It took till July 25 until football was on for the 2011 season. Part of the new collective bargaining agreement meant the salary cap was reinstated, along with a salary cap floor. But with the way the Philadelphia Eagles keep signing players one would think we were still in the uncapped year.
The Eagles continued their free agency dominance on Tuesday with the addition of former Dolphins RB Ronnie Brown. Brown has had much of his success in a running back tandem with Ricky Williams in Miami, so he should have no problem sharing a backfield with LeSean McCoy in Philadelphia. For some teams, having signed Brown would have been the highlight of their offseason thus far. But Philadelphia has traded for DB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, signed DB Nnmandi Asomugha, and signed defensive ends Jason Babin and Cullen Jenkins. It is as if GM Howie Roseman and head coach Andy Reid are putting together a fantasy squad here. Actually some people do not even have fantasy squads with all of these names on one roster. It as if they are finding ways to work within the cap like Madden players do in the game’s Franchise mode. Without question they will be the team most used by Madden players when the game drops on August 30, and this time not just because they have Michael Vick at QB.
But perhaps that last part is the most telling, Michael Vick will enter the year for the Philadelphia Eagles as the starting QB, a title he has not held entering a season since 2006 with the Atlanta Falcons. And the pressure is on Vick to stay healthy, and perform at a high level as he did in 2010 inheriting the starting job in Philly. The knock against Vick has always been that his style of play will not win a Super Bowl. And if the Eagles fail to make it to at least the NFC Championship in 2011, look for Vick to shoulder much of the blame. But Vick has won in the playoffs before, most notably when he took the Falcons into Lambeau Field on New Year’s day 2003 to defeat the Packers in what was the first time they ever lost a postseason game at Lambeau. Vick has more talent around him in 2011 then he ever has before, can the kid that once knocked off the legendary Brett Favre and Green Bay Packers lead a team to a Super Bowl? Only time will tell.
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