L33T Wide Receiver Needed?

Please excuse the nerd speak. There is much buzz in the media and among fans that the Eagles have, to put it mildly, totally fucked up and ruined the upcoming season by not getting a top-flight wide receiver this off-season. All the talk of Randy Moss meetings and Larry Fitzgerald trades has been quieted, with Moss re-signing with the Pats and Fitzgerald apparently content to play for a hapless team that will pay him about 43% of their salary cap number every season until 3 years after his legs fall off. Besides, the Cardinals management, though they are dumbasses, wasn't going to trade their top receiver for Lito Sheppard and draft picks.

Other than Moss, the free agent market for WR's was weak. Bernard Berrian may have looked good based on his 948 yards receiving last year with the Bears, but he's really a slightly above-average receiver who had a ton of passes thrown in his direction last year. The Eagles already have this player; his name is Reggie Brown. Donte Stallworth was talked about, but bringing him and his iffy hamstrings back was obviously not in the cards or in the budget. And if they really do want an injury case, Javon Walker is still available.

The person who is being hurt the most in all of this is Kevin Curtis, who is probably very depressed (or not) about this chatter that the Eagles sorely need WR help. Sure, maybe he'd have loved being the counterpart Wes Welker to Randy Moss in Philly, but that ignores the fact that Curtis had a really good year last year with Reggie Brown lining up on the other side of the field and Donovan McNabb's occasional struggling. He's not a big red-zone target, but he's a fine receiver.

With McNabb back near 100% this year and the cast of receivers they already have, the Eagles could and should be one of the top 10 passing teams in the NFL again. That is unless they lose 1,000 yards in sacks, which could happen. The prospect of their ancient tackles getting hurt and Winston Justice starting against the Giants is far scarier than the possibility they won't add another WR before the season begins.

They got a good corner. They got a pass rusher. It would have been nice if they got a super-duper wide receiver too, but other than Moss there was no one available with the kind of talent worth crippling your salary cap room for. Before everyone writes off the Eagles because they don't have Randy Moss, let's see what happens with the possible trading of Lito and the draft, and get ready for an improved Eagles team in 2008. Improved enough to compete in the hyper-competitive NFC East? We shall see.