The Latest on Lito

by JasonB on Mar 5, 2008 9:09 AM EST in News Comment 23 comments

Lito to shuffle out of town?

I said when Asante Samuel was signed that it was pretty obvious that Lito Sheppard was on his way out. From Andy's proclamation that Asante was a starter "and then we'll work things out from there as we go." to the fact that Lito was bumped down the depth chart... it certainly doesn't look good for those fans that own Sheppard #26 jerseys.

To further fan the flames, Joe Banner was a guest on Comcast sportsnet last night and was asked, Will Sheppard be dealt?

"We suspected that we would get calls from people saying this is a hard-to-find position, and they've got three starters, and that's exactly what has happened. We've gotten a lot of calls, and we've gotten some very significant offers, and in the end we'll have to decide if it will make more sense to make the move or whether it will make more sense to try and keep the three of them for at least the short term. At some point it becomes difficult to keep three guys like that happy."

For the Eagles, who usually play things very close to the vest, that's pretty revealing. Usually the Eagles party line would just be that they're happy with their players and that's it.

Derrick Gunn, from comcast, is reporting that the Eagles have gotten as many as 10 offers or Lito and are seriously considering 3.

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Wow

I don't want to see lito go, but I guess your right we could have seen this coming.

anyone know what those offers were

by NickPampani on Mar 5, 2008 9:27 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I love Lito...

I know that they post on the big screen at the Linc that Lito's super hero name is Lito-oh-oh-oh...but I will forever think of Lito as the Cowboy Killer. If we've got 3 starting CB's and 2 of them have a knack for staying healthy while one doesn't then I think you have to seriously consider letting him go, especially now when he's most likely to get a good offer, rather than later. BUT, does Reid really have that much confidence in the SS position that he wouldn't want to move Sheldon to SS and keep Lito and Asante in CB positions? We just got burned several times last season by bad reads at that position and it would be nice to move someone to that position that has a great head on his shoulders. I don't believe Lito's a bad player...he's a great player and has amazing awareness, I definitely would like to keep him on the team. But this 3 is definitely a crowd with all of them want to be #1.

by thwalls on Mar 5, 2008 9:39 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

well

maybe one of the significant trades is a package for lito, and another safety is in that package? or we are getting draft picks and we want to draft a young safety to learn from dawkins for the next couple years since dawkins isn't getting kinda old

by eagleyosh on Mar 5, 2008 10:21 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

you mean

you mean HOPEFULLY the next few years... B-Dawk is unsigned after this year... I hope to God we bring him back but that'll probably depend on how productive he is this year. sighs

by foos05 on Mar 5, 2008 10:39 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

dawkins will stay

dawkins is more then just an eagle. he is the eagles farve in terms of what be means to the team and the city. could you imagine what the fans would do if the eagles let him go. and what if he was picked up by a team in our confrence. the eagles would never be the same

by NickPampani on Mar 5, 2008 11:48 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

idk

the jags got rid of darius last year, and he's the jags' version of dawkins. if he's getting old, and not worth the money, the eagles will get rid of him. same thing happened with vincent, trotter, etc.

by abeaugh on Mar 5, 2008 12:31 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Hmm..

I think how this goes over depends entirely on what Banner considers "significant."

Unfortunately, the ego situation is real and something that could be difficult to deal with (especially in Philly) if Lito is staying.

http://www.sporsdork.com

by BFH on Mar 5, 2008 9:46 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

The Writing's on the Wall

Notice how the article mentions that Banner denied trade rumors involving Lito and a 2nd round draft pick for Fitzgerald. However, I do think that if they trade Lito it would either be for draft picks or a wide receiver. Do you think they'd accept any other positions?

by ajay on Mar 5, 2008 11:28 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Dawkins

In response to the above post about bringing dawkins back... I know this isnt the way the eagles do things, but Dawkins is the one guy that I can't imagine them cutting. Personally, I think Dawk will retire after next year... and wow, i'm not ready for that!

