Here's his take:
• The offense is, for the most part, fine. Re-sign Donté Stallworth. Add another No. 3-type wideout. Add another running back, preferably a bigger short-yardage/goal-line-type guy to rotate with Brian Westbrook.
Re-sign Jeff Garcia as backup insurance for Donovan McNabb in case he isn't ready to go by next September or gets hurt again. Then call it a day.
• The most pressing problem defensively isn't the front four or even the linebackers. It's the secondary. Cornerback and safety need to be high priorities in both free agency and the draft. Lito Sheppard is the only "A" cornerback they have, and his size (5-10) is a problem against the league's taller wide receivers. Sheldon Brown can't tackle and has regressed as a cover man. Free safety Brian Dawkins is on the downside of his career and has a year, maybe 2, left as a starter. Mike Lewis isn't worth re-signing and his replacement, Sean Considine, will never be anything more than a good special-teams player.
• Put Dhani Jones and Matt McCoy on the next flight out of Philadelphia. Neither can play. Chris Gocong, the Eagles' 2005 third-round pick, should be able to step in and start in Jones' strongside spot next season, assuming his neck injury isn't a recurring problem. Omar Gaither is good enough to replace McCoy on the weakside. But the Eagles need to draft an eventual replacement for middle linebacker Jeremiah Trotter. He's strictly an inside run-stopper with no more than 2 semiproductive years left. If the Eagles are planning to eventually move Gaither into Trotter's spot, then they need to bring in a weakside linebacker. Shawn Barber is perfect in the nickel role he's in. His knees wouldn't hold up to an every-down pounding.
• Eagles fans need to get off Brodrick Bunkley's case. Yes, he needed to be productive as a rookie. But that's yesterday's news. Bottom line: He's still going to be a very good player.
• The Eagles weren't idiots in giving defensive tackle Mike Patterson a contract extension so soon. Patterson is a good player who is only going to get better. He and Bunkley will give the Eagles a solid tackle tandem for years. Darwin Walker is too inconsistent. Sam Rayburn showed promise his first couple of years but hasn't done much since. One of the Eagles' free-agency priorities should be a 325-pound, sun-blocking defensive tackle to back up Patterson and Bunkley and stop the bleeding when teams start gashing them with the run.
• The Eagles will never get their money's worth from Jevon Kearse or Darren Howard. They overrated the abilities of both. The emergence of '05 fifth-round pick Trent Cole offsets that a little bit, but not enough. Once Bunkley starts making a contribution inside, that should make the ends a little more productive. They're still going to need to add another defensive end in the offseason, though, because Juqua Thomas is going to attract interest from a number of 3-4 teams that like him as a pass-rushing linebacker. Jerome McDougle needs to be on the same flight with Jones and McCoy.
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