Eagle Fan Diary

(This article, initially published 6/20, was republished 6/22 with corrections). The title quote here, from American Theatre Critic John Lahr, hopefully applies to veteran Free Agent Jaquiski Tartt, whom the Eagles signed to their roster late on Friday 6/18.   Let's proceed quickly to "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" regarding this signing... The Good: Need- Tartt will be a welcome addition at Safety, which was probably the weakest projected position on the Eagles roster. Size/Physicality- Good, at 6'1", 215, "a physical player and big time hitter. "    Competition- The planned Eagles starters at Safety were Marcus Epps and Anthony Harris.   Tartt will challenge them for playing time, if not actually replacing one of them as a starter.   And the Eagles will have a bit more time to continue their evaluations of third year 4 th round safety K’von Wallace from Clemson, and other depth players like Andre Chachere, Jared Mayden and rookie UFA Reed Blank...

  There are 32 franchises in the NFL.   Each tries to do things better and smarter, i.e. maximize the value everywhere. Organized Team Activities are no exception.   Per Wikipedia, “OTAs are the only practices between the end of the previous season and the start of training camp... Many teams use the OTAs to help develop players and make them better.”   Eagles Organized Team Activities are scheduled for 5/31, June 2-3 and June 6-8.   These 6 sessions are well short of the NFL CBA limit (10).   And the Eagles are 1 of only 2 NFL teams (Bengals) that will not hold a mandatory mini-camp.   The Eagles have been scaling back the last several years... There was a significant downsizing in Nick Sirianni’s first season as coach. They practiced less frequently, for shorter time periods and less strenuous workouts. They increased the number of days off for over-30 veterans, limited (and in some cases last year, eliminated) the starters’ snaps in preseason game...

  6/01/22: The significance of June 1 st on the NFL Calendar In the NFL’s past, June 2 nd used to carry a lot of fiscal weight.   It was a dreaded date for veterans, because teams would look at this as the ideal date to release players with excessive contracts.   Why then?   Because their pro-rated bonuses for the remaining contract years would be delayed till the following season after 6/1.   And the big name free agents were then at a disadvantage because most other teams had already filled their needs (and budgets).   So released players, even those suffering declining performance, couldn’t get deals commensurate with their market value.   This was fixed in 2006 collective bargaining, where teams could release up to 2 players early, designating them as 6/1 releases so they could bargain with other teams earlier.   The releasing team still carries the cap burden till 6/1, when the players salary would come off the books.     An...