Brian Westbrook sent a message to the Eagles and the media today by firing his agent Fletcher Smith.
What he said is, "I'm not happy with my contract". Clearly he fired Smith because he isn't happy about the fact that his contract is far below what the best running backs in the league are making.
Despite putting up numbers in the last two years that rival any other back in football, Westbrook is making a fraction of what the top backs are making.
Westbrook knows that he's got to make some noise now. Firing Fletcher was a way to do it and keep his fans behind him.
He doesn't want to make trouble and destroy all the good will he's built up in his relationship with the fans and the Eagles front office. At the same time, he doesn't want to sit back and do nothing because he's 28, getting ready to be 29 and he knows that running backs don't usually get new contracts after reaching 30.
Westbrook knows that this contract will likely be the last one he signs in his NFL career, so it had better be a good one.
There will be tremendous pressure on Joe Banner and the Eagles to give him a new contract. We'll see what happens but Westbrook's move right before training camp won't be the last.
