B-Dawk, Class Act and Warrior, But……….

The end of an era came into fruition after an agonizing 24 hours of rumors and many pundits jockeying to be the first to get the story of Brian Dawkins signing with the Denver Broncos.  Dawkins is unquestionably one of the greatest Eagles of all-time and a bona fide future Hall of Famer.  In addition, the guy was an absolute great person off the field and should be continually lauded for his work in the community and his impact on teammates and the society at-large.  He is a special individual and one who will be sorely missed in the Philadelphia.  In the cold reality of professional sports, teams look out for their best interests and it is clear the Philadelphia Eagles made a calculated decision that they were only going to go so far to retain Dawkins.  Some say the Eagles should have paid a premium or provided a lifetime achievement contract to Dawkins because of what he meant to the organization.  The reality of the situation is that Dawkins was probably a greater value in the locker room than on the field at this point in his career.  There was no question that Dawkins was an impact player during the second half of the season and during the playoff run to the NFC Championship game against Arizona.  If fans can take a pause and get emotion out the equation, they would realize that Dawkins was aided by the creativity of Jim Johnson’s defensive scheme in playing a quasi linebacker role, which helped the Eagles defense against the run.  As a result of age, Dawkins became a liability in coverage and could no longer provide the stability we became accustomed to in the secondary over a stellar 13-year career.

 As much as I will mis him as a fan, it’s time to move on.  As others have reported, the Eagles appear to be in hot pursuit of Baltimore Ravens free agent safety Jim Leonard and if you were paying attention to any of the Ravens games this year, Leonard could bring tremendous value in the secondary and special teams. Trust me, he is no Sean Considine.  Eagle fans who are ready to jump off of Billy Pen’s hat as a result of the latest developments, have patience.  There are future signings, trades, the draft, not to mention some high profile players that will probably be waived after the draft and into training camp.  Keep hope alive!

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