Eagles Speak On Sheldon Brown Situation

The Philadelphia Eagles have addressed reports that cornerback Sheldon Brown wants out of town. And here’s the team’s statement. “It’s very unfortunate and counterproductive that Sheldon has chosen to go public with his feelings about his situation. After thorough evaluation by himself and discussions with his family and agents, he chose to accept an extension of his rookie contract early that provided his family financial security for the rest of his life. It removed any concerns about health or performance that all other players in his draft class had to worry about. He has four years remaining on that contract and, after taking the signing bonus and his first two years of salary into account, we feel that Sheldon is being paid fairly. Focusing only on a player’s salary for a given year is not a valid analysis. “There have been league MVP’s, Super Bowl champion quarterbacks, and perennial Pro Bowlers who have been in a similar situation. All of their teams have required them to wait until their contract expired or there was only one year remaining before any adjustment took place. It is only in the most extraordinary, in fact, less than a handful of circumstances in the last ten years that any players two new years into a contract with three years left have been adjusted. We don’t think this qualifies as an extraordinary circumstance. “Sheldon’s comments under the circumstances actually serve to devalue him in a trade if we were willing to consider it; which we are not.” The same statement could be used as to Shawn Andrews, Mike Patterson, and any other Eagles player who signed a long-term deal that, after a few years, suddenly didn’t look quite as good in the ultimate bastion of “Who’s Got The Biggest, Um, Money Clip?” -- an NFL locker room. But the Sheldon Brown situation confirms our long-held belief that the Eagles shouldn’t have signed good young players to ultra-long-term deals prematurely. It all looks good on paper, but holding a guy to the terms of a deal with base salaries that eventually pale in comparison to younger and, in the mind of the Sheldon Browns of the world, lesser players creates a bad atmosphere. And it could work to keep the Eagles from getting that long-coveted Super Bowl title, in our view.