Today will be the first day that U.S. District Court Judge Susan Nelson will get the chance to hear the injunction request by the NFL players to stop the lockout which has been imposed by the NFL owners.
Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and team President Joe Banner are caught in a catch-22 in this situation. They’re on the owners side of the court battle. From an owners perspective Lurie and Banner would want the judge to deny the injunction so that their lockout stays in place and the pressure is put on the players to agree to some of the demands the owners have made during their previous negotiations on the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
At the same time, if an injunction is denied to the players, the Eagles may be forced to hang on to backup quarterback Kevin Kolb and be unable to trade him before the draft. That would deny them the opportunity to trade him and add at least another number one draft pick in the upcoming NFL Draft which will start later this month on the 28th..
The Birds could still possibly unload him later in the year, before the season starts and collect a draft pick or two in the 2012 draft.
You know they would prefer to make the trade now. This draft has some outstanding defensive players at the top of the draft. Who 
knows if the Birds were able to trade Kolb for one of the top picks in the draft, they might be able to land one of the top cornerbacks, LSU’s Patrick Peterson or Nebraska’s Prince Amukamara.
I know Lurie and Banner have stated publicly that they’re hoping for the injunction to be denied to the players, but were we to put them on a lie detector device, what do you think we would find out. Would they be pulling for the injunction to be allowed and the ability to trade Kolb for draft picks or would they be pulling for the injunction to be denied which would give the owners a chance to get a bigger percentage of the NFL revenue in the future?
What do you say?
Like any smart business people, they probably have personal opinions that they realize have no place in business. They have a plan A for no injunction and a plan B for an injunction and the key aspect of the decision is that they want it made as soon as possible.
if the judge rules in favor of the players do the eagles pull a quick trade and maybe sign a free agent or two. lets hope.
Paulman’s take on the Judge’s ruling
The Courts will rule in favor of the Players to decertify..
Teams will be able to trade during Draft Weekend.
The Free-agency period won’t begin however until after the Draft Weekend and will likely be from May 1st thru May 15th.
I agree Paulman that the lockout will end and we will see things return to normal…. BUT…. im not sure they can say when FA starts. There is no deal in place…. so teams can sign FA’s the moment the lockout is over, IF the owners try and set a date for FA to start, they will be in violation of the anti trust laws. So…. not sure they want to take that chance,
Look for the birds to get off to a fast start. I honestly think they will land a big name FA out of the gate. Dont be surprised if they land the CB we all want and still grab one in the draft as a possible SS or 3rd CB. Id like to see them stock pile the position and figure it all out in camp. Look for 2 out of the first 3 philly draft picks to be in the 2ndary and 1 on the O line. In a dream world id…
1) Sign the stud CB
2) Trade Kolb for a 1st rounder.
3) Trade Bunk or Patt
4) Trade for Fat Al
5) Sign a solid RG
6) Draft CB, RT, SS, LB
7) Resign Vick and Djax
As for Laurie and Banner, they dont care if we win or lose. They just want to pad their pockets. No way do they want the injunction…
@Paulman & Stevo, Its widely believed by legal experts that the injunction will be passed but with a stay of appeals, which means that no moves can be made until the appeal process is complete and that wont happen until after the draft. If the judge passes the injunction without the stay, then they can do whatever they want during the appeal process, but thats very unlikely. We’re more than likely going to end up with some 2012 picks when a new CBA is established.
shamburg- the old…birds are cheap line is just that…. OLD. The birds have shown time and time again that they are willing to spend on players that THEY THINK is worth the money….Peters, Kerse, Asam, Dmac, Vick,… id even argue Westy. The problem for many fans (me included at times but less than most) is that they wont spend on the hot name players that THEY feel are overpriced…. Dawk, J Walker, Roy WIlliams, the RB Ward from the Giants a few years back. There have been guys that they should have made a run at (or a stronger run at) like R Moss, Peppers and such… and times we wish they would have just paid the guy…. Dawk, Owens. and times where we disagreed with their philosophy about talent…… return guys, klecko at FB, every LB for years…… but overall….its clear that they are not cheap. They are good at the cap game and they dont let their heart overpay for guys who are past their prime.
Excellent points Shamu..
To Stevo,
I think you have been drinking that Eagle Kool-Aid a little too much now that the weather is getting warmer.. You really think the Eagles are going to address every position of need they have and lock up their best players on long term deals…Wow…
I think this season it’s all about the Draft and have very little activity by the Eagles in pursuing Free-Agents.
my feeling though is that they are going to pay this year. I think this team will be in the NFC champ hunt this year. The O will look basically the same and the D will be much much better.
I never said they’re cheap. I know they’re willing to sign big players, but that’s all after Ried and the Roseman (/heckert) get in their ear and present a business need that the owner and president sign off on it, just like in any business. You need to spend money to make money. PR moves go a long way towards that goal and if you think Banner and Laurie are in this business for the fans and the goal of winning, you’re sorely mistaken.
