Eagles safety Quintin Mikell had finished his workout this morning at the Power Train facility in Cherry Hill, N.J., when I pulled up and it didn’t take long for me to see that he was very frustrated about the NFL lockout. He’s angry at everybody involved because they haven’t been able to settle the squabble between the owners and the players.
“Why can’t they get this thing worked out,” Mikell exclaimed. “Both sides should be sitting down and doing some serious talking, until they get it done.”
Mikell felt that he had been misunderstood last week when he a report said that he’s not going to watch the draft, as if he were part of the previous NFLPA effort to keep rookies away from the draft.
“I’m not trying to encourage other players not to go to or not watch the draft. Normally I really get into it, but I’m not going to watch this year because I’m frustrated with the whole thing”, Mikell said. Of course the whole thing he was talking about was the impasse between the NFL owners and players that has left him in limbo.
Mikell is a free agent this year and he’s eager to get the chance to talk to the Eagles and other teams about a contract. Right now, all he can do is workout and stay in shape. His agent can’t talk to the Eagles or any other team that might be interested in him.
Last year he made 88 tackles along with one forced fumble and three interceptions. The seven-year veteran has never played for a team other than the Eagles. The fact that the Birds hadn’t made much of an effort to resign him means he’s not likely to return.
Normally the Eagles make it very clear if they want to resign or not and Mikell is THIRTY-YEARS OLD. You know what that means around the Eagles. It means your time is up.
He may never be in this situation again from a positive stand point because right now he can talk to all of the teams in the league if there weren’t a lockout, but on the negative side he doesn’t have a contract and any security at all. His best chance of finding a job will probably be in Carolina, where he’s got some former Eagles defensive coaches, Ron Rivera and Sean McDermott, running things and also in St. Louis, where former Eagles linebacker coach Steve Spagnuolo is the head coach.
Mikell could land in Cleveland with all the former Eagles General Manager Tom Heckert and his former teammate in the Birds defensive backfield, cornerback Sheldon Brown. The safety broke into the league by doing a great job for Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, when he was the Eagles special teams coach. Mikell might place a call to Harbaugh immediately when the lockout ends.
Near the end of our conversation, the safety expressed his frustrated in a different way by saying, “I’m going to need to find something else to do”. I think Mikell will probably have to fill his time for May, June, July and August before this situation gets worked out.
I see Mickell as a goner from the Eagles going to one of 4 teams and especially with this year’s weak Safety Draft Class, I expect Mickell to be able to land a decent contrat at more $$$ than the Eagles would ever offer
#1) Panthers due to relationship with S McDermott
#2) NO Saints – Mickell’s home state and the Saints have 2 Safeties in the same boat as Mickell, Romar Harper and the old and often inured darren Sharper.. chances are that both will be gone giving the Saints a need to fill
#3) Dallas Cowboys – Mickell’s familiarity with the same NFC Opponents gives the Cowboys a comfort level who have a definite need at Safety
#4) SD Chargers.. If Chargers lose Safety Eric Weddle to Free-agency, then they could be in the Market for a Safety
If fans attending the NFL draft don’t BOOOOO Rodger Goodell right off the stage i am going to be really, really disappointed..!!!
I heard that the NFL will be liquoring up the crowd and have some dancing girls mingle throughout the crowd to keep the noisemakers under control and pre-occupied and will also be handing out a lot of NFL Merchandise to have the crowd in a pretty supportive mood… .
paulman ; wouldn,t your reasons for the cowboys wanting mickell, be reasons why we should try to keep him? and unlike other years where the draft kinda really merrits my attention ( the whole draft that is) i really only give a damn about the eagles picks this year . i could care less where newton goes!
Eagles don’t keep players they don’t feel can produce on the Field any longer, Are they to keep a roster spot becuase he klnows the Eagles System and their oppoenents so well.. So did D McNabb,T Thomas, S Brown, etc,etc.. You move on and where a player lands makes no difference, Just like you statted, you don’t give a hoot where Newton goes, the Eagles don’t give a hoot where Mickell ends up..
Man who cares he sinks anyway just look at his highlights this guy road B Dawk back all them years