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Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Eagles: Big Money and Big Dudes 

Ah, a couple of lightweights: Coach Reid and tackle Winston Justice,
a second-round pick who weighs a mere 319.

The Eagles made a strong bid to get Javon Walker, WIP's Howard Eskin reported yesterday afternoon. According to his unnamed source, the team, which brought the receiver in for a physical on Saturday, actually negotiated a tentative agreement, offering an average annual salary of $7.5 million a year. (Gee, if they'd offered T.O. that kind of money, maybe he would have behaved like a choir boy.) To consummate a trade, however, the Birds would have had to give up a first-round pick, Eskin said, because Green Bay preferred to move the wideout to out of the conference. Another reason is that Denver had a higher second-round pick to trade, No. 37, acquired from San Francisco in a trade. The Eagles were able to get up only to No. 39, where they drafted offensive tackle Winston Justice.

Worth the weight? Eskin also interviewed Andy Reid, who, while personable, made little news, except to say not to pencil in either Hank Fraley or Jamal Jackson as the starting center yet. Reid sounded very enthusiastic about the signing of undrafted free agent Nick Cole, a 6-foot, 350-pounder from New Mexico State. Cole went undrafted because teams prefer taller o-linemen, the coach said.

Apparently, the team's assembling quite of a collection of scale-damagers. Some facts:
1. The Eagles roster now has 20 guys who weight 300 pounds or more.
2. The heaviest is 356-pound fourth-round pick Max Jean-Gilles.
3. The Eagles could actually put together an offensive line of Jon Runyan (330), Shawn Andrews (340), Cole, Jean-Gilles and Tre Thomas (349), that would weigh a combined 1,725 pounds, more than the heaviest recorded grizzly bear.
4. Add in tight end L.J. Smith and you get 1,983 pounds.
5. Keep smith, swap in undrafted tackle Dejuan Skinner (359) for Runyan, and you're topping a ton, with 2,012 pounds.
6. The lightest Eagle is now 5-9 return man Jeremy Bloom, who at 173 weighs less than half as much as Jean-Gilles.
7. Bloom and cornerback Dexter Wynn (177) together weigh less than Jean-Gilles.


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