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The Fountain of Youth Runs Green

The Eagles released Westy, which wasn't unanticipated but it was still unwelcome. Our city is loyal to our players - when they deserve our repect, and Westy sure deserved it. But we are learning that sentimentality has no place in the Eagles front office. Sure we've seen the lessons before, but in the last two years, with the release of Westy, Runyan, Thomas and Brian Dawkins, we are seeing a new stress from the team on the acquisition of youth and speed. Much more so than ever before. And leadership has taken a back seat. Talk about trading McNabb doesn't seem so far-fetched after today's release.

So now, moving into the draft season, will we see more of the same? The birds are well situated with draft picks and cash, especially if they hold to their current pattern and release Kevin Curtis, Reggie Brown and at least one of the Andrews brothers, and while there will be no salary cap this year, you have to know that the team still has operating costs and will try to keep their salaries down anyway. Besides, none of these players, at the present time, are giving the team the value that their high salaries should represent. Remember that every million given to a player is a million that comes out of Jeff Lurie's wallet. And while we can say, it's an uncapped year, and the Eagles are rich, you try asking a billionaire for a million dollars for nothing. They don't get rich for being loose with their money.

With this being the case, a young, talented, but less experienced team, and the potential for either a lot of draft picks or a lot of horse trading for the younger free agents out there, but I would like to see AR and Lurie looking for some experience now, especially on D. And should the Eagles actually trade Donovan McNabb and make Kolb starting QB the team becomes even less experienced.

I think we've learned that the Eagles are always in a 'rebuilding year', whether they need it or not, and if the process is too accellorated, like it was last year, it can hurt the team more than help it. Sure, I want to see some good draft picks, but I'm hoping that they can find some quality experience on the free agent market this year because, for the most part, this team is plenty young enough.