Despite speculation, Stacy will be an Eagle in 2010.
Philly.com is reporting that sources close to the Eagles are telling them that there is a possibility right guard Stacy Andrews could be released barring a willingness on his part to accept a pay cut.
Andrews made about $5.5 million last year while sitting on the bench and fighting his way back from a torn ACL at the end of the '08 season. That number will inflate to about $7.6 million, with $4.1 million of that coming from a roster bonus he'll receive on April 4th.
Because of that roster bonus, several people think the Birds could approach him about restructuring his deal, and if he refuses, could simply release him before they're due to pay him said bonus.
It sounds logical on the surface, but if we take a minute to think (a seemingly lost art these days), it makes absolutely no sense for the team.
Yes, the Eagles would save money, but why in the world would they cut the guy only one season after signing him to a big-money deal in free agency? They understood that he wasn't even a year removed from tearing up his ACL and that the process would be long for him.
It's a risk they knowingly took from the second they even thought about signing him.
He was limited during the offseason because of the injury and therefore unable to delve into the nuances of the playbook that one can only learn through repetition, and then when he was finally at 100 percent (or close, he may never have actually been 100 percent), not being able to fully execute the way Reid would like came back to bite him.
Reid even come out to defend Stacy, saying that he believed a good portion of his problems was his injury. So to think that the Eagles will cut him loose is nothing more than looking for some traffic during a slow news period.
This is all without even acknowledging the fact that Andrews, right now, is the best guard on the roster. For them to cut a guy like Andrews when the talent on the interior line is lacking, at best, would be an absolute meltdown in judgment.
Is this the kind of talk we're going to hear about Jamaal Jackson when he's not ready to play in 2010 because of his knee injury? It's the same injury at about the same time in the season, and could have the same effect on Jackson.
Jackson would, of course, not have to deal with learning a brand new system, but he could very well be on the bench for the first six to eight weeks. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me at all if he starts out the season on the PUP list.
A torn ACL is hard enough to come back from if you're 200 pounds, much less 300 pounds and over as is the case with Andrews and Jackson.
All this talk is nonsense and it's not going to happen. We've seen over the years that Reid will stick with a guy when he believes he can rebound. How many years did we sit around and wonder why David Akers was still the kicker? How many people wanted Jamaal Jackson cut because his '07 and '08 seasons were less than stellar only to see his impact after his injury?
The point is that Reid knows what he's doing better than the rest of us playing armchair General Manager, as it were. He understands that Stacy's upside is far greater than the downside of potentially wasting nearly $8 million on him next season. If he can come into camp at 100 percent and stay that way, he's well worth the money.
This isn't to say that the Birds won't attempt to rework the deal, but the notion that they'll cut him if he refuses is pure lunacy. They understand the market is slim, and they have a huge need on the interior line.
Stacy isn't going anywhere. If he were to fail to live up to expectations again next year, then we can talk about Stacy getting cut. Until that happens, there's nothing left to talk about.
