Take aback Trotter

In a move shocking to people who are still shocked by the things the Eagles' front office does, and Jeremiah Trotter, middle linebacker Jeremiah Trotter was released today. Wow, how many times can they screw this guy over?

I feel conflicted about the decision. First off, I must admit that I drink the midnight green Kool-Aid; unlike any other Philly team, I generally am willing to trust the Eagles' personnel decisions. They may lack a Super Bowl win, but they've also won at least one playoff game every year this decade except 2005. That's impressive.

Okay, on to my mind-blowing analysis. Trotter was not very good last season. For one, he can't play pass defense at all. Secondly, and more importantly, the Eagles had severe problems stopping runs up the middle, which was also the fault of their mediocre defensive tackles. But Trotter's increasing immobility has to shoulder some of the blame for giving up so many 5 and 6 yard runs up the gut. And in pursuit, forget it; he's as worthless as the penis on a priest. The only reason it statistically looks like they had a half-decent run D last year is that running outside on them was very hard, even with the deficient Dhani Jones out there giving himself very few chances to strum his air guitar.

But, like I said, it wasn't all his fault last year. It's very difficult to play MLB when your d-tackles are consistently being blocked back into your operating area. There is a symbiotic relationship between the 2 positions unlike any other on the defense. Actually, I would almost call it parasitic- the middle LB feeds off of the success of the DT's in tying up blockers. So while Trotter is no longer the best man for the job, does anyone really think Takeo Spikes or whoever they move to the middle is going to be a superb replacement if Mike Patterson, Broderick Bunkley and company don't get their shit together against the run? Because no one should.

Why not simply keep and demote Trotter? I'm sure he would have hated that, but with an injury to Spikes always looming they now have no experienced backups. Even though the Eagles are notoriously frugal, keeping Trotter and his not-exorbitant 2 million dollar salary around as insurance was probably a better move.