The Favre story, broken by Howard Eskin of NBC10 in Philadelphia, may or may not be true (full disclosure: I don't see it happening).
But this is a crazy time and we're going to hear a lot of nutty things. My opinion is that the Eagles have an opportunity to be interested in acquiring every player and that they are performing their due diligence and that pro personnel director Louis Riddick and the Eagles' player-personnel team has, in fact, worked extremely hard throughout the four-month-plus work stoppage. There has been no rest with this group of men.
It works this way in the NFL: People like Riddick write reports on every player in the league, just in case there is a chance to bring that player to Philadelphia. The better teams have the information at hand and are able to act quickly, and those teams get it right more often than they get it wrong.
I have the utmost respect for the personnel side of the business. Howie Roseman and his crew put their reputations on the line every day. How hard it is to project how a player from one system -- college or the NFL -- will perform in the schemes the Eagles use? In some ways it is a leap of faith in the eye of the evaluator, who is then dependent upon the player to perform, the coach to improve the player and good fortune to keep the player healthy.
Anyway, I love the rumors. All of them. We've had nothing but rumors and lockout talk since April's draft, and I will gladly take the former. I couldn't tell you if the Favre rumor is true -- again, I don't see thing happening -- but I would be mighty disappointed if the Eagles weren't thinking about it. I want them think about everything. I want them to consider every option, no matter how off the wall it seems.
The idea is to build a roster that is as deep as possible. The Eagles can't take anything for granted. If they are relying on a certain defensive player, for example, and he shows up 20 pounds overweight when training camp opens, well, that player is going to have a very, very difficult time rounding into shape for the season.
Remember, the Eagles haven't seen their players since the day after the loss to Green Bay in the playoffs. New coaches Howard Mudd and Jim Washburn and Johnnie Lynn haven't even met many of their guys. The coaches who organize and streamline their teaching methods the best are going to get the most results in training camp and in the season.
Anyway, I love the rumors. There have been plenty of them these last several months. We'll soon find out which rumors become reality when the NFL's business season opens in a few days. The timeline is that the players will approve the new Collective Bargaining Agreement on Monday and then some training camps will open on Wednesday as the players vote to recertify as a union.
And then it's all football. Later this week, we're done with all of the court talk and the CBA jargon and we will know for sure how much of the you-know-what thrown against the wall since March 11 will actually stick.
