All the right moves

Eagles have made themselves perennial contenders

PHILADELPHIA -- On Thursday morning Joe Banner, the Eagles' president and resident salary-cap brain, sat in his NovaCare complex office overlooking the wonderfully manicured practice fields, with the team's new stadium, two-thirds complete, off in the distance.

There's a lot in that first sentence to take in.

The Eagles have a cap wizard in Banner. That's the first thing. Not only are they a prime Super Bowl contender, but they also have more room under the salary cap ($9.9 million) to play with than any team in the league. And now they have an excellent football facility, a veritable free-agent magnet on the south side of Philly, with a locker room big enough to hold batting practice and fields nice enough to pass for U.S. Open fairways. The new stadium? It'll be ready in time for the 2003 season, and from the outside it looks pretty primo. It won't have far to go to beat the team's present home, of course. Plus, the field will be real grass, not the game-cancelling artificial turf of Veterans Stadium.

All in all, these are not your father's Eagles anymore.

"I remember this place in my second or third year in the league," said Eagles linebacker Carlos Emmons, who came to Philadelphia from Pittsburgh last season as a free agent. "Nobody wanted to come here. First of all, they weren't winning. And the facilities were horrible. But now when guys are talking about places they'd like to play, they include Philadelphia."

The Eagles missed out on their two big free-agent targets this offseason. They were outbid by Atlanta for Warrick Dunn, who got starting-back money even though his size limits him from being a 325-carry-a-year warhorse. And on Wednesday Green Bay snatched away linebacker Hardy Nickerson. Philadelphia looked at Nickerson as a $1.5 million insurance policy; the Packers view him quite probably as a starter. Given that Nickerson has been nicked recently, this isn't a big loss for the Eagles.

Dunn and Nickerson notwithstanding, the newness of the Eagles' physical plant has helped attract and keep good players -- almost as much as the team's winning ways. "Four years ago," Banner said, "when I'd call an agent and ask if we could talk about an extension for his client, I'd get a response like, 'Well, I'll talk to my client and we'll get back to you.' Now the response is more like, 'Oh, my client will be so happy to hear that. Thank you.'"

I'll never forget Philadelphia coach Andy Reid talking to me in his office in the bowels of Veterans Stadium a couple of years ago, telling me about the vermin (mice, mostly) that used to scurry across the field early in the mornings. He'd see them in the concourses, too. The coaches' bathroom doubled as the coaches' kitchen and refrigerator area. This is where the Eagles used to take players they were recruiting. Now team officials bring prospects into a gleaming new practice and office complex with huge photos of inspirational leaders -- Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa and Dr. Jonas Salk -- owner Jeff Lurie's idea -- in the lobby.

Do these amenities help win games? Help, yes. But that's it. The reason the Eagles are good is because they've drafted and managed the cap well. They set a price for Dunn and he chose some bonanza elsewhere -- so be it. It's the way the Patriots operated last year, and look where it got them. And because the team's draft choices over the past five years have produced, Philadelphia can afford to sit by idly while the better free agents go elsewhere.

I think of the Baltimore Ravens and I think of a team that won one Super Bowl and could be headed for five years of hard times. I think of the Eagles and I think of a team that will contend for the Super Bowl each of the next five years. Will they win one? Maybe not. But if I'm a fan, I'd rather root for a team that has a real chance every August, not one or two Augusts out of five.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Check out his Monday Morning Quarterback column every -- and you should see this coming -- Monday morning.

 

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