent into the prime of his career. The Eagles haven't batted an eyelash at showing the door to players over 30 seeking contract extensions.

But they have extended contracts of peak performers early in their careers. Four years remained on McNabb's contract when the Eagles awarded him a 12-year extension in 2002. Last year, the Eagles locked up Trent Cole, Mike Patterson, Reggie Brown and three offensive linemen with long-term contracts. Of the six, four were in their second year with the team.

Since signing a contract in 2005, Westbrook has emerged as one of the league's top all-around backs, and his durability is less of a question mark. He went over the 1,000-yard rushing mark last season for the first time, totaling 1,917 offensive yards and 11 touchdowns, both career highs, while playing 15 games and both postseason games.

Westbrook is on pace to eclipse those marks this season. His 1,219 yards from scrimmage are second-best in the NFL, along with his 6.1 yards-per-touch average. His three touchdowns against the Redskins on Sunday gave him nine for the season.

But the short life span of NFL running backs almost guarantees that Westbrook's only shot to land a windfall similar to LaDainian Tomlinson's eight-year, $60 million contract with San Diego or Larry Johnson's six-year, $45-million deal with Kansas City has already passed.

"I think any player -- offense, defense, any position -- looks at the contract and tries to maximize the money they get, because you never know what's going to happen in the future," Westbrook said. "You never know what's going to transpire. There's nothing guaranteed in the NFL except for your signing bonus, so you try to maximize that as much you can."

>>TheNewsJournal


Looks like another bargain contract for the Eagles is going to blow up in their face. Please don't pull a T.O. Westbrook. Everybody knows you are better than that.

L.J. Smith Likely Gone Next Season

Looks like L.J. Smith is still unhappy about not having a new contract. He has not held out, but he has voiced his displeasure several times with his contract situation. Today he gave his latest thoughts about it:

If you think tight end L.J. Smith will re-sign with the Eagles after the season, you might want to think again.

“Am I optimistic about being here again? No. I’m not optimistic about it,” said Smith, who is eligible to be a free agent after the season. “Right now I’m looking at possibly being on another team.”

Asked if there have been discussions regarding a new deal, Smith said there has been “nothing significant.”

After spending much of the season recovering from a sports hernia/groin injury, Smith scored his first touchdown of the season Sunday. His goals for the rest of the season?

“I think No. 1 finish up healthy. And secondly perform well when I’m out there,” he said.

“It’s really important for me personally, I’m going to help the team obviously – but for me personally it’s very important for me to finish up strong.”

>>ComcastSportsNet

Well sounds like the front office has made up their mind, and L.J. knows it. Guess everybody can expect another big name player to leave next season. The Eagles offense really seemed to take off against Washington, when L.J. started to get involved. I thought it opened up everybody else, and kept Washington off balance. Will Matt Schobel, and Brent Celek bring the same thing? I doubt it.

Pretty selfish of Smith to be saying this publicly though. He could at least pretend to be concerned about the team, and not so wrapped up in his contract matters. I wonder if he will even get the money he thinks he is worth. It is always a risk to test free agency. It worked out great for Michael Lewis, and Jeff Garcia. Not so well for Rod Hood, and Donte Stallworth.

Just expect L.J. to be gone either way.

Birds Will Stay $12.5 Million Under Cap

The deadline for NFL teams to sign players and have a portion of their salary count against this year's cap is today at 4 p.m. Unlike previous years, however, the Eagles will not be taking advantage of that rule for a number of reasons.

One is that 19 of their 21 starters are signed beyond this season. The only two potential free agents after this season are tight end L.J. Smith and fullback Thomas Tapeh, and it is possible that neither player will be in an Eagles uniform a year from now.

Negotiations with Smith had not progressed for some time and had no chance of being renewed once the tight end required two groin surgeries and missed three of the team's first seven games. As for Tapeh, negotiations never began with the fullback.

Typically, the Eagles have targeted young players they feel are on the rise to tie up to long-term deals before this deadline. A year ago at this time, they signed defensive end Trent Cole and defensive tackle Mike Patterson to extensions through 2013 and 2015, respectively.

The Eagles might have considered doing that this year with second-year middle linebacker Omar Gaither, but team president Joe Banner said the new collective bargaining agreement does not allow teams to extend the contracts of second-year players.

The Eagles have three second-year starters, all on defense, but one of them is 2006 first-round pick Brodrick Bunkley, who is already signed through 2011. Gaither and starting strong-side linebacker Chris Gocong are signed through 2009.

Strong safety Sean Considine, who is in his first full season as a starter, is signed only through next season, but there are a few reasons the Eagles are not in a hurry to extend his deal. Quintin Mikell could replace Considine as the starting strong safety in the future. Eagles coach Andy Reid said Considine played sparingly in the second half last night because he suffered a shoulder injury.

Mikell, who signed a four-year contract in the off-season, impressed the Eagles' decision-makers during his five starts in place of injured free safety Brian Dawkins and has a chance to become a starter at some point in the future.

>>thePhiladelphiaInquirer

That deadline has past, and the Eagles signed nobody. According to BJ's Eagles Salary Cap page(very accurate) the Eagles are $12,499,220 under the cap. I guess after that Dallas debacle nobody deserves to get paid.

I know Banner must hate the new CBA rule that prevents you from extending a players contract in their second season. I am sure they had a low ball offer all ready for Omar Gaither. He probably would have taken it, considering the uncertainty in the NFL, and the fact that he was a late round draft pick.

Did the NFL do this, to stop teams like the Eagles from signing players before they reach their true market value? It sure does put a big wrench into how the Birds like to do business.

The Eagles wont win a Super Bowl this season, but they will win the salary cap award yet again. I believe this is fives years in a row now, time to start calling the Eagles a dynasty!

I guess that is the goal of the gold standard.