I think Dawkins will retire in philly and i dont see it being because he signed a one day deal to do so. I really dont think he'll go elsewhere like trot did

Its a new season!

by 700 Level on Mar 5, 2008 11:39 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

the real issue on that would be...

if Dawk is ready to go. I'm sure Trott wanted to retire as an Eagle, if possible, but I think he felt he had more juice in the tank. He really didn't, but if Dawk has a semi-good year and thinks he can get healthy and do one more, whether Joe Banner and Andy Reid agree or not is going to be the key factor there.

by king myno on Mar 5, 2008 12:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

True

And part of the Trot situation was that he had young guys in camp that were outplaying them. As of right now, there's nothing like that at safety.

Hopefully safety will be looked at in the draft.

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by JasonB on Mar 5, 2008 12:30 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

my worry

I'm not so worried about us letting him go. It he has a good year, or even an average year... they'll bring him back, even if it's just for a one year contract. My worry is if he has another injury plagued year that he might just hang 'em up. If he still had a year or two left on his contract, I wouldn't have this worry. He'd probably just rehab and come back the year after. But, if he gets hurt and is only able to play a few games, he might just take the opportunity of his contract ending to walk away.

by foos05 on Mar 5, 2008 12:43 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

yeah and

an other thing that set dawkins apart from trottwr and vincent is that he started as and eagle and stayed an eagle his entire career thus far. trotter at one point fought the franchise tag and left to go to washington and vincent was a free agent

plus I think dawkins wouldn't accept going anywhere else he's and eagle and nothing else

by NickPampani on Mar 5, 2008 12:40 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Dawkins

I just had an interesting thought. You know eventaully he'll be hanging them up at some point. Now I have no ideas what B-Dawk's aspirations are after his playing days are over but... if he'd be interested in staying close to the organization, but if he was, we could bring him on as the secondary coach for a year or two until Jimmy retires and then B-Dawk's our new defensive coordinator.... Works for me.

by foos05 on Mar 5, 2008 12:49 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

i don't believe it

how nobody could see the benefit of playing them both, with lito moving to the other side is beyond me.

by kingofnorth on Mar 5, 2008 12:53 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

umm

lots of people see the benefit... we've been talking about it on here for a few days now...

by foos05 on Mar 5, 2008 12:58 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

lito contract

they should offer Lito a new contract that is heavily incentive laden -- if he stays healthy and makes plays he gets paid. if not, he doesn't. it's win-win because lito's alternative is just to stick with the contract he signed a few years ago. if he is productive, he is worth paying more money. but only if he is productive.

a productive lito + asante = killer backfield.

by statler on Mar 5, 2008 1:01 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

i agree

that is what I wanted all along is to have one play ss. and as for dawking staying around after he retires, I havw always had that dream I wish it would actualy happen

by NickPampani on Mar 5, 2008 1:22 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Safety

Sheldon Brown makes more sense at the Free Safety position, which would let Dawkins move to the more natural for his age Strong Safety position. Sheldon is too small to be an effective Strong Safety.

by Andrew on Mar 5, 2008 3:16 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

fine by me

man i'm good with anything that keeps dawkins/brown/sheppard/samuel all starting in the same secondary

by foos05 on Mar 5, 2008 3:22 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Indeed

And expect Dawkins to be playing quite a bit of that weird hybrid linebacker/safety role in passing situations.

http://www.sporsdork.com

by BFH on Mar 5, 2008 3:24 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

actually

come to think of it, i'd rather that move right now. i'd rather see dawkins playing over-top of samuel. he will know that samuel is known for taking risks, sometimes bad angles, and will be there to clean up the mess in those situations.

by foos05 on Mar 5, 2008 3:24 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

that's all well and good

but i think we should prepare ourselves for the loss of lito and a few more picks this year, or if we're lucky, a legit wideout. but if you told me we'd upgrade from lito to asante AND get a few more young-ins, that's a win in my book

by king myno on Mar 5, 2008 3:56 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs