Andrews Willing to Restructure Contract

Amid heavy speculation that one or both of the Andrews brothers on the Eagles’ roster will be released or traded, Stacy (the older of the siblings) said today that he is willing to restructure the contract he signed as a free agent last offseason. Added with the intentions that he would solidify the Philadelphia offensive line and become a solid starter on the right side of the front, Andrews failed to impress the staff and fans throughout the year as he struggled with injuries and ultimately saw his amount of playing time drop so that other players–like Nick Cole and Max Jean-Gilles–could have opportunities. Perhaps realizing that his 6-year, $38.7 million dollar deal is costing the team too much for the limited amount of snaps he receives, Andrews showed some class when he confirmed his willingness to renegotiate a new payment system and likely lower his salary.

After 5 productive seasons with the Bengals, Andrews (pictured) joined his brother Shawn and the Eagles in early March of 2008. Initially thought to be a replacement for Jon Runyan at the Right Tackle spot, the 342-pound Arkansas native wound up moving to the Guard position when his brother began to take repetitions at Tackle. “The team said it would be best for Shawn to play tackle. At first I felt uncomfortable about it, but I was like, ’Hey. it’s my little brother and it will help his back out.’”

After the first pair of games in the ‘09 campaign, Andrews saw little time on the field, and was often seen sitting on the bench on game days. While the team said that the lack of appearances was a result of a slow rehab process for a knee injury Andrews had sustained, the lineman claimed it was mostly because he had not adjusted well to the playbook and overall had not performed very well in practice. “The knee didn’t hinder me,” he said. ”I felt real good on the knee. It took a while to get comfortable at guard and get a new system down.”

Nevertheless, Stacy wants to stay with the Eagles, hence his indicating that he will reduce his salary if necessary. “I would do a minor restructuring of my contract,” he said. He then inferred that the team has already expressed to him that they plan to change the totals in his contract when he remarked “they want to do an adjustment and we’re willing. Hopefully, we can come to an agreement.”

(picture source)