PHOENIX, Ariz. -- The annual NFL owners meetings kicked off Monday at the prestigious Biltmore, tucked away in the Camelback Mountain region outside of Phoenix.
This morning, AFC head coaches will have breakfast with the media from 7:15 a.m.-8:15 a.m. PST (10:15 a.m.-11 a.m. back in Philly). NFC coaches dine with the media at the same time Wednesday morning.
Although owners and league officials collaborate every offseason to discuss wide-ranging issues, teams also find time to conduct some business of their own. The Biltmore hallways will be crowded with league officials and agents purposely looking to bump into each other as free agency enters Week 2. Plenty of free agents are still seeking new teams and vice versa.
Here are some Eagles storylines to follow in the desert:
Done deals?
The Eagles have already added nine players (eight signings and one trade) and filled most all of their immediate holes, especially on defense. But two positions they’ve examined on the free-agent market without making any move to upgrade are the offensive line and a five-technique defensive end. The team sniffed around Eric Winston and flirted (sorta) with Jake Long but made no other known overtures to any other offensive tackles. Likewise, the team invited defensive end Ricky Jean-Francois for a visit last week but let him walk to Indianapolis, where he signed a deal. The Eagles are about $18 million under the cap (see story), so perhaps another deal or two gets done here before team brass hops aboard the plane and heads home.
The trade block
The Eagles shot down a theory inspired by Colts owner Jim Irsay of a brewing trade between the Colts and Eagles involving Jeremy Maclin. Irsay, as he often does, recently portended a potential deal involving a wide receiver. The Twitterverse, as it often does, exploded with innuendo that Maclin might be the guy. It’s not far-fetched to think the Eagles could be dangling Maclin as trade bait. He’s going into the final year of his rookie deal and still hasn’t had a 1,000-yard season. Only once has he played all 16 games. With coach Chip Kelly talking about more two-tight end formations and DeSean Jackson already signed for the long term, the Eagles might find Maclin expendable.
Droppin’ science
We really don’t know much about Kelly’s blueprint for offense and defense, outside of the few clues he drops whenever he’s forced to talk publicly. In his last press conference, we learned of his intention to create a New England Patriots-style offense, with Brent Celek and James Casey playing the roles of Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. Let’s see if Chip’s in the mood to drop a few more nuggets over his Cheerios on Wednesday.
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