Next you’ll be telling me that Goodell making the draft a 4-day primetime event was actually in the best interest of the fans and had nothing to do with advertising dollars.
sham, you are absolutely right they are in it for the money. Now tell me, how would the Eagles winning the superbowl not be the best way for the team to make money? If you are the owner of a team, and I said to you, which is your priority – making money, or winning the SB? – If you were half your worth, you’d say “Pshh…that’s a stupid question, winning the superbowl is the single most profitable thing we can do!”
schiller, I dont disagree. Thats what the Phillies are experiencing right now, I just dont think Laurie sees it that way. I believe the front office is perfectly content with simply remaining competetive, because it keeps the seats full. Of course they do want to win, but its not their priority and they will never go balls out to do it. They’ve been tens of millions of dollars under the cap for the last decade and I guarantee they plan to stay that way.
sham, they (could) definitely get more money if the owners win this labor battle thing… but the argument that money not spent on players goes into their pockets is utterly ridiculous. They have a budget for players salary, and that is separate from profits. If you run a business, and switch your phone company to save money, you don’t take that savings and pocket it, you use it for other areas of your business.
The argument that the team saves money by not valuing a SB win as much as profit is fatally flawed. It just is ignorant.
shamburg – going balls out (financially), in the NFl, to win the SB, has one a grand total of 0 SBs for NFL teams. Going ‘balls out’ financially is stupid and profitless. The Eagles have been under the cap for a while becuase they have to pay their star WR and new Franchise QB soon and the league financial system is a huge mess, they wanted to be in an ok place to prepare for all that. Don’t be fooled by the negadelphia masses…
“Next you’ll be telling me that Goodell making the draft a 4-day primetime event was actually in the best interest of the fans and had nothing to do with advertising dollars”- no, i wont be telling you that.
and you are right, you never said that they were cheap…”As for Laurie and Banner, they dont care if we win or lose. They just want to pad their pockets. No way do they want the injunction”… um……
.
Paulman, thank you for your concern about my koolaid drinking. You are (as always) wrong. What i think is…..
1) The birds dropped alot of salary last year when they let Brown, Mcnabb, Andrew sisters and more go. because of this, The birds have more money under the Old Cap than almost all of the teams.
2) Almost for sure under the new CBA teams will be forced to spend ALOT more than they have in the past.
3) If #1 and #2 are correct, the birds are going to HAVE to spend alot of their money.
4) and on top of all of that, there are GLARING holes on D and even andy knows they are not good enough. PLUS…. as of now we dont even have enough bodies.
5) The birds usually make a play on a big name every couple of years or so….. its about that time.
If you look at the list i wrote… there is really only 1 big name FA i wrote down. After that…. you KNOW the birds are trying to sign Vick long term. They will not franchise him every year PLUS… they want some insurences if he does something stupid. After that…. its mostly draft pics. So yea…. not really far fetched… but koodos to you…. you got to call me a KOOL-AID drinker and thats all you really wanted to do.
the Fat albert thing BTW is not going to happen….. just want I want to happen.
stevo afterall, you’re either a hater, or a kool-aid drinker. And remember, there’s no room in the middle for ‘fan that collects facts and uses their brains to evaluate context and facts’.
Im not 1 to toot my own horn but ive been pretty dead on so far this offseason as far as what the birds were gunna do (not about the DC hire though). The CB position is the #2 priority of the AR eagles. right now in te 2ndary they have 3 question marks and 1 stud. I just dont think they allow that to continue this year.Its crysal clear that they are not happy with the D. Something must change….. so.,….. Are they going to draft? add a FA? i say both. Not really that crazy.
I don’t like Kool-Aid myself for it’s too sweet…
Back on TOpic.. The Eagles have shed a lot of Contracts/$$$$, but guess what, they are still competitive and still sell out and make large amounts of $$$. Do you really think that they will now go out and replace those large contracts that they got rid of with new large contracts for 5-6-7 new players..
Now that’s funny..
Any scenario is possible I do agree that CB is a priority and a position of their biggest need with DE/OLB/RG right behind it but I don’t think they are going to becoma ga-ga and start spending a ton of $$ on veteran free-agents to fill these positions..
“Do you really think that they will now go out and replace those large contracts that they got rid of with new large contracts for 5-6-7 new players”
Yes i do- the thing is… ther is going to be a draft Paulman. We will draft players. We do it every year. We draft for 7 rounds and then we pay those guys to be on our team.
as far as the “large” deals…..
1. We need a CB. we dont have enough… its going to be either in the draft, FA or both. I think IF the birds think there is a CB out there in FA that is worth the cash, they will spend it. I really think that Pman. Honestly.
2. Vick is going to be an Eagle.The birds last year had (in their words) 3 franchise qb’s., This year they MAY only have 1. There is no way they dont try and get a long term deal done. What is their plan? have Kafka be the starter next year? They dont want to tag vick every year… that would cost them a LOT MORE.
3. Guys like Bradley and q will prolly get contract offers… not huge ones but they will prolly get an offer from the birds.
4. Djax- this is the one you dont want to talk about….. i think they try to keep him. I think he stays in Philly long term.
I dont know why this is hard for you….. when a contract runs out….. you either offer a new one or you dont. Some time the birds do, sometimes they dont. Im not sying the birds should get 7 new starters but they have the money and i believe the desire to add a few new names to our team in the draft and FA.