Saturday, March 01, 2008

SPIKES OUT IN PHILLY . . . MOSS IN?

On Friday night, an eagle-eyed reader in Philly pointed out to us that the Eagles' depth chart shows Asante Samuel as the starter at left cornerback, and Lito Sheppard as the second-stringer.

So we shared that info with PFT Planet, and several members of the Philly chapter pointed out that nowhere on the depth chart are the words "Takeo" or "Spikes."
And that is prompting speculation that Spikes and his $5 million base salary are on the way out. Since 2008 is the final year of his contract, cutting him would give the Eagles an immediate $5 million in cap space, with no acceleration.

The possible departure of Spikes and the arrival of receiver Randy Moss on the open market has prompted speculation that the Eagles might make a run at Randy.
The wild card in all of this is Samuel. He's in a position to greatly influence the Eagles, one way or the other, on the value of Moss. Samuel was with the Pats for four seasons before Moss, so he's in a great position to provide the powers-that-be with the inside look at the "before" and the "after".

Stay tuned. Prior to signing Asante, the Eagles were coy about trading Sheppard, likely because they didn't want a repeat of the LeCharles Bentley episode in their quest for Samuel. The wheels might quietly be in motion as to Spikes because the Eagles hope to soar under radar if they decide to try to reel in Randy.
Hey, if T.O. and Moss can't play on the same team, the next best thing is having him in the same division.